National Moth Week 2023 was held coincidently the exact same dates as our Tennessee reunion, and good thing because I photographed an awful lot of Moths. I am still posting some observations and hope to get in the top 500 of this worldwide iNat project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/national-moth-week-2023
The family reunion of 2023 was in a remote wooded area of Sevierville, TN and still close enough to all the touristy things Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg have to offer. None of us live or are from Tennessee, so we all converged here by either car or plane and from the north or the south. All together 34 of us in attendance. The well-manicured property with plenty of space to house 14 cabins (numbered 1-15, but no 13 to avoid being in a scary movie) was situated in a relaxing, pretty, quiet, rustic area with the bubbling sounds of multiple creeks all around.
My plan was to explore two somewhat less visited trails within the very popular and well trafficked Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). That changed on our first morning. After having some coffee Debbie went on an early morning solo walk around the cabin area. She returned 15 minutes later white in the face and obviously spooked. She explained she had seen a Black Bear run across the country road in front of her. Then someone in a car told her there were also two cubs with that Bear. Debbie did not bring her phone, so there would be no photo of this. Her Bear encounter changed my plans. Why drive nearly an hour into the GSMNP to look for Bears and do wildlife photography when I can hike the “backyard” of this cabin area and be in the woods where Bears live and as a bonus not running into anyone.
My contribution to this project is all the research grade animals I was able to photograph around the cabin area, at House Mountain State Natural Area, and at Seven Islands Birding State Park. I never did go to GSMNP and I do not feel like I missed anything. It rained the week before we all arrived and again when we left, but the 6 days we all spent here was sunny and hot: not a drop of rain. It turned out to be a well-planned reunion, a nice vacation, and a good expedition to seek out animals.
With 54 days left to the start of this project, today is Memorial Day and I have another day to make refinements to my strategy. I believe I have the framework for my own exploration planned out pretty well. Flying in, the car rental, lodging, food, gear, sleep, locations, I feel like the preparation and schedule I have done thus far should lead to success. Success will be surpassing 100 animal species and getting near the goal of 150. Other participates? Sure, the more the merrier, but I will not tie my success to whether I can pull others into this project. I estimate 30 of us including little kids will show up for the reunion. A Black Bear is an obvious target, also a rattlesnake, along with salamanders (GSMNP is the salamander capital of the world). I plan on bringing some trail cameras, doing some nighttime mothing, installing bird feeders around the cabin, and also doing some net sweeping in a field behind the cabin for insects. I will have 5 full days alone and a half day in which I will try to persuade my wife Debbie to join me for a couple hours on an easy venture into GSMNP. This trip is not the location of my choosing for wildlife photography, primarily because of how hugely popular and trafficked this area is, but I think I can properly plan a good adventure. A good adventure is what I have in the making. I am looking forward to getting out in the TN woods.
