Military Officer - April 2008 - (Page 66) ting grizzly bears, and with a good telescope, you might see them from Chittenden Road, just south of Tower Fall. Wolves also have become a popular attraction since being reintroduced to the park 12 years ago. There currently are more than 130 gray wolves in the park, and they most frequently are seen in the Lamar Valley between the northeast park entrance at Cooke City and Tower Fall. “Wolf tourism has become a big thing here,” Nash notes. He calls Yellowstone’s wolf population “a restoration success story.” Visitors need to be careful when viewing wildlife, however, and should never approach a bear more closely than 100 yards or other large mammals more closely than 25 yards. Visitors who want to learn more about these predators can do so at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone at the park’s west entrance. Here, they can view these fascinating predators up close. While in town, visitors can explore the Museum of the Yellowstone, which has exhibits of the park’s early visitation and history, or explore the dozens of craft and gift shops in town. Northwest of town is Hegben Lake, which offers boating and fishing, and the Earthquake Area Visitor Center, which is situated on the site of the 1959 Madison Canyon earthquake — a reminder that the same geologic activity that makes Yellowstone a special place to visit also can cause danger and destruction. 66 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2008 Great Smoky Mountains National Park The Great Smoky Mountains National Park might be the nation’s most popular park, with some 10 million visitors annually, but in early spring, when wildflowers are beginning to bloom, crowds are thin. Located between the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, the park has more than 520,000 acres of wilderness, and much of it is off the beaten path, accessible only via graveled back roads and 800 miles of hiking trails. The most popular route through the park is the Newfound Gap Road, which runs from Cherokee, N.C., to Gatlinburg, Tenn. A must-see stop along the way is the short hike to the observation tower at Clingman’s Dome, the park’s highest peak. But fewer people can be found at other venues, including the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, which is accessible from downtown Gatlinburg. The Motor Nature Trail is a paved, one-way trail that provides a quiet retreat by foot or car and offers many opportunities to view wildlife. Visitors can spend as little as an hour along this route or as much as a day if they care to explore one or more of the many hiking trails here. A fairly strenuous six-mile round-trip trek will take hikers to the cascading water terraces of Rainbow Falls. Many original Appalachian homes are visible along this route and [CONTINUES ON PAGE 87]
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