Great Smoky Mountains National Park Closes Forge Creek Road for Winter

The national park service has decided to close Forge Creek Road for the winter until mid-March. This dirt and Gravel road is badly in need of repairs and is located in the back end of the Cades Cove Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains national park near the Cades Cove visitor center.

As you can see by the picture above this road has deep holes and ruts that fill with water and recent heavy rains has saturated this road connecting the Cades Cove Loop Road to the Gregory Bald Trail Head and Parson Branch Road which is also closed for the winter.

While Alan Sumeriski Park Facility Management Chief stated that "Normally this gravel road opens and closes throughout the winter as snow and other weather conditions permit, but recent heavy rains have left the road so saturated and spongy that allowing traffic on it now would necessitate extensive repairs come spring." It's fairly obvious to anyone driving or hiking on this road it can already use extensive repairs.

The closure of Forge Creek Road will not affect any traffic going around the Cades Cove Loop and it will give hikers the opportunity for a quiet level walk in the park with a good change of seeing the coyote that hand out on this road near the Henry Whitehead Place.

Parsons Branch Road reopening in Cades Cove Delayed

Parsons Branch Road located off of Forge Creek Road in the far western section of the Cades Cove 11 mile loop road will not be opening for the season on time due to washouts and fallen trees from this past week's stormy weather.

This recently renovated unimproved roads reopening last year was highly anticipated as it was closed for years after a storm created massive damage due to flooding requiring extensive repairs which included better drainage and vegetation cutbacks.

Parsons Branch is an 8 mile one way gravel road which takes you along stream beds, and woods and hollows with a few large growth trees visible from the road. This road passes by one the trailheads leading to Gregory Bald and eventually takes you to 129 where you can go to Fontana North Carolina or Maryville Tennessee.

Parsons branch road is now slated by the national park service to reopen on Tuesday March 11th and in my opinion is one of the best unimproved roads to drive on and experience the Smokies.

Sparks Lane and Forge Creek Road in Cades Cove Remain Closed

Due to muddy conditions both Sparks Lane and Forge Creek Road remain closed in the Cades Cove area the of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In the winter months 3 unimproved roads normally remain open in Cades Cove, Sparks Lane, Hyatt Lane and Forge Creek Road while the 2 roads that lead out of the national park Rich Mountain Road and Parsons Branch Road close for the winter.

Forge Creek Road can be found by the Cades Cove Visitor Center and takes visitors to one of the Gregory Bald trailheads, Parsons Branch Road and passes by one of the finest examples of transitional architecture: The Henry Whitehead Place.

Sparks Lane is the first bypass shortcut for drivers, bikers and hikers who take the 11 mile Cades Cove Loop Road. While Sparks Lane remains closed, if you do not wish to take the whole tour your first opportunity to exit the loop will be Hyatt Lane which remains open at this time.

Dues to today's damp weather Cades Cove and tonight's and tomorrows predicted participation, don't expect either road to be open shortly. Forge Creek Road has been closed for what seems like most of the winter season this year due to poor road conditions.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Weather Related Roads Closings

Newfound Gap Road (US 441) in the Great Smoky Mountains national park is closed from Cherokee North Carolina to Gatlinburg Tennessee due to last nights snow and freezing rain.

Bad weather is expected for the balance of the day with sporadic freezing rain and snow so it is unknown if Newfound Gap will be opened today by the park service.

Forge Creek Road in the far end of Cades Cove remains closed due to muddy conditions and is not expected to reopen for the next few days.

Current conditions at 1,600 feet of elevation in Sevierville are extreme fog and freezing rain with slush on the ground at exactly 32 degrees.

Some roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park remain closed due to weather

Closures of roads in the Great Smoky Mountains due to snow and ice still remain in effect for a few select roads in both North Carolina and Tennessee sections of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The following roads are closed in the GSMNP due to snow and ice:

• Forge Creek Road in Cades Cove TN with access to the Gregory Bald Trail
• Foothills Parkway East connecting 321 to I40 near Cosby TN
• Old 284 connecting Big Creek with Cataloochee in NC

Major thoroughfares that were previously closed such as all of Newfound Gap Road (441), Little River Road (73), Laurel Creek Road and the Gatlinburg bypass remain open.

The current warming trend in the Smokies weather could open some if not all the closed roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National park by the end of the weekend.

Gregory Ride Burn in the Smoky Mountains National Park

Another prescribed burn near Cades Cove Tennessee is scheduled for this Friday April 20th in the Gregory ridge area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to help allow yellow pine reclaim where maples and other hardwoods are dominating what was historically a yellow pine forest.

The prescribed burn of 850 acres will close the Gregory Ridge Hiking Trail from Forge Creek Road trailhead to the intersection with the Gregory Bald Trail as well as backcountry Campsite 12. Bower Creek, Forge Creek, and a small fireline across Gregory Ridge will form the boundaries of this burn south of Cades Cove in Blount County, Tennessee.

21 firefighters will be used for containment of the controlled burn and both ground and aerial ignition methods will be used to start the fire. Since it will take several days for the firefighters and park service personnel to be sure that there are no hazards hot spots or dead snags left in the burn area, the area will be closed to hikers for a few days.

Drivers and nearby residents will be able to see smoke in Townsend, Happy Valley, the Foothills Parkway West, and Walland.

Unlike the prescribed burn to take place in Cades Cove used to keep fields form being reclaimed by forest, this burn is meant to open up part of the canopy in the forest which is now crowding out the original dominating species of yellow pine.

In the past naturally occurring forest fires opened the canopy and allowed this species to thrive here but since man intervened and suppressed fires which "cleansed" the forest of more evasive species, the delicate ecological balance was upset. Southern pine beetles that feed on yellow pines further decreased the yellow pine population.