Wears Cove entrance to Great Smoky Mountains national park closed today

Due to a prescribed burn taking place this afternoon in the Great Smoky Mountains national park, the Wears Cove entrance will be closed to all traffic as it will be one of the fires control lines.

Hikers should also avoid going on the following hiking trails as well:

• Roundtop Hiking Trail
• Little Greenbrier Hiking Trail
• Metcalf Bottoms Hiking Trail

Visitors that are near the prescribed burn area as well as residents close to the park may see or smell smoke.

The Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area will remain open throughout the day. Wears Cove Road however will be closed from the bridge at the north end of the picnic area all the way up to the Wears Cove Entrance.

Prescribed burns are used to reduce the danger of out of uncontrollable wildfires by reducing the available fuel and increase biodiversity in the Great Smoky Mountains national park by simulating the natural action of wildfires.

Great Smoky Mountains national park road closures

More roads in the Great Smoky Mountains national park closed due to last nights snow storm. Though the lower elevations received little more than a dusting and most roads stayed clear, any road with elevation has become hazardous to drivers.

The following roads are now closed in the GSMNP:

• Newfound Gap Road (US441)
• Cades Cove Loop Road
• Clingmans Dome Road
• Laurel Creek Road
• Little River Road
• Roaring Fork Motor Trail
• Wears Cove Road

Road conditions in the Great Smoky Mountains national park are subject to change today and some roads will reopen.

Newfound Gap US 441 is now open but ice and snow are still hazards in the GSMNP

Even though the Great Smoky Mountains national park opened Newfound Gap Road (US 441) between Gatlinburg and Cherokee, Laurel Creek Road, Little River Road and Wears Cove Road, some major roads in the park remain closed due to dangerous ice and snow.

The remaining major roads that are closed in the GSMNP are the Foothills Parkway East, Old 284, Cherokee Orchard Road in Gatlinburg, the Cataloochee entrance road, Cosby entrance road, and the Greenbrier Road past the rangers station.

Stream crossings whether they are footbridges or rocks can be iced and extremely dangerous so hiker must use caution.

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.