Blue Ridge Parkway warns drivers of 700-pound elk ‘known to charge'

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS — If you're planning a trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway this fall, be sure to watch out for elk as you cruise around the mountain roads.

Blue Ridge Parkway officials posted on Facebook that 500-700-pound elk "that have been known to charge in order to defend themselves" have been spotted along the parkway and in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Officials said elk have made a comeback in the western North Carolina mountains after they were reintroduced into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2001 and 2002.

Drivers can spot them in the southernmost areas of the parkway and in some neighboring communities.

Cox Media Group