Great Smoky Mountains National Park (93)
Updated Oct. 2: Helene hits the mountains: Death toll nears 200; factory scrutinized after worker deaths in Erwin; major roads and railroad links still cut; massive recovery underway; havoc in So. Appalachians
Written by T. Fraser, JJ Stambaugh; P. Penland and W. Naegeli
Helene fallout continues; hundreds still missing; at least 60 dead in NC; flooding and wind damage still widespread in Southern Appalachians; National Guard in action; land access, supplies, communications, water and power still spotty
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Demolished vehicles are seen in the area of what used to be Red Banks Campground in the Chestoa area of Unicoi County. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
ERWIN — The death toll from Hurricane Helene climbed to at least 180 people on Wednesday, making it the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States in 50 years with the exception of Hurricane Katrina, which claimed over 1,800 lives in 2005 in what was also a largely impoverished area.
In one-hard hit community in the mountains of northeast Tennessee, emotions grew high as Spanish-speaking family of missing loved ones accused first responders through an interpreter of showboating, classism and preferential rescues during a tense press conference broadcast live on X.
The mounting death toll and increasingly fruitless searches came as millions of people spent their sixth day without running water or power and an ad hoc army of first responders, volunteers and National Guard troops struggled to deliver life-saving supplies to communities throughout the Southern Appalachians that were cut off by the record breaking flash floods spawned by the storm.
In Erwin, a town of 6,000 in Unicoi County, officials confirmed that a criminal investigation had been launched into the conduct of a manufacturing company that was accused of forcing employees to keep working even as floodwaters rose to dangerous levels.
Smokies Superintendent Cassius Cash will go west to support Yosemite
Written by Peter Bartelme
Highlights of Cassius Cash’s tenure in Great Smoky Mountains National Park include regular hikes to discuss issues of race and diversity while surrounded by the astonishing biodiversity of the Smokies. Yosemite Conservancy
Cash spent nearly a decade at helm of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Peter Bartelme is Yosemite Conservancy public affairs representative.
SAN FRANCISCO — Yosemite Conservancy announced Sept. 20 that Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius M. Cash is its new, incoming president and CEO.
Cash will lead the organization into its second century of service — spearheading projects and programs that enhance the visitor experience and inspire donor support to protect and preserve Yosemite National Park for future generations.
Cash joins the Conservancy after 15 years of service in the National Park Service and 18 years of service with the U.S. Forest Service, most recently serving as superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park for nearly a decade.
Highlights of his time in the Smokies, the most-visited national park, include oversight of the response to the fatal wildfires of 2016; the creation of mandatory paid-permit parking; a focus on diversity; and promotion of adaptive technologies that allow for the disabled to venture into the outdoors.
ᎫᏬᎯ: Cherokee name restored to Tennessee’s highest mountain
Written by Katie Liming
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the formal name change of Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi, which means ‘mulberry place’ in Cherokee. Simon Whitehurst/Great Smoky Mountains Association
Work already underway to replace signage related to peak named after Rebel general
Katie Liming is a public information officer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
GATLINBURG — The U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted Sept. 18 in favor of the formal request submitted by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to change the name of Clingmans Dome (FID #1326387) to Kuwohi.
Kuwohi is the Cherokee name for the mountain and translates to “mulberry place.” In Cherokee syllabary, the name is ᎫᏬᎯ. The National Park Service strongly supported the name restoration and applauds today’s decision, which also received support from local communities and governments.
Kuwohi is a sacred place for the Cherokee people and is the highest point within the traditional Cherokee homeland. Kuwohi is visible from the Qualla Boundary, the home of the Eastern Band. Efforts are already underway to update signage, website and other materials with the Kuwohi name.
Clingmans Dome has always been known as Kuwohi to the Cherokee. The mountain became known as Clingmans Dome following an 1859 survey by geographer Arnold Guyot, named for Thomas Lanier Clingman, who was a lawyer, U.S. representative and senator from North Carolina, and Confederate brigadier general.
Stubborn Flint Gap fire continues to burn in Great Smokies
Written by Katie Liming
That’s not the natural ‘smoke’ of the Smokies. The Flint Gap fire has burned about 50 acres south of Abrams Creek in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. National Park Service
Firefighters stage in Abrams Creek Campground in national park as more resources arrive
Katie Liming is a public affairs officer with Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
GATLINBURG — The Flint Gap Fire is 46 acres as of the last estimate. Although the fire is presently uncontained, only a few areas are actively burning within the perimeter. Once firefighter access and safety in this remote and steep terrain is addressed, a full suppression strategy will be executed.
The fire did not receive as much rain over the weekend as previously predicted; however, a local weather station did show that 0.34 inches fell on the fire early Sept. 17.
On Monday, the fire responded to decreasing relative humidities, 10 mph winds and afternoon direct sunlight with some increased activity and additional smoke. The fire is currently backing through fingers of available fuels with flame lengths of 1-3 feet in some areas. Fire activity is primarily in areas with pockets of pine litter and near drainages.
Park service: Economic impact of Great Smoky Mountains National Park reaches new heights
Written by Katie Liming
Fontana Resort, once the site of a Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps camp and now home to a comfortable, low-key lodging destination, has numerous relics and mementos from nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Included among them is this collection of badges indicating landmarks and completion of popular trails throughout the park. Visitors to areas close to the Smokies, such as Fontana Village, bring in an estimated $3 billion each year. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
Cash-rich tourists flock to Smokies area; whether they set foot in the national park is a different story
Katie Liming is a public information officer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
GATLINBURG — A new National Park Service report shows that 13.3 million visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2023 spent $2.2 billion in communities near the park. That spending supported 33,748 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.4 billion. (In 2020, albeit a year of peak COVID-19, that amount was $2 billion).
“People come to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to enjoy the scenic beauty and end up supporting local economies along the way,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “We’re proud to care for a national park that provides incredible opportunities for recreation but also creates jobs and positively contributes to local economies.”
Mountain monarchs inspired Wanda DeWaard’s legacy of citizen science
Written by Élan Young
Wanda DeWaard has spent 30 years studying and tagging monarch butterflies. Here she leads a volunteer group of citizen scientists tagging monarchs in Cades Cove. Photos courtesy of Wanda DeWaard
Successful Smokies monarch tagging project is a product of the people
Every winter, way up in the oyumel firs in Mexico’s high elevation forests, millions of North American monarch butterflies that have traveled from as far north as Canada cluster in colonies to overwinter before flying north again to lay eggs in spring. Tens of thousands of monarchs might adorn a single tree like a papery gown, sometimes weighing it down enough to break off branches.
To get to the oyumel forests several miles above sea level, which provide a perfect microclimate for the weary travelers, they migrate south using different aerial paths, or flyways, that merge together over Central Texas. This migrating generation can live up to nine months and might travel anywhere from 1,000-3,000 miles to the forests they seek, yet have never been to. Mysteriously, they find their way and sometimes even make it to the exact tree where their ancestors four or five generations back once clustered.
Monarchs are the only butterfly that makes a long two-way migration. Despite much research on the species, science still hasn’t fully unraveled the secrets of their incredibly accurate homing system. This makes them one of the true marvels of the natural world.
A tagged monarch feeds on nectar in the Great Smokies before joining the migration to Mexico for the winter.
- monarch butterflies
- smokies monarchs
- wanda dewaard
- monarch tagging program
- eastern north american monarch butterflies
- monarchs in mexico
- oyumel firs
- great smoky mountains institute at tremont
- tremont butterflies
- tremont tagging
- tremont butterfly tagging
- elan young journalist
- register for monarch tagging
- citizen science
- monarch watch
- milkweed
- milkweed toxic to birds
- monarch conservation
Hunt mushrooms in the Smokies for the 2024 Continental Mycoblitz
This event was postponed on a previous date.
GATLINBURG — Partner with Discover Life in America to find and collect mushrooms and fungi specimens for identification and DNA sequencing and learn more about the diversity of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Register here for the event, set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 16 at Twin Creeks, 1316 Cherokee Orchard Road in Gatlinburg.
The fungi roundup is in conjunction with the Summer 2024 Continental Mycoblitz, a continentwide fungi data-collection project.
Expect a 1-2 mile easy to moderate hike. Email Jaimie Matzko, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., for more information.
Park service opens comment period for Foothills Parkway extension from Wears Cove to Gatlinburg
GATLINBURG — The National Park Service has posted the Foothills Parkway Section 8D Environmental Assessment (EA) for a 30-day public comment period ending Aug. 21. The EA evaluates the construction of nine miles of new parkway from Wears Valley to the Gatlinburg Spur near Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
(Hellbender Press first reported on this proposal in 2021.)
A virtual public meeting about the EA and the proposed action will be held at 5 p.m. July 30. The meeting will include a presentation about the overview of the project and give time for the public to ask questions.
Read the EA, learn more about the proposed Foothills Parkway Section 8D project, and provide comments.
Before FDR, the artists and the auto dealers: How Knoxville influenced early days of Great Smokies park campaign
Written by Thomas Fraser
The photos of the Thompson Brothers, namely Jim Thompson, helped galvanize support for the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the Tennessee-North Carolina border. The photo is undated, but was likely taken in the 1930s. The original caption note from the photographer reads: “Most of the streams in the Great Smokies are entirely safe for drinking purposes. The water flows from deep-shaded mountain sides, free from human contamination, and it is well aerated as it dashes wildly down the steep mountain sides. Even during the hottest days of summer, the water is so cold that it will cause one’s hands to ache if held in the water for a few minutes.” University of Tennessee Libraries/Thompson Brothers Collection
Knoxville History Project observes 100th anniversary of a key meeting and month in Great Smoky Mountains history
KNOXVILLE — Parts of the mountains were broken, but it was all beautiful, and many artists and writers long took careful note of the rugged, remote rainforest to the southeast of the city.
Decades before modern scientific endeavors like the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory began documenting the wondrous, mountainous biodiversity of what was to become Great Smoky Mountains National Park, photographers, writers, journalists, naturalists and artists, including many from Knoxville, extolled the virtues of the relatively lofty blue-green mountains seen in silhouette from the city.
Much of the land was scarred by logging and erosion; much was not, and its beauty, frozen in a frame or penned to a page, spoke for itself through countless artists.
Their early 20th-century renderings of the Smokies, from prose to photographs, amazed critical federal officials and the public and helped close the complex deal on what is now the most visited national park in the United States.
The Knoxville History Project is offering a series of events and symposium set for July 25-27, centered around the East Tennessee History Center on Gay Street, that will recognize the varied efforts of historical Knoxvillians to boost the concept of the national park through multimedia arts, science and journalism.
- tennessee archive of moving image & sound
- great smoky mountains conservation association
- great smoky mountains national park
- jim thompson
- sept 2, 1940
- all taxa biodiversity inventory
- knoxville history project
- east tennessee history center
- smokies national park campaign
- smokies history
- birth of a national park in the smokies
- eric dawson
- stark love
- central cinema
- bijou theater
- mcclung historical collection
- jack neely
- dedication of great smoky mountains national park
- when did smokies open?
- wbir
- carlos campbell
- ijams nature center
- franklin d roosevelt
- alum cave
- mt leconte
- mountain view hotel
Seeking the musical saw-whet, drawn to Smokies by space and time
Written by Rob Hunter
Though seldom seen, the toot-toot tunes of the northern saw-whet owl are signs of late spring in the high peaks of Southern Appalachia. Rob Hunter/Hellbender Press
Though not on any formal breeding list, nocturnal nomads bring spring tunes to high Smokies
GATLINBURG — It’s a May evening and I’m standing at a pull-off on Clingmans Dome Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My breathing is light as I close my eyes and listen intently for a singular sound on the crisp night air. I hold absolutely still to keep my heavy coat from rustling. The coat is necessary on nights at this elevation, even as Memorial Day approaches.
This is not my first stop along the road tonight and my patience is beginning to wane. Just as I decide to turn back toward the car, the sound I’m seeking reaches my ears.
Toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-…
Saw-whet owls are not officially listed as Smokies breeders, but a wealth of anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
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A recent display of synchronous fireflies (Photinus carolinus) in the Smokies. Abbott Nature Photography
Thousands of visitors view annual firefly spectacles in Smokies area as natural light show dims elsewhere
ELKMONT — Anyone who has fallen in love knows reading a love poem is no substitute for direct experience. Similarly, no technology, no art form, nor any reportage can come close to the mesmerizing firsthand experience of witnessing hundreds of thousands of synchronous firefly beetles pulsing in the dark during the peak of their mating period in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Over the last 20 years, throngs of eager visitors have trekked by the thousands to catch this rare glimpse of collective insect behavior. The crowds posed problems: Since females and larvae of the species are on and under the ground, visitors can trample them if they stray off trail. Likewise, flashlights and other white lights, including from cell phone screens, can also disrupt courtship.
The firefly phenomenon caught fire in 1991, when Lynn Faust read an article suggesting that no synchronous fireflies lived in the western hemisphere, yet she knew that’s what she witnessed in the 1960s at the historic Elkmont community when she vacationed there with her in-laws. After she brought Photinus carolinus to the attention of scientists, word spread and new firefly pilgrimages to Elkmont were born.
- fireflies in smokies
- elkmont fireflies
- firefly tourism
- photinus carolinus
- elan young
- discover life in america
- becky nichols entomologist
- walk in the woods
- dancing bear townsend
- firefly hikes
- firefly camping
- grandfather mountain fireflies
- smoky mountain guides
- norton creek
- firefly habitat
- how can i attract fireflies
- all taxa biodiversity inventory
- bioluminescense
- synchronous fireflies
Gatlinburg bear faces euthanization following viral social media moment
Written by Thomas Fraser
In this image from a social media video, a woman and child are seen outside the Bearskin Lodge in Gatlinburg. Biologists have concluded the bear is too habituated to humans and plans call for trapping and euthanizing the animal. Hellbender Press
The incident caught outside a Gatlinburg hotel was not “normal bear behavior” and relocation of a fed, fearless bear isn’t an option
All-access passes enabled in Smokies: “This national park belongs to you”
Written by Ben Pounds
Vicky Wallace gets assistance crossing a creek in her off-road GRIT wheelchair during an adaptive camping outing along Cooper Road Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Yvonne Rogers/Hellbender Press
Adapted to their environment, wheelchair users venture into Smokies backcountry
TOWNSEND — Four wheelchair users ventured this month to an Abrams Creek backcountry campsite in a first for the Smokies.
Borne by GRIT Freedom Chairs, the able trekkers arrived June 8 in a collaborative event featuring Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Knox County, Kampgrounds of America Foundation and Catalyst Sports. The intrepid group had headed up about a mile of the wide, gravel Cooper Road Trail over hills toward Campsite 1, past horses, along and through streams, finally reaching their campsite. The three-wheeled, arm-powered GRIT chairs are designed for off-road routes.
For much of the route the adaptive hikers used their arms to move their chairs, but other people accompanied them on foot, sometimes helping them up difficult hills or over streams. Those in the chairs enjoyed the mountain water that rushed over their feet.
Park Ranger Katie Corrigan talked about highlights of the natural world around them and led discussions on the concepts of wildness and wilderness. Just like many other backcountry campers, the group of adventurers ate s’mores and slept in tents at the campsite before heading back down Cooper Road to the trailhead the next day.
- carly pearson
- park ranger katie corrigan
- grit freedom chairs
- cooper road trail
- great smoky mountains national park
- abrams creek
- campsite 1 smokies
- kampgrounds of america foundation
- catalyst sports
- daniel penley
- kaitlyn lengel
- vicky wallace
- americans with disabilities act coordinator for knox county
- adaptive sports
- adaptive recreation
- adaptive kayaking
- adaptive recreation smokies
- disabled access
- disabled access to outdoors
- people with disability
- accessibility
- people with limited ability
- adaptive program
You feel lucky? Smokies sets synchronous firefly lottery.
GATLINBURG — Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host the annual synchronous firefly viewing opportunity at Elkmont from Monday, June 3 through Monday, June 10. The public may apply for the limited viewing opportunity by entering a lottery for a vehicle reservation through www.recreation.gov.
The lottery opens for reservation applications on Friday, April 26 at 10 a.m. EDT and closes Monday, April 29 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Using the lottery system ensures everyone who applies for a reservation has an equal chance of getting one.