Tag Archives: hiking

More than 32,000 drivers in Tennessee and North Carolina are giving back this holiday season with Friends of the Smokies specialty license plates. Sales of full-color specialty license plates in Tennessee and North Carolina support critical projects in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Projects supported by the license plate fees include Student Conservation Association internship positions as well as Parks ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park invites visitors to join them for ranger-led hikes across the park on Friday, Nov. 27, 2015. Hikes will be offered in the Cataloochee, Elkmont, and Cades Cove areas of the park providing an outstanding opportunity for people of all ages to #OptOutside and enjoy the park. Rangers, park volunteers, and Friends of the Smokies staff ...

Tennessee State Parks will offer free, guided hikes at all 56 of its parks on Friday, Nov. 27, 2015 the day after Thanksgiving. This is the second year for this event, and one in a series of five statewide hikes throughout the year. “The After Thanksgiving Hikes are a perfect way to spend time with family and friends,” said TDEC ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park welcomed 1,370,640 visitors in October 2015, exceeding 2014’s mark of 1,303,640. This year’s visitation makes 2015 the second highest October visitation in the park’s history. Only October 1987 saw more visitors. October is traditionally the second busiest month of the year for the national park, driven by visitors coming to see the park’s fall foliage. ...

Visitation to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is up 5.5 percent through September 2015. Over 8 million visitors have come to the park so far this year. The increase has led to record months of visitation in both May and September with visitation surpassing 1 million visitors during each month. In September, the park welcomed 1,081,773 visitors, the most ever ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park fire management officials are planning a series of controlled burns within the Cades Cove and Cataloochee areas of the park. Weather permitting, burn operations could begin as early as Monday, Oct. 26, 2015 and may continue intermittently through mid-November. Prescribed Burns in Cades Cove Fire managers have identified multiple fields totaling approximately 300 acres for ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced the closure of the Whiteoak Sink area effective now through March 31, 2016 to limit human disturbance to bat hibernacula and help hikers avoid interactions with bats. Park biologists will be monitoring the site throughout the winter collecting population, ecological and behavioral data that will inform resource managers developing a long-term protection plan. ...

Officials have released their findings in the investigation of the death of Jenny Bennett, an avid local hiker who was found dead in Great Smoky Mountains National Park earlier this year. Susan J. Bennett, known as Jenny, of Sylva, N.C., was reported missing to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office on June 6, 2015. A frequent hiker in the Smokies, park ...

Friends of the Smokies raised $202,351 Thursday through its 21st annual Friends Across the Mountains telethon thanks to hundreds of callers, online donations and help from sponsors Dollywood, Mast General Store, Pilot Flying J, and Tennessee State Bank. Since 1995, Friends of the Smokies’ telethons have raised more than $3.2 million in support of America’s most-visited national park. The Friends ...

The National Park Service is turning 99 years old on August 25, 2015 and Great Smoky Mountains National Park invites you to join the party! Park visitors are encouraged to participate in one of the many ranger-led programs at park visitor centers or enjoy exploring the park along a scenic roadway, trail, or river. “We invite everyone to join us ...