Tag Archives: hiking

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced the spring opening schedule for park facilities for the 2016 season. As part of the schedule, officials also announced the Alum Cave Trail Restoration schedule, which includes a Monday through Thursday closure of Alum Cave Trail and the Mt. Le Conte Backcountry Shelter beginning May 2 through Nov. 17. Due to the construction ...

The Mill, which is located one half mile north of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee North Carolina, provides an opportunity for park volunteers to assist in educating visitors about the general role of milling in the Smokies and specifically the turbine wheel at Mingus Mill. Mingus Mill, built in 1886 offers visitors a unique look into see the inner ...

A scavenger hunt is a great way to explore and learn about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is holding a scavenger hunt inside the park this weekend. Participants who register for the scavenger hunt will receive 75 hunt questions/challenges via email by 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 11 and must report to ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Piedmont Zone fire staff plan to conduct a series of controlled burns in Cades Cove on Monday, March 7 through Friday, March 11, 2016. Weather depending, these prescribed fire treatments will take place in four field units totaling 502 acres between Sparks Lane and the Cable Mill Visitor Center area. “These controlled ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers are recruiting volunteers to adopt a phenology monitoring plot in areas throughout the park. Volunteers will collect information as part of an important research project tracking seasonal biological data such as plant flowering dates and the presence of migratory birds. Tracking this phenology data across the park allows scientists to better understand how plants ...

Friends of the Smokies has received a $21,500 grant from the Richard Haiman National Parks Foundation to support the Parks As Classrooms program and to resupply backcountry shelters in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Richard Haiman National Parks Foundation has supported Friends of the Smokies since 1999, contributing more than $400,000, nearly half of which has gone to fund ...

The National Park Service certified park visitation numbers yesterday, showing that Great Smoky Mountains National Park experienced the largest number of visitors in its history last year. Great Smoky Mountains National Park had 10,712,674 recreational visitors in 2015, breaking a visitation record set in 1999 and earning the title of #1 Most Visited National Park. The Top Ten Most Visited ...

Registration for the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is opening soon. Wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park have lain dormant as the winter’s wet, snowy, and cold weather persists. As the season changes, the warming sun heats the earth, awakening new growth to paint the landscape with a magnificent display of color. Southern migratory ...

In celebration of the National Park Service Centennial, Superintendent Cassius Cash has committed to hike 100 miles in Great Smoky Mountains National Park during 2016 and is challenging the public to do the same. The 100-mile goal is part of the “Smokies Centennial Challenge – Hike 100” program. This program aims to inspire all potential hikers—young and old, new and ...

Set your New Year resolution to celebrate the National Park Service’s Centennial and experience America’s most visited national park on guided hikes with Friends of the Smokies. View breathtaking vistas, rushing waterfalls, historic homesteads and much more tucked away in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the 2016 Classic Hikes of the Smokies Series. Friends of the SmokiesClassic Hikes of ...