Highlands, North Carolina

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Wade Abadie

Wade Abadie

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My wife and I are planning a trip in January to Highlands, NC. Is anyone here familiar with that area? (Maybe Steve?)

If so....can you recommend any nearby locations for wildlife? (more interested in mammals than birds) We've been there once several years ago for a wedding, but weren't able to do much exploring.
 
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Maybe head over up to Cherokee for elk? I got these Monday morning (from Cataloochee Valley, but there are more elk at Cherokee)
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Wade Abadie said:
Those are gorgeous shots! I might have to give Cherokee a closer look. Are there any specific parks, refuges, etc… that I should look into?
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Well the entire Cherokee area and up to Cataloochee are part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It looks like Cherokee is about 1hr from Highlands and Cataloochee is about 2hrs.
For the elk specifically, the best places I know of are right near the visitor center in Cherokee as you are entering the park (the Oconaluftee Visitor Center). There and maybe the next mile or two. For Cataloochee as long as they are out of the woods (they should be in the fields at least around sunrise and sunset), you will see them as there arent many routes to take once you get into the valley. Basically once you go down into the valley just go straight towards the old school house and church and you should see the elk.

Other than that I'm not too sure about mammals. White Tail deer/bucks in Cade Cove that time of year. Not sure exactly when they lose their antlers, though (or the elk, but no elk in Cades Cove). Bears will most likely be holed up somewhere.

You could try South Mountains State Park or South Mountains Game Lands - may get lucky with a bobcat or something. Other than that NC is limited with the mammals. You may run into some feral hogs, there are like 2 kinds of weasel and then mink. Your normal small mammals like skunks/possum/fox/coyote/rabbits/beaver/otter/etc.
 
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all the national wildlife refuges are in central or eastern NC (I can give you much more info on black bears or red wolves for the coastal plains area of NC - but that's going to be a 6-7 hour drive from Highlands)
 
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Wade Abadie said:
My wife and I are planning a trip in January to Highlands, NC. Is anyone here familiar with that area? (Maybe Steve?)

If so....can you recommend any nearby locations for wildlife? (more interested in mammals than birds) We've been there once several years ago for a wedding, but weren't able to do much exploring.
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This might be helpful.
www.highlandschamber.org

Explore Nature

www.highlandschamber.org
 
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A friend was at the Oconoluftee entrance (Cherokee) to the Smokies a couple of weeks ago and reported that the rangers are actively moving the elk away from people and photographers. That will make the area much less attractive for photos. Apparently the people were getting far too close to the elk. Cataloochee Valley will be much better and offers more photo opportunities other than elk.

As far as Highlands are concerned, there are a number of very nice waterfalls in the area that can be photographed from near the road. Kevin Adams has a good book and waterfall map on waterfalls of North Carolina. I'd highly recommend both.

There is another somewhat touristy opportunity near highlands - photographing the Bear Shadow. I've never photographed it, but at a certain time of day in the late afternoon, the mountains create a shadow of a bear. Do a search on Bear Shadow to find the details.
 
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