Gary and Clare's Travels: Cataloochee Valley

Today we took a ride to Cataloocha Valley to hopefully see some Elk. The entrance road to Cataloocha Valley is a winding, gravel that has some steep drop offs with no guard rails. The is narrow, so drivers may be required to stop and or back up their vehicles to let oncoming vehicles to pass. Horse trailer traffic may be encountered
on the road.
In 2001, elk were released in Cataloocha Valley as part of an experimental to reintroduce elk to the park. The herds can be seen regularly in the fields of the valley in the morning or early evening.
That's not the case in our situation. All we saw were a couple of bear.
A variety of historic buildings have been preserved in the valley.
The Cataloocha Valley is nestled among some of the most rugged mountains in the southeastern United States. Surround by 6000 ft. peaks, this isolated valley was one of the largest most prosperous settlements in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Some 1200 people lived in this mountain valley in 1910.