At the edge of the Smoky Mountains, high up in Santeetlah Gap at an elevation of almost 2,900 feet in the Nantahala National Forest, nestles the rustic and picturesque Snowbird Mountain Lodge. From the lodge there is an ever-changing panoramic view of the Snowbird Mountain range, Lake Santeetlah, and the homes and fields of the Snowbird Indians in the valley below. Two miles from the lodge is the 3,800-acre Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, a wonderland of centuries-old hemlocks and tulip poplars, basswoods, beeches, oaks and flowering dogwoods, mosses, ferns and wildflowers -- a remnant of America's virgin wilderness and a fitting memorial to the poet who penned "Trees." The wildflowers will be blooming and the birds will be singing, including the trilling "snowbird" (Dark-eyed Junco) nesting at its mountain breeding ground. Join us in welcoming spring back to the mountains of western North Carolina.