Tag Archives: hiking

Great Smoky Mountains National Park welcomed over eleven million visitors in 2016. Throughout the year, the park encouraged people to experience the park in honor of the National Park Service Centennial. In 2016, a record 11,312,785 people visited the national park, a 5.6% increase over 2015. In addition, over 2,200 people joined Superintendent Cassius Cash by completing the Smokies Centennial ...

The giving spirit is visible on the roads across Tennessee and North Carolina this holiday season with Friends of the Smokies license plates. Sales of specialty plates in Tennessee and North Carolina play an essential role in raising funds for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This year, the specialty plates generated nearly $815,000. Since its launch in 1999, the program ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials will lift the campfire ban on Friday, Dec. 23, 2016. Campfires and open grills have been banned in the backcountry since Nov. 1 and throughout the park and frontcountry areas since Nov.15. Beginning Friday, visitors can have campfires and use grills at established frontcountry and backcountry campsites and picnic areas. Recent rains, along with ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials have closed Newfound Gap Road, Cherokee Orchard Road, Elkmont Road, and several trails due to the Chimney 2 Fire. As of Monday morning, Nov. 28, 2016, the fire has grown to approximately 500 acres in size overnight due to extreme, sustained winds over 20 mph. National Park Service fire crews are focusing on suppression ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials celebrated the completion of a 2-year trail rehabilitation project on Alum Cave Trail on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016. Alum Cave Trail is one of the most popular trails in the park, leading hikers to iconic areas including Arch Rock, Inspiration Point, Alum Cave Bluffs, Mt. Le Conte, and LeConte Lodge. The trail was reopened, ...

Sevier County is the latest area of Tennessee to be placed under a burn ban due to drought conditions. State Agriculture Commissioner Jai Templeton has issued a burn ban for Claiborne, Jefferson, Loudon and Sevier Counties. The burn ban is effective immediately and will remain in place until further notice. “Sevier County has requested that the Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced the temporary closure of roads within the Greenbrier section of the park during the month of November for bridge repairs. The Ramsey Prong Road will be closed from the turnoff to the trailhead on Tuesday, Nov. 1 through Monday, Nov. 14, 2016 to allow repairs on two bridges. During this time period, hikers ...

A fire that began last week on Happy Valley Ridge in the Abrams Creek area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park now covers 120 acres. Since first reporting the Happy Valley Ridge fire, located along the northwest boundary of the park north of the Abrams Creek Campground, on Sept. 15, 2016, park officials say it has grown to 120 acres ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park invites the public to join park staff on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016 for the 23rd annual celebration of National Public Lands Day. National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest single-day volunteer effort to improve and enhance the public lands across America. In recognition, the park is hosting a variety of service projects across the ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, dignitaries, and special guests gathered at Park Headquarters on Thursday to celebrate the 100th birthday of the National Park Service. The celebration held August 25, 2016, known as Founders Day, honors the historic moment in 1916 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the act that created the National Park Service. US Senator Lamar Alexander (TN), US ...