Sunday, August 30, 2009

Day 1 / Dzien 1.

The journey has begun. We left South Carolina and headed north. Our plan to get a few things done in Asheville failed miserably, so as of now we are still traveling without AAA and our prepaid phones are almost out of minutes (won't be calling you anytime soon...).
A several miles long drive on a very narrow and very winding gravel road has brought us to Cataloochee, the eastern-most part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We couldn't have asked for a better kick-off. Before heading to the campground, we had a chat with a park volunteer who explained to us hormonal inclinations of the local elk population and pointed us in the right direction to see Number 3, a colossal male with a harem of 17 females.He let out a bugling call taht left us breathless. You could say that Number 3 performs for many and disappoints few.

Podroz sie rozpoczela. Opuscilismy Poludniowa Karolina i podazylismy na polnoc. W planie mielismy zalatwienie kilku spraw w Asheville ale to skonczylo sie porazka, wiec obecnie nadal podrozujemy bez planu pomocy drogowej i prawie nie mamy minut w naszych komorkach (nie czekajcie na telefon od nas...).
Kilkanascie kilometrow na bardzo waskiej i bardzo kretej zwirowej drodze i dotarlismy do Cataloochee, najbardziej wysunietej na wschod czesci Parku Narodowego Great Smoky Mountains. Nie moglismy marzyc o lepszym miejscu na spedzenie pierwszej nocy. Zanim zadomowilismy sie na kempingu, mielismy pogawedke z wolontaruiszem pracujacym w parku, ktory wyjasnil nam hormonalne zadze miejscowej populacji jeleni i skierowal nas we wlasciwym kierunku zebysmy zobaczyli Numer 3, samca kolosa z haremem 17 samic. Wydal on ryk, po ktorym zaniemowilismy. Mozna powiedziec, ze Numer 3 zrobi cos dla kazdego i niewielu rozczarowuje.


Cataloochee Valley, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Dolina Cataloochee, Park Narodowy Great Smoky Mountains.


Elk. They are big. Bigger than park's brown bears.
Jelenie. Wielkie. Wieksze niz zyjace w parku niedzwiedzie brunatne.



Number 3.
Numer 3.

2 comments:

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  2. this is so beautiful. i'm jealous.

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