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Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Looking For Volunteers To Help With Elk Education

Head to the Cataloochee Valley in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and you'll find one of the most beautiful low-country settings in the park. And if you're willing, you can spend a lot of time there this year helping to educate visitors on the valley's elk herds.

Where To Look For Spring Wildflowers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Smoky Mountains are home to more than 1,600 species of flowering plants. During each month of the year, some forb, tree or vine is blooming in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. During the spring, wildflowers explode during the brief window just prior to trees leafing out and shading the forest floor (from about mid-April through mid-May).

National Park Quiz 47: Spring

Spring arrived at 11:44 UT last Friday, March 20, so let’s make spring the key word for this week’s quiz. Answers are at the end. If we catch you peeking, we’ll make you write on the whiteboard 101 times: “The celestial coordinate system that employs the vernal equinox as the origin of the ecliptic longitude is known as the ecliptic coordinate system.”

Spring Blooms Not Too Far Away in Shenandoah, Blue Ridge Parkway, And Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Sunflowers, violets, trillium and other wildflowers are just around the proverbial corner in the Appalachian Mountains. You can spot these and dozens of others in Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains national parks, as well as along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

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