TREES, SHRUBS, AND VINES: IDENTIFICATION AND USES 
The Smokies are home to a vast variety of plants, including more than 125 species of trees. Here’s your chance to learn more about the basics of identifying trees, vines, and shrubs without feeling overwhelmed! We’ll travel to various locations in the Park to develop tools with which you can identify plants everywhere. In addition, we’ll learn which plants do well in your garden and what uses they may have. Instructor: Edward E. C. Clebsch, Ph.D., professor emeritus, UT, Botany.
COURSE #291865 FEE: $49
Sat., Oct. 4, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(Meet in training room at Sugarlands Visitor Center.)
INCREDIBLE EDIBLES AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINALS
Climate and age of the Appalachian chain created a diversity of plant species that is greater here than anywhere in North America. This diversity of life has sustained man for 10,000 years. Spend a day discovering how to identify plants and trees Native Americans and early settlers used for dye, food, medicines, crafts, and other items of daily life. Sample delicious wild flavors appropriate to the seasons. The instructor will share the herblore from “medicine men” and “granny women” while the group searches the woods and fields of this temperate rain forest for its hidden treasures. Instructor: Ila Hatter is an interpretive naturalist, artist, storyteller, and wildcrafter with more than 28 years experience teaching the cultural heritage of native plants. Ila is author of Roadside Rambles, a wild foods cookbook, and a video series: Wild Edibles and Medicinals of Southern Appalachia and Mountain Kitchen. She hosted three Folkway programs for PBS/UNC-TV, and has appeared on CNN, Turner/South, RFDTV, and A&E.
COURSE #291881-1 FEE: $49
Sat., Oct. 11, 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(Meet at the barn at Oconaluftee Visitor Center, Cherokee, N.C.)
EDIBLE AND POISONOUS FUNGI OF THE SMOKIES
The Smoky Mountains are world-renowned for mushrooms and home to more than 2,000 species. Here’s a chance to learn about the many kinds of mushrooms and how to identify them by size, shape, and color. We will take short hikes in the Park to observe mushrooms in their natural habitat. Through these field explorations, we will learn about the ecology and habitats for mushrooms, toxicology, and the association between fungi and tree roots. The workshop is designed for beginners, but veterans will learn something, too. Instructor: S. Coleman McCleneghan, Ph.D., has taught numerous fungal courses including mycology and lichen courses at Appalachian State University, the Smoky Mountain Field School, and the Great Smoky Mountains Institute of Tremont. Coleman also leads walks for the annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage and the Roan Mountain Naturalist Rally.
COURSE #291858 FEE: $49
Sat., Oct. 11, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(Meet at the Greenbrier Picnic Pavilion.)
FRUIT, FOLIAGE, AND FALL WILDLIFE 
Discover the magic of fall in the Smokies as we seek out the many colorful fruits and leaves of the mountains, and carefully consider the wildlife they attract. On several short walks at various elevations and habitats, we will learn to identify the trees, shrubs, and vines in part by their unique colored leaves and fruit, as well as by other simple clues. We will also discover signs of wildlife that rely on this fruit to fuel their migration and movements, or to supplement their resident diet. These birds, bears, boomers, boars, and other animals make up the fall wildlife shuffle, a natural necessity. Along the way we will sample some fruit, see majestic views, begin to unravel the confusing fall warblers, and may even catch a glimpse of other wildlife. Instructor: Carey Jones is a former Park Ranger naturalist who for 14 years led education programs in the Smokies. Always the seeker and discoverer, his experience and M.A. help glean truths from nature to share with fellow learners. He leads walks for the annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage and is the narrator of the new Bird Songs of the Smokies CD set.
COURSE #291864 FEE: $49
Sat., Oct. 11, 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(Meet on porch at Park Headquarters building.)
CHARIT CREEK HIKE AND OVERNIGHT IN THE LODGE
Discover the beauty of Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area on the Tennessee/Kentucky border. This moderate seven-mile hike passes over and under a magnificent sandstone formation known as the Twin Arches. A wooden staircase makes for an easy climb to an overlook for a 360-degree view of the Big South Fork area. The Charit Creek Lodge, where we will spend the night, is accessible only by horseback or on foot. The lodge rests in a beautiful pasture framed by magnificent bluffs. There is no electricity, but each cabin is equipped with kerosene lamps and wood stoves. The lodge offers congenial accommodations and hearty meals. We suggest you sign up with an old friend, or be prepared to bunk with a new one! Instructors: Gayle and Hank Cooper are a husband-and-wife team of hikers with many years of experience. Gayle is founder of the Smoky Mountain Field School.
COURSE #291908 FEE: $115*
Sat. and Sun., Oct. 11 & 12
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area
(Meet at Bandy Creek Visitor Center, 10:00 a.m., Sat.)
*Registration fee is nonrefundable.
DAY HIKE TO MT. LECONTE
Spend the day with a naturalist and former Park Ranger exploring the plants, animals, and history along one of the most beautiful and significant trails in the Smokies. We’ll start in the Hemlocks, and wind through Northern Hardwood, Heath Bald, and Spruce-Fir forests to see majestic views on the thirdhighest peak in the Park. We’ll follow a cascading creek, climb through a huge rock, smell the remnants of Civil War mining at Alum Cave Bluff, and learn why this trail led to the Smokies becoming a National Park. After resting at historic LeConte Lodge, we’ll stroll up to the Cliff Tops’ fantastic view. Perhaps most memorable on this 10-mile round trip hike will be the discovery and identification of the trees, flowers, birds, salamanders, and other wildlife that make the Smokies the biological capital of temperate America. Instructor: Carey Jones is a former Park Ranger naturalist who for 14 years led education programs in the Smokies. Always the seeker and discoverer, his experience and M.A. help glean truths from nature to share with fellow learners. He leads walks for the annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage and is the narrator of the new Bird Songs of the Smokies CD set. Note: Participants need to be prepared to hike this 10-mile roundtrip strenuous hike.
COURSE #291918 FEE: $49
Sat., Oct. 18, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
(Meet at Alum Cave Bluff Trail parking lot on Newfound Gap Road.)
CATALOOCHEE GHOST TOWN HIKE
Spend a fall Saturday on a gentle walk through the former Little Cataloochee settlement region where little has changed since the late 1800s. This is an easy to moderate 5.4-mile round trip hike along the old community roadway where your guides will share their knowledge of history and the natural features that were cherished by early settlers. The journey passes by historic structures including the 1864 John Hannah cabin with its chimney of handmade brick and 29-inch puncheon floorboards. There, ghost of son “Uncle Jim” still shouts out “Republican chatter” to passersby as they stroll along. We’ll see the 1889 Little Cataloochee Church and peruse the nearby cemetery tombstones of many a child and youth. As we travel, we’ll be on lookout for occasional hog wallows, bear and coyote scat, and colorful fall plant life to add to the discovery. Weather and time permitting, we’ll turn around to complete our trip at the reconstructed Dan Cook cabin with walls still standing from the old apple house. Instructors: Joel and Kathy Zachry, both M.S., are husband and wife naturalists with more than 50 combined years of Park backcountry identification and hiking experience.
COURSE #291900 FEE: $49
Sat., Oct. 25, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(Meet at Little Cataloochee Trailhead off old NC Highway 284, Mt. Sterling Road.)
FALL NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
Learn techniques for designing photographs of combined subjects such as landscape, waterscapes, and fall color. We will use composition, perspective, light, and exposure to develop our images on film and will learn the technical manipulations of the equipment that are necessary to obtain the desired results. You should bring a 35mm camera, film, and a tripod. Instructor: Kendall Chiles is a freelance nature photographer with more than 20 years of photography experience. His photos have appeared in numerous books, magazines, and brochures, and he has taught various photography workshops.
COURSE #291904 FEE: $65
Sat., Oct. 25, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, Townsend
ANIMAL TRACKS AND TRACES
Come and discover the goings and comings of our forest friends from the traces that they have left behind. We’ll go on a treasure hunt and find clues in the forest to tell what animals have been there, what they were doing, and when they may come back. We’ll look for tracks, bits of food, fur, even trails laid out to favorite spots. Learn from the animals a new language—the language of the natural landscape! Instructor: Wanda DeWaard, M.S., recreation and environmental education, is an outdoor educator who has shared Earth Kinship and Environmental Awareness programs with community groups, schools, colleges, camps, environmental centers, and teacher conferences since 1974. Anything and everything in the natural world brings out her enthusiasm and contagious sense of fun.
COURSE #291890
Sun., Oct. 26, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(Meet at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont parking lot.)
FEE: $29 adults and teens
$19 child (ages 6-12)
The apple denotes Knox County Teacher Center approval for in-service credit.
Question? E-mail us at Smoky@utk.edu