Elk on the Oconaluftee River Trail

Our walk this morning started with a thrilling encounter with an elk. A sign on the road near the Visitor Center says “Elk crossing.” The elk we saw continued down to the river and crossed before disappearing into the forest on the other side. We didn’t have our cameras ready, so we didn’t get any good shots, but we did get the excitement of seeing an elk up close in the wild.

The trail runs between the highway and the river, generally closer to the river most of the way. It’s 1.5 miles to the termination at the boundary of the Cherokee tribal land.

Along the way we saw some birds and small squirrels and lots of wildflowers. We saw a few fly fishermen trying to tempt the trout on the river. We encountered a few fellow hikers and one jogger. Altogether it was a pleasant walk with the babbling of the river to accompany us along the way. Interpretive signs along the way told about the Cherokee traditional relationship with water and with the river.

When we emerged from the woods at the end of the trail, we were across the street from the Cherokee welcome sign. You can see the words in the Cherokee syllabary.

In front of us was the “famous swinging bridge” leading to some tourist businesses across the river. We walked across (it didn’t swing very much) and used the restrooms and browsed, but didn’t see anything unusual (same old same old). So we turned and walked back to the Visitor Center at a bit more rapid pace.

We were hoping for another elk sighting, but guess we were very lucky to have our close encounter.

On the way home we stopped at Mingus Mill. We were hoping to see the mill in action, but the attendant told us that the pipe that brings water to the mill had rusted through. It had been removed for repair and not yet returned. We still enjoyed seeing the old mill.

After lunch we worked on our chores for a while: cleaning the sediment filter, oiling some of the interior wood, and installing some really neat catches on our kitchen drawers. I happened upon a package of these at a thrift store and thought they’d be perfect for us. Not that we have grandchildren likely to get into the drawers. However, we’ve had problems with our drawers sliding open while we’re traveling.

Occasionally that has meant opening the door to find all the spices rolling around on the floor. So we’ve been tucking short sections of foam noodles in to try to retain the drawers. The catches I found are the kind that keep the drawer from opening more than an inch or two and then require that you press down to release the catch. What’s special about these particular ones is that they can be folded down to disable them when you don’t need them, so they won’t be in the way all the time.