by bluewaters | Apr 21, 2017 | Uncategorized
Much of the history and folklore of Graham County is deeply rooted among the Cherokee. One in particular are the Little People called “Yundi Tsundi”, which are a race of Spirits who live in rock caves on the mountain side. They are little ones who reach almost to the knees. They are well shaped and handsome, their hair so long it almost touches the ground. They are very helpful, kind-hearted, and great wonder workers. They love music and spend most of their time drumming, singing, and dancing. They have a very gentle nature, but do not like to be disturbed.
Their drums may be heard in lonely places in the mountains, but it is not safe to follow it, for they do not like to be disturbed at home, and they will throw a spell over the stranger so that he is bewildered and loses his way, and even if he does at last get back to the settlement, he is dazed from then on.
Sometimes they come near a house at night and the people inside hear them talking, but people must not go outside, and in the morning they will find the corn has been gathered or the field cleared as if a whole force of men had been at work. If anyone should go out to watch, he would die.
When a hunter finds anything in the woods, such as a knife or trinket, he must say, ‘Little People, I would like to take this” because it may belong to them, and if it does not ask their permission, the Little People will throw stones at him as he goes home.
Some Little People are black, some are white and some are golden like the Cherokee. Sometimes they speak in Cherokee, but at other times, they speak their own Indian language. Some call them “Brownies”.
So when you visit the mountains, if you are out in the woods and you see something, and it is not what you really thought it was, or if you are fishing and you feel something on the end of your line, and you think it is the biggest trout ever, when pulled it in, it is a stick that got tangled on the hook, that is what the Little People are doing. They are playing tricks on you so you will laugh. That is the spirit of Little People, to keep us young in ourhearts.
by bluewaters | Apr 13, 2017 | Uncategorized
No need to travel to the tropics to fly through the treetops. The Nantahala Gorge canopy tour, located just twenty minutes from Robbinsville runs on the southern edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park amidst the Nantahala National Forest. The 3-hour zip line flight is powered by gravity and a gradual 3 percent elevation change. The zip line is just one way to get to each section on the 20 acre course. Flyers use three Sky Bridges to get to the 11 zip line sections in the trees, slope side and elevated platforms.
More than a zip line ride, this adventure takes you through multiple ecosystems, past hemlocks into hardwoods, and through a deciduous forest packed with native flowering plants such as mountain laurel, dogwood, rhododendron, giant Frazier magnolias, rare umbrella magnolias, silver bells and much more.
Canopy tours originated in the lush rainforest of Costa Rica where adventurous biologists, desperate to study the diversity of animal life that habituates the upper canopy level of forests, devised a system of cables and platforms that would allow them to explore this previously inaccessible ecosystem. This naturally transformed into a breathtaking eco-tourism activity that allowed people to enter and experience the upper realm of a rainforest.
For more details, contact Blue Waters Mountain Lodge or see www.BlueWatersMtnL.com
by bluewaters | Apr 5, 2017 | Uncategorized
U.S. 129, also known as the Tail of The Dragon, has been temporarily closed due to a rockslide near the Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains. The slide, which occurred on March 14, 2010, completely blocked U.S. 129 near the Chilhowee Darm in Blount County. Thankfully, federal, state and local officials in North Carolina and Tennessee have worked together to organize a plan to re-open US 129 from the south (Robbinsville). Motorcyclists and sports car enthusiast will have the opportunity to ride all 318 curves in the 11 miles again. Tennessee Highway Patrol and Department of Transportation will provide an area for turnaround since the road will not be open for through traffic.
The clean up contract was awarded on March 29, 2010 and work commenced on April 5, 2010. The rockslide project on U.S. 129 is estimated to be completed by July 31, 2010. However, Tennessee Department of Transportation is providing an incentive of $6,500 per day for the contractor to complete work and re-open the roadway before July 31, 2010. If the project is totally completed by July 1, 2010, the contractor will receive the full incentive of $195,000. Failure to complete the project and reopen the roadway by July 31 will result in a penalty of $6,500 per day until work is completed.
Visitors coming to North Carolina from the Maryville, Tenn., area have several alternatives. Visitors heading to the far western part of North Carolina should take the Cherohala Skyway, a National Scenic Byway, which runs from Tellico Plains, Tenn., to Robbinsville, N.C. Visitors who are going to the eastern Smokies may take U.S. 441 through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Cherokee.
There are several other roads to test your skills against in addition to the Tail of the Dragon. The Cherohala Skyway winds up and over 5,400 foot mountains for 15 miles in North Carolina and descending another 21 miles into the deeply forested backcountry of Tennessee. The road crosses through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests thus the name “Chero…hala”. The Hellbender 28 features sweeping curves and drop offs, all lakeside in the Great Smoky Mountains. The 22-mile stretch is surrounded by water and dense, forested mountains.
by bluewaters | Mar 28, 2017 | Uncategorized
A walk through Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is a journey back in time through a magnificent forest with towering trees as old as 450 years. Some of the enormous tulip-poplars are more than 20 feet in circumference and stand 100 feet tall. The floor is carpeted with wildflowers, ferns, and moss-covered logs from fallen giants.
Alfred Joyce Kilmer was born on December 6, 1886 and went on to become a journalist, poet, literary critic, and an editor at the New York Times. A single poem catapulted Kilmer to notoriety, a 12-line poem expressing his dearest affection for “Trees,” written in the year 1913. Joyce Kilmer’s poem was published in 1914 in a collection entitled, Trees and Other Poems. Kilmer enlisted in the war in 1917 when the United States first joined World War I. He served as a sergeant in the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment. While on a reconnaissance mission July 30, 1918, during the Second Battle of Marne, Joyce Kilmer was killed in action, he was 31 years old.
On the home front, there was yet another war taking place – the assault on the American forest. Uncontrolled, generated by a nations demand for more wood products, the logging companies gladly supplied the country’s request without consideration of the ecosystems.
Thankfully, the logging companies had been mysteriously held off from harvesting these trees until an unexpected time came when the protectors of the forest, the U.S. Forest Service could step in and save this rare ancient woodland.
Of the 13,055 acres purchased by the U.S. Forest Service along the Little Santeetlah Creek basin, 3,840-acres were designated as a protected preserve, dedicated as the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest on July 30, 1936 and opened to the public. It is appropriate that this patriot poet’s namesake became synonymous with the preservation of these giant ancient trees.
TREES
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Joyce Kilmer, 1913
For more information on Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, please visit www.BlueWatersMtnl.com
by bluewaters | Mar 17, 2017 | Uncategorized
The legend of Tsali, immortalized in Cherokee oral history, is to this day a deeply emotional reminder of the tragedies that befell the tribe in the 1830s. When General Winfield Scott’s troops were arresting Cherokee families to send to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears, Tsali, a farmer from Wesser, was taken. He and his family were forced to leave their farm and orchards on November 18, 1838. Along the way, it is said, Tsali and his family managed to escape, after a struggle that left the soldiers dead – leaving Tsali, his sons Lowney and Ridge, and son-in-law Nantalayee, wanted men.
Approximately four hundred people had already taken to the forests during the Cherokee removal, somehow evading capture. When Tsali and his family fled into the mountains, the US Army’s attention returned to the fugitive population with fiercer scrutiny. Tradition says that the Army proposed a bargain with the Cherokee, if Tsali and the other men in his family would submit to arrest and execution, the Army would allow the rest of the refugees in that part of the mountains to remain on their land. Tsali and the others were arrested and executed by firing squad. Oral history tells that Tsali insisted that fellow Cherokees rather than white soldiers make up the firing squad. Tsali, Lowney, Ridge, and Nantayalee’s graves are now under Lake Fontana.
Today, a recreation area bears the name of the one who gave his life for the lives of many. Tsali Recreation Area has long been a top destination for mountain biking in Western North Carolina, and even the entire eastern US. Containing nearly 40 miles of trails in the system with four excellent loops, it has been rated as one of the top 10 places to ride in the USA. The area is located about fifteen miles from Robbinsville, at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains. The four long main trails at Tsali wind along the lake shore and onto the wooded, steep interior ridges. There are several connector trails, gravel roads and extension trails that give a few more options for rides besides the main loops. Three designated overlooks along the trails provide sweeping views of Fontana Lake with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the other side.
Please see our website, www.BlueWatersMtnL.com for more details.
by bluewaters | Mar 12, 2017 | Uncategorized
Try to imagine being surrounded by the vibrant lush new growth of the forest, delicate, scented and colorful wildflowers, flowing waterfalls from melted snow, and newborn wildlife awakened to bask in the bounty of the Smoky Mountain’s freshness and new life. There is no better place to satisfy a case of spring fever and watch life awaken than here on Lake Santeetlah, amidst the Nanatahala National Forest.
The signs of spring are everywhere! Longer days, warmer temperatures, and flowers peeking from the ground are unmistakable indications everyone looks for this time of year. As spring fever spreads like an epidemic, the urge to bolt from our houses and do something outside seems overwhelming.
A trip to the mountains is the perfect outlet for those itching to break free from long underwear and parkas. Say goodbye to Old Man Winter and welcome Mother Nature.
If you like flowers, then the Nantahala National Forest is the place for you. The area is home to over 1500 varieties of flowers, with over 300 classified as rare. Spring flowers typically bloom from late March through mid May. Some of the beauties you can find include trillium, birdfoot violets, jack-in-the-pulpits, dutchman britches, purple phacalia and showy orchids.
It is time to take advantage of the vast number of hiking trails the area has to offer. It does not matter if you are an experienced hiker looking for an all-day trek or if your pace is more of a leisurely stroll. With almost 800 miles of hiking trails, you will find trails that lead through the gorgeous spread of wildflowers no matter what your speed.
The area not only contains a wonderful array of wildflowers, but also provides a home for many different types of wildlife. More than 65 species of mammals live here including red and gray squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks, raccoons, opossums and deer. The animal that most often reminds people of the Smokies, however, is the black bear. There are approximately 500-600 bears in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Late March or early April is the time when most females and their cubs begin to emerge from winter dens.
Birds are also abundant in the are. Roughly 230 species can be found in these mountains. Some of those commonly seen are juneos, mourning doves, chimney swifts, barn swallows, blue jays, cardinals and chickadees. Hawks and eagles can also be found here and in late March you’ll begin to hear the first peeps of the songbirds.
Overcome your case of spring fever with a good dose of outdoor adventure. Pack your camera and binoculars and head for the mountains. Whether you crave peaceful beauty or an exciting excursion you will find just what you are looking for in Nantahala National Forest!
Please see our website, www.BlueWatersMtnL.com for more details.
