Blue Waters Mountain Lodge

  A guest sat at the end of the dock for quite some time last Friday night; only to later to point out that the view of the stars and Milky Way were just amazing in the clear skies over Lake Santeetlah.    It seems that with the moon’s disappearance from the...

Autumn can have so many different meanings. A time of harvest and abundance; a time of storing and saving for the long winter season ahead. A time of festivity and reunion. Like every season, autumn has its unique events and sights, sounds and smells. Here are a few...

Already, there is a little color in the Smokies! Although it is very early in the fall color season, there are spots of color both high and low. There are the early changers like dogwood, blackgum, and sourwood have begun to show some burgundy reds against a green...

Hidden deep inside a magnificent cave system, left untouched and undiscovered for millenia, is America’s largest underground lake. Known as The Lost Sea, this body of water is so expansive that research divers have yet to discover its true dimension. The caverns in...

The southern Appalachian forests are home to over two hundred species of birds. Birding in the Smokies is a paradise. The spruce-fir forest of the highest ridges is similar to the boreal forest of Canada, and is the southernmost breeding range of the Black-capped...

Parsons Branch Road is an eight mile gravel road leading from the Cades Cove Loop Road to US 129 toward the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Calderwood Dam.  Running though an area once called Chestnut Flats.  It was a notorious...

Experience the full grandeur of the Smokies by seeing them from above. Hot air balloon rides over the Smoky Mountains offers a variety of panoramic views. The balloon gently lifts off into the sky, it moves in the same direction and speed as the wind and will afford a...

Clear mountain lakes, blue sky, green meadows and a light breeze – escape the suffocating heat of the city and enjoy the refreshing summer climate in the Smoky Mountains. Hike through the unspoiled nature of Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and numerous hiking trails...

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has the longest continuing pottery tradition of any tribe in the United States on their original homeland. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Cherokee potters began using carved wooden paddles and sharp objects to stamp their pottery with...

Her shores feature some of the most remote and pristine vistas in the Smoky Mountains. Her tributaries nurture some of the clearest and cleanest waters in the Southeast.  Lake Santeetlah is a heaven… consisting of fabulous sunrises and sunsets, pristine shoreline, and...