Tag Archive: great smoky mountains national park
GSM Guide
September 14, 2014
Here are some great tips and places to view the Great Smoky Mountains Fall Foliage The highest elevation above 4,000 feet peak first about the first 2 weeks of October. Elevations in the 2000-3000 feet range peak about mid to late October or even early November. But the Great Smoky Mountains National Park covers such a large area of land there is always somewhere at peak or near peak as you travel in the park. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park mountain ranges have elevations from just over 875 feet to 6,643 feet. So a trip to view the fall color show…
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GSM Travel
fall foliage 2014, great smoky mountains, great smoky mountains national park
GSM Guide
August 13, 2014
This year has seen an increase in black bear activity and black bear sightings in the Great Smoky Mountains. It is very exciting to see a black bear while riding through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Many people pull their cars over or just stop causing a road hazard. Please remember to take precautions if you are in the Great Smoky Mountains and see a bear: stay back, do not run after or engage with the bear, do not feed, and do not interfere with the bears’s progress. Just observe from a distance. Use your zoom setting on the…
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GSM Travel
bear safety, black bear sightings, black bears, great smoky mountains national park
GSM Guide
August 12, 2014
Chimney Tops Trail is one of the most popular trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it is also one of the steepest and rockiest trails in the park. Crews have been working on the trail since 2012. Now crews that started working at the trailhead in 2012 have made it almost to the top. The trail work and improvements should be completed by the middle of October. The trail was badly eroded in areas and when it rained the trail had water drainage problems that posed problems for hikers. The Chimney Tops Trail improvement project is the second Trails Forever…
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Chimney Tops Trail, great smoky mountains national park, hiking, Trails Forever Project
GSM Guide
April 26, 2014
Fun day for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Junior Ranger Day. Today in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was National Junior Ranger Day. Activities were held at Oconaluftee, Sugarlands and Cades Cove visitor centers. Children had fun taking ranger-guided walks, talking with a wildland firefighter, working in a blacksmith shop, and holding real animal skins, skulls and scat. Children could earn a Junior Ranger patch and Junior Ranger booklets. It was a lot of fun for the kids as well as the entire families with everybody learning neat stuff about the Great Smoky Mountains.
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great smoky mountains national park, Junior Ranger Day
GSM Guide
April 11, 2014
An anonymous donor will give a donation of $2,185,000 to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is one of the largest cash donations ever to the GSMNP. The donation has two stipulations. The donation must be used on the Oconaluftee Visitor Center loan and a new loan for the construction of the new Collections Preservation Center. And the identity of the donor must never be made public. The Collections Preservation Center will be built in Townsend, TN and will house more than 144,000 artifacts, 220,000 archival records and 275 linear feet of library materials documenting the history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park…
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GSM Guide
April 2, 2014
Cades Cove was recently the site for emergency rescue mission training in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Aviation Unit had training in Cades Cove along with National Park Services Rangers, Tennessee State Parks Rangers, and first responders from across East Tennessee. The training involved air rescue and evacuation skills, procedures and drills. Exercises included a mock rescue of a stranded and injured “victim” and a mock rescue of an incapacitated “victim” due to severe weather. Helicopters were used as part of the training to lower rescuers down and then safely airlift a victim up into the helicopter.
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cades cove, East Tennessee, great smoky mountains national park, National Park
GSM Guide
March 18, 2014
Townsend, TN just south of Pigeon Forge is getting a Collections Preservation Center.Townsend is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The $4.3 million center will be built at the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center. Construction will begin this year and open in 2015. The Park Archives Center will be a 13,000 sq foot building and will be used to house documents and artifacts from the region that relate to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
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Collections Preservation Center, Great Smoky Mountain, great smoky mountains national park, National Park, Smoky Mountain, TN, townsend
GSM Guide
March 11, 2014
A $1,000 reward is being offered by Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials for the recent theft at a cabin in the Elkmont Historic District. The theft was an antique window from a historic cabin and it was discovered in January of this year. A sentence of up to 6 months in jail and or a fine up to $5,000 would be possible. It is against the law to disturb or deface natural and historic resources within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park or any National Park. The stolen antique window was from the former summer home of a Knoxville…
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Elkmont Historic District, great smoky mountains, great smoky mountains national park, National Park
GSM Guide
March 6, 2014
A recent report shows in 2012 more than 9.6 million visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park spent $741 million in neighboring towns and cities close to the park. The analysis was done by the U.S. Geological Survey economists and the National Park Service. The money spent supported almost 11,000 area jobs primarily in restaurants, grocery and convenience stores, lodging, and recreation and amusement.
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great smoky mountains national park, National Park, spending report
GSM Guide
January 25, 2014
The Great Smoky Mountains weather causing road closings. Winter weather conditions in the Great Smoky Mountains and the surrounding towns have caused hazardous driving conditions resulting in road closing. To get the most up to date info about road conditions and road closings see Smokies Road Info. More snow is predicted for Monday with bitter cold temperatures mid-week.
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great smoky mountains, great smoky mountains national park, road closings, Smokies Road Info, winter weather
