Trike Motorcycle Fatality Reported on Newfound Gap in Smokies

Park officials say one person was killed and another injured after a trike motorcycle struck a vehicle on Newfound Gap Road on Friday, requiring a complex rescue from a steep ravine by emergency personnel.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Rangers responded to to an accident on Newfound Gap Road, just north of Newfound Gap near Morton Overlook, involving a trike motorcycle and a vehicle just after 2 p.m. on Oct. 27, 2017.

The trike motorcycle with a male and female rider, both age 71 and of Knoxville, was reportedly traveling north when it crossed over the centerline and stuck a passenger vehicle in the southbound lane. The motorcycle then crashed into a rock retaining wall, sending both riders over the wall and tumbling down the near vertical embankment and falling about 40 yards.

Park Rangers and emergency responders with the Park Technical Rescue Team, Gatlinburg Fire Department and Pigeon Forge Rescue Team performed a technical rope rescue to hoist the patients back up to the roadway. A LifeStar helicopter transported both riders to UT Medical Center in Knoxville, where the male rider was pronounced dead. The condition of the female rider was not released. None of the people traveling in the passenger vehicle sustained injuries.