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SCOUT LEADER OVERVIEW

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
SCAVENGER HIKE ADVENTURES

BY KAT AND JOHN LAFEVRE

EARN BADGES!!! EARN TRY-ITS!!!

 The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an incredibly awesome place!!!  We are all so fortunate to have this beautiful National Park in our own backyard!!!

Explore it with your scouts and feel the magic of a waterfall, hear the sound of a little red mountain boomer squirrel and sense the awe as a deer quietly walks through the beautiful forest!!!

When you go on a Scavenger Hike Adventure you and your scouts  will find where people lived many many  years ago before this area became a national park!!! Seeing old homesites, springhouses and cemetaries remind us of the great sacrifices these people made so this beautiful natural area can be enjoyed by all of us today!!!

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a very special and unique place!!! Your scouts will be amazed by some of the facts about our beautiful national treasure!!!

1. The GSMNP is the most visited national park in our country!!!
     About 10 million people visit this park every year!!!

2. The mountains in the GSMNP are among the oldest mountains in the whole
   world!!! Scientists believe they are over 260 million years old!!! In comparison,
   the Rocky Mountains are only 30 million years old.

3. Cherokee Indians have lived throughout the Smokies for over 1,000 years!!! They named this area
     Shaconage (Sha-con-a-gee) which means Place of the Blue Smoke!!!

4 The GSMNP gets more rain than almost any other place in our country!!! More than 7 feet
   (84-100 inches) of rain falls in the higher elevations of our park each year !!!

5. The GSMNP has many many different species of plants and trees and is so lush and
   green that some areas even look like a jungle because so many plants grow here!!!
   All the trees and plants put water vapor into the air and make the mountains look
   smoky.  That's why they are called the Smoky Mountains!!!

6. The GSMNP is known for it's great biodiversity!!! Scientists believe there are over
   100,000 different species of life living in the park!!! There are over 130 different kinds of
   trees in the GSMNP!!! This is more than in all of northern Europe. The GSMNP has more
   champion trees (the largest tree of it's species in the United States) than any other
   national park in our country!!! Many trees in the park are over 500 years old!!!

7. About 1500-2000 black bears live in the GSMNP!!! Black bear cubs are often born up in
   trees during the winter while their mother is sound asleep!!!  When the mother bear wakes up, her
   babies are about 3 months old. A baby bear is about the size of a pop can when it is born!!!
   A bear can run about 35 m.p.h.!!!

8. The GSMNP is known as the Salamander Capital of the world!!! There are more
   salamanders in the GSMNP than in any other place the same size anywhere in the world!!!  There are
   over 32 different kinds of salamanders living in the park!!!  Salamanders range from ½ inch  to 2 1/2
   feet long. The hellbender is the largest and strangest looking salamander in the
   park!!!

9.There are over 2,000 miles of streams in the GSMNP and in some streams there are
   2,000-4,000 trout  in one mile of the stream!!!

10.There are over 60 different kinds of mammals and about 230 different kinds of
     birds that live in the GSMNP!!! The wild turkey is the largest bird and the elk is the largest
     animal in the park!!!

Every plant, animal, tree, and historic structure is protected by our national park!!! The GSMNP is the only major national park that has no admission fee!!! Many people lived here before it became a park and it was written into the charter that it will always be free to come into the park.  Folks who sacrificed their homes for our national park  are always welcome to come back home!!!
Explore the Smokies
"Don't Just Take A Hike…Take a
     Scavenger Hike Adventure!!!"

We would love to hear from you!  Click here to send an e-mail to John and Kat LaFevre

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