Road Closures in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Two needed road closure in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park planned to start next week may mean hikers will need to alter their plans and a shortcut to 321/Wears Valley Road will be inaccessible for more than 2 weeks.

Wears Gap Road Entrance to the Metcalf bottoms will be closed March 19th until April 5th due to work on bridge and the power line cutting off access to the Little Greenbrier School, as well as the Roundtop hiking trail and Little Brier Gap Trailhead.

During all day March 20th and 27th Tremont Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be closed for the delivery and installation of a new septic tank cutting off all access to the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont as well as the trailheads for West Prong Hiking Trail, Lumber Ridge Trail, and the Middle Prong Trailhead.

Outside of the park, there was another rockslide on 129 also called the Tail of the Dragon blocking all traffic near the Tennessee and North Carolina border. Department of transportation officials expect the road to be open some time late next week

Road Closure Information in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Little Greenbrier Gap Hiking trail reopened since black bear activity declined

Previously closed little Greenbrier gap hiking trail in the Little Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near the Metcalf picnic grounds has been reopened as black bear are no longer active in the area and a potential threat hikers.

The little Green Brier Gap hiking trails is 2.8 miles round trip and starts near the Little Greenbrier School and takes hikers to the Walker sisters cabin and ends at the Little Greenbrier hiking trail which runs from Wear Gap road to the Laurel Creek Falls Trail.

The unimproved road that from Wears Gap Road to the Little Greenbrier Gap Hiking trail trailhead is closed for the winter, but hikers can park near the roads entrance (do not block the gate) and walk the 1/2 mile to the trailhead or park by the Little River over the bridge at the Metcalf picnic area and walk .6 miles up from the lower trail that runs to the trailhead.

Besides the trail now being opened, the Little Greenbrier School has had new wood shakes installed on the roof of the school.

This is one of the quieter sections of the Great Smoky Mountains national park and the hike is not very strenuous so now that the trail is open I would suggest it to anyone looking to hike in the GSMNP.

Road to Little Greenbrier School in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park closed because of black bear activity

The hiking trail starting at the Little Greenbrier School to the main Little Greenbrier hiking trail connecting Wears Cove with the Laurel Falls in the great Smoky Mountains National Park has been closed for nearly 3 weeks now due to excessive black bear activity which posses a serious risk to anyone entering the area. The park Service has recently closed the unimproved road from Wear Gap Road to the Little Greenbrier School with no opening date.

This road was closed with no public announcements and no clear answer from park staff and volunteers so the assumption offered to Your Smokies News is that some visitors to the national park were acting foolishly and even though the trail was closed people ignored the national park service posted warnings. Since park visitation is still high for leaf season and the bear in the national park are still active this road may remain closed for a while.

We will keep checking the road and will announce as soon as we see that the road to the Little Greenbrier School is open. We hope that it will open as soon as this road is slated to be closed New Years for the winter season.

Little Greenbrier School hiking trail closed due to aggressive black bear behavior in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

While hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park yesterday along the Wears Cove Gap to Laurel Falls Trail I found the trail branching off to Little Greenbrier School closed by the national park service rangers due to aggressive bear behavior.

While it is not unusual to find warnings posted about black bear activity, especially in this time of year where black bears are extremely active, finding a hiking trail closed is.

Often backcountry campgrounds have warnings and sometimes even closures if there is excessive black bear activity because you are having people with food enter and stay in a black bears territory which can spell trouble for the people and ultimately the bear.

Hiking trails are only closed when bear exhibit threatening behavior, not just for just the mere fact that there is black bear activity in an area.

As the weather gets colder in the Smokies, expect the black bear activity in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to wane and for the Little Greenbrier School hiking trail to be reopened by the rangers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.