Tag Archives: smoky mountains

Great Smoky National Park is closing all public access to slow spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, after experiencing a surge of visitors that defied previous park efforts to reduce congestion and crowds within the park to comply with health official’s guidance for social distancing. Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that all park areas, except the Foothills Parkway and ...

Visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park should be aware of recent facilities closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that campgrounds, picnic areas, and restrooms will be closed on Monday, March 23 through Thursday, April 30, in a continuing effort to support federal, state, and local efforts to slow the spread of the ...

The park announced it would stop taking reservations for certain facilities and modify policies for campground and backcountry campers in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Great Smoky Mountains National Park continues to take steps to implement the latest guidance from the White House, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and local and state authorities to promote social distancing during the ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that Sugarlands, Oconaluftee, and Cades Cove Visitor Centers are closed until further notice as a safety precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and recommendations from state and local public health in consultation with NPS Public Health Service officers, these facilities are closed for the ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that Cades Cove reopens on Saturday following a two-month closure for tunnel repairs. Bryant’s Land and Development Industries Inc. of Burnsville, NC finished the $950,000 Bote Mountain Tunnel repair along Laurel Creek Road ahead of schedule, allowing the popular area to reopen February 29, 2020 in time for the first full weekend of ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park welcomed a record 12,547,743 visitors in 2019, which is 1,126,540 more visitors than in 2018. The park’s three primary entrances near Gatlinburg, Townsend, and Cherokee all had increased use, accounting for about two-thirds of the total park visitation. Secondary park entrances experienced tremendous growth, due primarily to the new section of the Foothills Parkway between ...

A Tellico Plains woman was seriously injured Monday afternoon in an attack by a humanized white-tailed buck deer outside a business in Maryville.  On Nov. 4, 2019 at about 12:40 p.m., a woman was seriously injured by a humanized, male white-tailed deer outside of U.S. Tanx, located at 110 North Springview Drive in Maryville. The injured woman was getting the ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced the adoption of a new regulation to allow the use of low-speed electric bikes, called e-bikes, in the park at all locations where bicycles are currently allowed. Both Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes, which can provide electronic assistance until the rider reaches a speed of 20 mph, are allowed under the new ...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host the annual Mountain Life Festival near the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at the Mountain Farm Museum on Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience traditional fall harvest activities on the farm including hearth cooking, apple butter making, blacksmithing, lye soap making, and food preservation. ...

Five men have been fined and banned from hunting or entering any national forest as a result of a bear baiting investigation by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and USDA Forest Service. Monroe County Wildlife Officers and USDA Forest Service Officers from the Cherokee National Forest have closed a bear baiting case. The Forest Service and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency ...