CAU > Seminars and Study Tours > Tennessee,: Springtime in the Smokies

Tennessee,: Springtime in the Smokies

May 3-7, 2006

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Join us in May to experience springtime in the Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which comprises more than eight hundred square miles in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, is an International Biosphere Reserve and a biodiversity showcase for the eastern United States. No other area of equal size in a temperate climate can match the park's amazing diversity of plants and animals. Over ten thousand species have been documented in the park and scientists believe an additional ninety thousand species may live here. In fact, the diversity of salamanders here is higher than in any other place on Earth.

According to geologists, the Appalachians are among the oldest mountain ranges in the world. Because elevations in the park range from 875 to 6,643 feet, one can travel from shady southern streamside forests to alpine-like spruce-fir forests in the space of a few hours. The cove hardwood forests of the Smokies are home to the greatest diversity of temperate-latitude tree species in North America, and the park's still-unexplained, high-elevation, grassy and heath "balds" are found nowhere else on Earth.

Our trip leaders will be Cornell alums Charles R. (Charlie) Smith (PhD '77) and Elizabeth A. Domingue (BS '87). Charlie is a naturalist and educator in Cornell's Department of Natural Resources and former director of Education and Information Services for the Laboratory of Ornithology. Liz is a freelance naturalist, writer, photographer, and educator, and founder of Just Get Outdoors. She lives in Tennessee, just outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. During our trip we'll concentrate on seeing spring wildflowers, ferns, trees, and birds in the park. We'll even spend part of an evening searching for salamanders and take a leisurely afternoon hike of about four miles (round-trip) to a nearby, high-elevation bald.

The accommodations for our visit will be the Wonderland Lodge, located in Sevierville, Tennessee, on the "quiet side" of the Smokies. The program fee of $1,375 (per-person, double-occupancy) includes all meals, accommodations, site visits, field trips, taxes, gratuities, escort services, and the full educational program. The supplement for single occupancy is $135. We will begin with dinner Wednesday evening and end before lunch on Sunday. Please be sure to bring comfortable outdoor clothing and sturdy walking shoes or boots for an active and informal weekend. Stone Travel of Ithaca will be happy to help you with travel arrangements (Knoxville is the nearest airport).