For any folks who plan to visit the Smokies this winter, here is the winter schedule. Charlie SMOKIES WINTER SCHEDULE Great Smoky Mountains National Park has announced its winter season operations schedule. As cooler weather approaches and visitation decreases, various facilities will close, including 7 of the 10 campgrounds, and operational hours for some Park services will be reduced. VISITOR CENTERS Starting on November 1, the Sugarlands Visitor Center, 2 miles south of Gatlinburg, TN, will open daily from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. The Oconaluftee Visitor Center, 2 miles north of Cherokee, NC, will serve visitors from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The Cades Cove Visitor Center located half way around the Cades Cove Loop Road will be opened daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. ROADS During the winter months, the two main roads, Newfound Gap (U.S. 441) and Little River, will remain open throughout the year, except for temporary closures for extreme winter weather conditions. The Gatlinburg Bypass, Cades Cove Loop Road, Cosby Road, Greenbrier Road, Upper Tremont, Little Greenbrier, Forge Creek, Lakeview Drive, and Foothills Parkway (East and West) will open and close as road conditions mandate. Already closed from weather/storm impacts are several secondary roads including Parson Branch Road, Balsam Mountain Road and Straight Fork/Round Bottom Roads. Other secondary roads will be closed as indicated: Rich Mountain Road on November 11; and Clingmans Dome and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trails on December 1. For more information on winter weather road conditions, contact the Park at 865/436-1200. LODGING LeConte Lodge will close for the season November 23, 2004 CAMPING Two of the three major campgrounds will remain open all year. These year-round campgrounds are Cades Cove in Tennessee and Smokemont in North Carolina. Starting November 1, they will be on a self-registration basis with a reduced number of available sites. Elkmont Campground in Tennessee will remain open through the Thanksgiving weekend and will be closed on December 1. Balsam Mountain campground is already closed for the season. The six remaining self-registration campgrounds will be closed on November 1. CADES COVE CAMPGROUND STORE AND BIKE RENTAL Cades Cove Campground Store will be closed on November 1 except for the vending machines, which will remain in service throughout the winter. PICNICKING Six picnic areas will remain open through the winter: Chimney Tops, Cades Cove, Cosby, Greenbrier, Metcalf Bottoms, and Deep Creek. STABLES The Smokemont Riding Stables and the Sugarlands Horseback Riding Stables will be closed for the season on November 1. Cades Cove Riding Stables will remain open through November 7 and the Smoky Mountain Riding Stables is scheduled to be closed on November 29, weather permitting. HORSE CAMPS Round Bottom and Tow String horse camps are closed for the season. The other three: Cataloochee, Big Creek, and Anthony Creek will be closed on November 1. -NPS- Nancy Gray Great Smoky Mountains National Park 107 Park Headquarters Road Gatlinburg, TN 37738 865/436-1208 e:mail: Nancy_Gray@xxxxxxx ===== ************************************************** Charlie Muise, Naturalist near Great Smoky Mountains National Park "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer." -Edward Abbey ************************************************** __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================