Karen Chávez

kchavez@citizen-times.com

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK - Despite a late fall wildfire that shut down the park for nearly two weeks and scorched 11,000 acres, the Smokies drew a record number of visitors last year.

Park spokeswoman Jamie Sanders said more than 11.3 million people visited the Smokies in 2016, helping increase a healthy connection to the outdoors while boosting the economy.

The visitation was a 5.6 percent increase over 2015 when there were 10.7 million visitors.

The Smokies is a rugged swath of a half-million acres of wilderness, front- and backcountry campsites, picnic areas, historic structures and some 900 miles of trails straddling the North Carolina-Tennessee border. It is the most visited park in the National Park Service.

Visitors used the park's Gatlinburg, Tennessee, entrance most, with 3,715,480 visitors last year. Some 2.2 million entered through Oconaluftee in Cherokee, nearly 1.6 million through the Townsend, Tennessee entrance, and another nearly 3.2 million entered through the park’s outlying areas, such as Cataloochee and Deep Creek on the North Carolina side.

The increase in park visitors has a trickle-down effect by enhancing the economy in these gateway communities.

A National Park Service report released in April showed the 10.7 million visitors to the Smokies in 2015 spent $874 million in communities near the park. That spending supported nearly 14,000 local jobs. According to the report, National park tourism is also a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in national parks.

The busiest month in the Smokies was October, with 1.47 million visitors, followed by July with 1.46 million visitors.

Even though October – the peak month for leaf peepers – didn’t offer the most spectacular leaf color due to an extended warm, dry summer and fall, other factors helped drive increased interest in the Smokies, Sanders said.

“I believe the national publicity surrounding the National Park Service centennial was a huge factor,” she said. “The campaign encouraged people to get outdoors and explore their parks.”

Park ranger Florie Takaki, who works at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee, said many visitors knew about the centennial and say they came for the park’s birthday. Others came because they had visited as children and wanted to bring their children to experience the forests, waterfalls and wildlife.

“The (biological) diversity of the park and its closeness to two-thirds of the U.S. population and international airports is always a factor,” Takaki said. “For the centennial we were able to do more outreach, such as coming to the LEAF festival in Asheville and some festivals in Knoxville.”

She also said people came from every corner of the world.

“We had people from Africa, the Middle East, Asian countries, the West Coast. The Smokies are so vastly different than the Rockies,” Takaki said. “It is world renowned. It’s an amazing number of people who got to experience the Smokies last year.”

Park Superintendent Cassius Cash also initiated the Smokies Centennial Hike 100 Challenge, encouraging people to hike at least 100 miles in the Smokies throughout the year. More than 2,200 people completed the challenge, including Cash, who led several hikes with local schoolchildren.

“I continue to be inspired by the number of people enjoying the park, but more importantly, I am moved by their unwavering support and care for this special place,” Cash said in a statement.

“This support is more critical than ever since we have entered into our second century of service and recovery following the Chimney Tops fire. The response of the Smoky Mountains community, both near and far, has been remarkable and we thank you.”

The Chimney Tops 2 fire began Nov. 23. Whipped by high winds and extremely dry conditions, it swept north into Gatlinburg on Nov. 28, where it killed 14 people and destroyed thousands of homes and other structures. Two teenagers have been charged in setting the fire. The park was closed Nov. 28 to Dec. 9.

The following trails remain closed: Chimney Tops Trail, Road Prong Trail, Sugarlands Mountain Trail, Bullhead Trail, Rough Creek Trail, Cove Mountain Trail, Cove Hardwood Nature Trail, and Sugarlands Riding Stables concession trails.

Sanders said public interest in caring for the park remains strong. In 2016, more than 2,230 volunteers donated more than 117,000 hours of service including trail maintenance, invasive plant removal, and providing visitor information along trails, visitor centers and campgrounds.

Front country camping increased to 327,033 campers, up 3.1 percent over 2015. Backcountry camping also increased with more than 109,344 campers spending a night at a backcountry campsite or shelter, up 12 percent over 2015.

Final numbers for visitation to the Blue Ridge Parkway have not been tallied, but the roadway through Asheville is typically the most visited unit of the National Park Service, with more than 15 million visitors in 2015.

Learn more

For more information on the Smokies, visit www.nps.gov/grsm.