Holy bat cave! NPS closes caves and mines in GSMNP in an effort to halt spread of bat disease.

In an effort to stem the spread of White-nose Syndrome (WNS) the US Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended to the national park service in areas of risk that all caves be closed to public access thus the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has closed all caves and mine complexes to visitors.

Where are the caves in the Great Smoky Mountains national park? One of the caves named Gregory Cave is located in Cades Cove and is sealed at the entrance with iron bars. Since this cave was used as a fallout shelter sometimes the locals here referrer to it as that rather than a cave.

There are 3 other popular caves - once of which is also sealed with iron bars and not far from Cades Cove in an area known as White Oak Sinks which like Cades Cove has limestone formations which through time and erosion created caves.

In total the GSMNP has 17 caves and 2 mine complexes some of which the endangered Indiana bat makes its home. Some of these caves have access limited to park personal and scientists with the proper clearance.

The other caves that do have public can access are not meant for causal visitors and requires the use of a park permits to enter them which will not be granted now as long as there is a risk that the fungus which causes White Nose Disease can be spread by visitors entering a bats habitat. Enter a cave in the Great Smoky Mountains national park without a permit and get a $5,000 fine.

So far and estimated 400,000 bats in the Northeast have been killed by the White Nose Disease and if unchecked would be an ecological disaster. As of yet WND is not in Tennessee or North Carolina but can easily be spread into our currently disease free caves and mines. If the WND fungus infects a colony, within a year there may be as much as a 90% mortality rate.

Commercial caves such as Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend Tennessee may end up having to close also in order to stop the spread of this horrible disease. The water flowing through Tuckaleechee Caverns actually originates from the Cades Cove area.

Cades Cove closing for insecticide spraying on December 3rd and 4th

If the weather holds up the national park service will be spraying hemlocks trees to fight the woolly adelgid infestation in the Cades Cove Valley so the entire 11 mile Cades Cove Loop Road will be closed to traffic an bicycles Wednesday December 3rd and a partial closing on Thursday December 4th.

Hikers can hike the entire 11 mile loop both days of spraying for the hemlock woolly adelgid both days of spraying.

Motor vehicles and bicyclists on the second day of spraying can go as far into Cades Cove as Hyatt Lane and then exit the cove.

As seen by the picture above it was cold in Cades Cove today and as long as the weather stays above freezing and there is no rainfall the spraying can commence.

Cades Cove Paving Options for 2010 presented by the Great Smoky Mountains national park

Long awaited and far overdue it looks like Cades Cove is finally going to get a total overhaul of the 11 mile long Cades Cove Loop Road in early 2010.

The last time this tremendously popular road in the Great Smoky Mountains national park was paved was in 1978 and it has long needed significant repairs for more than 10 years.

First of all this single lane road will not be widened and will continue to have its 11 foot width throughout the entire Cades Cove Loop. There are however discussions to consider to have as many as 12 paved pull offs.

The main goal of this paving project is to completely replace the existing roadway since its past the point of repair. In order to do this the contractor must break up the existing road, grind it up, and mix in new concrete creating a new base and then install a new asphalt road surface.

Presently without proper drainage to lead water away from seeping under the road surface, water that does get under the road during the winter is freezing and thawing accelerating the breaking up the roadway.

Besides age and heavy use, the Cades Cove Loop Road is in such as sad state because of this lack of drainage along the roadside which is going to be added during this massive construction project.

What the national park service has proposed in it pubic meeting at the Heritage Center which was attended 2 dozen people, are 4 options for closing and allowing access to visitors in Cades Cove during the road construction process.

Basically the plans range from a complete closure of the Cades Cove Loop Road from April of 2010 to the end of May affecting approximately 250,000 visitors, to closing the road in 2 or more sections which can affect as many as 500,000 visitors and will take far longer.

Beside major traffic hassles and safety issues if the road is closed in sections, it will affect far more visitors and create a far more environmentally detrimental carbon footprint due to longer constriction time and gas used to navigate the tremendous detours that can add as much as 40 miles to this 11 mile auto tour!

If Cades Cove Loop Road is closed in sections, the park service is proposing under some options to send exiting traffic out Parson Branch Road which is an unpaved and dumping drivers onto the dangerous Tail of the Dragon 30 miles out of the way with no facilities, gas or cell phone service.

Extending the Cades Cove construction project with partial closures will also tack on higher costs onto the whole project with increased construction costs, signage costs, more lost business for gateway towns, more lost business to the Cades Cove concessions and a huge cost and manpower issue of traffic management.

The park did a great job working on alternatives and presenting them, but for economic, safety, ecological and negative visitor impact, closing Cades Cove Road and repaving in one shot is the best option.

If Cades Cove Lop Road is closed completely during the repaving project, with the monies saved over the other options the National Park Service may be able to afford paying to have work done 7 days a week and or at night as well which would speed up the whole process.

Last chance to hike and bike the Cades Cove Loop without traffic!

Tomorrow morning will be the last chance in 2008 to hike or bike the 11 mile long Cades Cove Loop in the Great Smoky Mountains national park during the morning without any automobile or motorcycle traffic until 10:00 am.

Cades Cove is the jewel of the Smokies and the best time to be there is early in the morning or right before sunset. From late spring until late September the national park service closes Cades Cove to motor vehicles on Wednesday and Saturday mornings until 10 am.

Cades Cove at sunrise is magical. The beauty and peace of the Cove is breathtaking and your chance of seeing plenty of deer, wild turkey, bear and even coyote is high.

While I love biking in Cades Cove, my favorite activity is walking the loop and since our weather is quite dry this year in the Smokies due to our extended drought I can do so with sneakers as there is no water running across to loop road.

Anyone wishing to hike with me should meet me at the shelter in the parking area near the entrance to Cades Cove. Sunrise is at around 7:00 am so I have to start by no latter than 6:45 in order to catch the sunrise coming up over Thunderhead Mountain.

Even taking our time, the first cars won't pass us until after the visitors center in the back end of Cades Cove.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Presents the 8th Annual Cosby in the Park Festival May 17th

Thanks to a partnership between the Great Smoky Mountains Association, the National Park Service and the Cocke County government this year the 8th annual Cosby in the Park festival held on Saturday, May 17, 2008 in the Cosby section of the Great Smoky Mountains national park should be fun and informative for visitors of all ages.

The Cosby in the Park festival is free to everyone and will include old time music, guided hikes, historical tales, storytelling and games for the kids and all sorts of activities and demonstrations for young and old alike.

Visitors can come to the national park from sunrise to sunset but the Cosby in the Park activities will take place from 10 am to 4 pm near the Cosby Campgrounds. You can bring your appetite too as a there will be a trailer from Angels Food Service selling traditional foods such as corn bread, pinto beans and tea. And for the kids there will be picnic style food such as hot dogs.

Beside the fun, games and food the 8th annual Cosby in the Park is meant to celebrate the cultural heritage of the Cosby area of the Great Smoky Mountains national park in Cocke County as well as demonstrating to visitors the recreational opportunities in the Cosby area.

If you are like me you will have a hard time choosing between the activities that will take place between the Cosby Picnic area and the outdoor amphitheater so I have a feeling I will be running back and forth between the 2 the whole day!

At the Cosby picnic pavilion there will be children's activates all day long which will include: Children's crafts and games, sack races and Crafter's Demonstrations: Bill Alexander, mountain berry baskets; Maria Holloway, quilting; Len Landrum, knife making and blacksmithing; Clayton Sharp, blacksmithing and mountain tools; Ellen Ogle, quilting; Connie Clabo, basket making; John and Sherry Holt, introduction to beekeeping; and Sherry Jennette and Sydney Fry, pine cone bird feeders.

Here is the schedule of events for the 8th annual Cosby in the Park festival broken down by location:

At the Cosby Amphitheater

• 10 am - 11 am Old time music performed by the Lost Mill String Band
• 11 am - 11:15 am Dedication of Cosby in the Park festival >
• 11:15 am - 12 Noon Old time music performed by the Boogertown Gap Band
• 12 Noon - 12:30 pm Hear Civil War Tales from Cosby by historian Duay O'Neil
• 12:30 pm - 1 pm Storytelling by Faye Wooden
• 1 pm - 1:45 pm Traditional bluegrass music performed by The Green Family Band
• 1:45 pm - 2 pm Fiddle music by Robby Land
• 2 pm - 3 pm Traditional old-time music performed by David McClary and Friends
• 3 pm - 4 pm Old time music performed by the Curtis and Lynn Osteen

At the Cosby Picnic Pavilion

• 1 pm Learn about the life of an extraordinary Cocke County mountain woman Ella V. Costner known as the Poet Laureate of the Smokies from Sheila Evans, Jordan Costner, and Claudia Konker
• 1 pm Hug a Tree and Survive with Joey Holt
• 2:30 pm Children's Storytelling with Faye Wooden

The guided hikes are:

• At 11 am a 1 mile hike at the Cosby Nature Trail led by Morgan Briggs. The nature trail is by the amphitheater and that where the moderate hike will begin.
• At 1:30 pm a 2 mile roundtrip hike starting at the Cosby picnic area pavilion to the Ella V Costner grave led by Judy McGaha, Shane McGaha and Pam Rodgers. There will be reading of poems during the moderate hike.

While I love hiking and generally hike 10 -15 miles day 7 days a week in the national park, I will sit this one out as I prefer the more challenging hikes Cosby offers. The guided hikes during the Cosby in the Park festival are great for beginners and those of you new to the Cosby area of the GSMNP.

Cades Cove partially closed to cars, Hikers and Bikers

The tremendously popular Cades Cove 11 mile loop in the Great Smoky Mountains national park will be partially closed from April 28th until May 1st until 10:00 am each day to drives, Cades Cove bikers and hikers while construction will take place.

The national park service will be undertaking 3 projects at the same time, repairing the drainage as well as resurfacing the road at the Abrams Creek Trail at the far end of Cades Cove as well as working on the bridge that crosses Abrams Creek.

Both Sparks Lane and Hyatt Lane will also be closed during this construction period and will reopen at around 10:00 am.

This is not yet the project we are all waiting for - a complete repair and resurfacing of the entire Cades Cove 11 mile loop which is badly in need of repair.

This winter we observed surveyors already measuring the Cades Cove 11 mile loop as well as checking drainage areas. I was advised this week that repairs are expected to get underway next year to the entire road surface.

Next weeks closures will allow only hikers and bikers to hike and bike back and forth on a 5-mile portion of the road between the Cades Cove Loop Road entrance and the construction site.

Hikers will not be allowed past the bridge or on the south end of the loop road so that they will not hinder large construction vehicles or slow down work due to safety concerns.

Weather related road closures in the Great Smoky Mountains national park

The national park service still has roads closed in the Great Smoky Mountains national park due to winter conditions some of which will take days to reopen.

While most roads in the Smoky Mountains are open in North Carolina, Newfound Gap Road (US 441) which connects Cherokee NC to Gatlinburg TN is now closed to all traffic.

The following roads are also closed in the national park: The Roaring Fork Nature trail in Gatlinburg, and in the Cades Cove area the following unimproved roads are closed Parsons Branch Road, Forge Creek Road and Sparks Lane.

Cold weather is predicted to continue throughout the day in the Smoky Mountains - it's snowing now in areas in Bryson City North Carolina, it may take until tomorrow warming weather for some roads to be opened back up. For roads such as Forge Creek which is closed due to muddy conditions it may take a few days until all roads will be reopened.

The national park service is advising drivers that the Spur connecting Pigeon Forge with Gatlinburg Tennessee still has active ongoing construction and that drivers must obey posted speed limits as there have been numerous accidents in the construction zones.

441 Newfound Gap road between Cherokee NC and Gatlinburg remains open.

Newfound Gap Road (441) which runs through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park connecting Cherokee North Carolina with Gatlinburg Tennessee remains open despite the light dusting of snow and ice in upper elevations of the national park.

The national park service is keeping a close eye on road conditions and is warning drivers of potential ice on Newfound Gap road.

Though most of the park will warm to the lower and mid 40s today, upper elevations in the Great Smoky Mountains will remain at or below freezing and plummeting temperatures tonight will freeze any melting snow and ice and drives should use extreme caution in the late afternoon and evening hours.

Although The weather in the Smoky Mountains National Park will remains seasonably cold and areas of the park such as Cades Cove, Elkmont and what is open in Roaring Fork near Gatlinburg should be safe to drive in and traffic in these areas is expected to be light so enjoy the beauty of winter in the Smokies!

Cades Cove Loop in the Great Smoky Mountains national park to be closed to traffic

It is that time of the year again where the National Park service closes Cades Cove to vehicles while they spray the hemlock trees close enough to the road which can be reached in order to fight the invasive exotic pest the hemlock woolly adelgid. While the Cades Cove loop was closed in late November of 2006, this year the closures will be in the first week of December.

As long as the weather is conducive to spraying the hemlock trees in Cades Cove which are infested with the woolly adelgid, the whole 11 mile Cades Cove loop will be closed this Wednesday December 5th. If you wish to hike the Cades Cove loop you can do so but cars and bicycles are forbidden to be on the road.

If all goes as planned on Thursday December 6th only the far section of the Cades Cove Loop past Hyatt Lane will be closed to motorist and bicyclists. Hikers can access the entire loop on the second day of spraying.

Spraying is one of three methods that the Great Smoky Mountains National park has been successfully using to fight the woolly adelgid from destroying all of the hemlock tees in the park.

The spaying with national park service trucks will only be done as long as a heavy rain or freezing temperatures are not expected during or immediately after the spraying is to be done.

To check on the status of the Cades Cove road closure you may call the national park service general information number at (865)436-1200.

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.

First snow of the 2007 winter had too much accumulation and ice for the National Park Service and cars on Newfound Gap Road.

Snow started falling in the higher elevations of the Great Smoky Mountains national park with some accumulation making a challenge for both motorists and the park service to keep the roads safe and clear so Newfound Gap Road 441 from Gatlinburg TN to Cherokee NC is closed.

The National park service has been trying all day to keep the area near Newfound Gap clear but the dropping temperatures in the past hour has locked some sections of Newfound Gap Road into virtual sheets of ice.

While driving up one of the crests about 1/2 mile underneath Newfound Gap on the Tennessee side I experienced the conditions first hand as I felt my car slipping backwards downhill while I was stopped.

I then watched in dismay at cars getting stranded as they started to lose control and veer off of the road while they tried to turn around and get off the mountain top and head back to the Sugarlands Gatlinburg area which was free ice and accumulated snow.

I was luckily able to turn around in my front wheel drive car and slowly creep and slide my way back downhill until I reached a point where the conditions were safe to drive. Only 2 other cars where able to turn around and follow me, the rest remained stranded.

On my way back down Newfound Gap Road towards the Sugarlands I observed at least a dozen or so cars driving up towards Newfound Gap. I thought they would also get stuck behind other cars which were already stranded in the ice and I could only hope they would be able to be safely rescued.

As I passed the parking area for the Chimneys Trailhead I saw a sander truck on its way up the mountain. After the sander truck no further traffic headed up the mountain.

At the Sugarlands intersection the gate was down closing the road with a park rangers car blocking the road from any further traffic heading towards North Carolina.

The revised weather report is calling for anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of snow during the night so the park service announced that the Newfound Gap Road (441) will be closed until at least late in the morning tomorrow when the road can be evaluated for safety.

Earlier today the road leading up to Clingmans Dome was also closed due to snow and ice and may open after Newfound Gap is opened as long as the road conditions on this steep winding road are safe enough for all vehicles.

4 wheel drive or not - Newfound Gap Road is not the place to be tonight!

Backcountry campfire ban issued by National Park Service for GSMNP

Effective immediately the National Park Service has issued a ban on all backcountry campfires in the entire Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) due to and extremely high fire danger throughout the park and surrounding areas.

This year's drought has had a tremendous impact on the GSMNP and now that the fall fire season has kicked in due to the fall leaf litter on the ground and desiccated leaves on the trees the fire danger has reached a level where a ban on back country fires in backcountry campgrounds and shelters is necessary to protect the park against wildfires.

The picture above was taken this morning on the Baskins Creek Trail in the Roaring Fork section of the National Park bordering Gatlinburg Tennessee and clearly shows that the leaves are browner and dryer than normal for this time of year and I feel that the extensive damage to the Eastern Hemlocks throughout the GSMNP caused by the invasive pest called the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid have further added to the fire danger.

Campers are still allowed to make campfires in any of the developed campgrounds found throughout the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as well as designated picnic areas as long as caution is used and fires are only made in designated fire rings and grills.

According to the GSMNP Superintendent Dale Ditmanson "The burn restriction is being placed to reduce the potential for human-caused uncontrolled wild land fires to occur within the Park's backcountry during this period of extreme fire danger and drought conditions. This is the second fire ban that has been imposed this year, which is quite unusual. Also extremely unusual is the number of free-running springs that are dry in the backcountry and along the Appalachian Trail."

High fire risk can further be reduced by visitors to the park not parking cars on any piles of leaves that may form in parking areas and on road sides as hot mufflers and tailpipes can cause the leaves to ignite. If you must smoke within the National Park boundaries make sure smoking material is completely extinguished prior to appropriate disposal. Appropriate disposal does not mean out of your car window or on a trail!

Fires in grills and fire rings in developed campgrounds must be extinguished by heavily soaking embers and ash in water to be sure that smoldering embers do not flare up.

Smoky Mountains National Park Lifts Ban on Backcountry Fires

The National Park Service has announced that the ban on backcountry fires for campers and hikers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been lifted.

The fire danger due to extremely dry conditions in the GSMNP caused great concern to the park service causing them to issue a ban on backcountry fires in late August.

Fortunately due to some welcome rainfall and lower temperatures in and around the park, campers and hikers may make fires in the in any of the more than 100 backcountry sites and shelters if they practice safe campfire management.

Smokies North Shore "Road to Nowhere" may be a dead issue

Congressional members from both North Carolina and Tennessee have asked to end the long dispute over the building of a road promised to Swain County North Carolina in 1943.

For the most part, only local Smoky mountain residents are aware of this controversial issue that has divided resident for years. If this road was constructed it would have cost at least $600 million of federal monies and its continued upkeep and negative environmental impacts would have been a never ending burden to the National Park Service as well as the flora and fauna of the Great Smoky Mountains National park.

When the Fontana Dam was built in the 1940s the existing road in the area was flooded and in 1943 the federal government made a commitment to Swain County to replace the flooded road. In 1946 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could in fact satisfy the commitment to Swain County North Carolina in ways other than the replacement of the road.

In 1972 the construction of the road was halted even though Congress provided the funding as the excessive construction costs, environment concerns in regard to the roads construction as well as the continued impact of the additional traffic to the area were clearly not in the best interests of US citizens, local and federal government, and the environmental and cultural resources of the national park.

When the damn was built, access other than by boat was cut off to certain areas of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Families who historically lived in area that became part of the national park no longer were able to visit their ancestors in the 26 cemeteries that became landlocked. To compensate for this Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials would ferry approximately 1,200 residents a year across Fontana Lake in order to these visit cemeteries on designated days.

Now Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has been approached by no less than 17 members of congress from North Carolina and Tennessee to agree to a cash settlement of $52 million within 90 days for Swain County and end the longtime dispute over whether the road should be finished. It is expected that Secretary Dirk Kempthorne will respond to the members of Congress before June.

The congressional members are only echoing the vast majority of opinions and the National parks department has received more than 75,000 comments on the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed road.

Don Barger, Southeast regional director of National Parks Conservation Association commented "This is the first time we've had this level of support for this decision...This part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the wrong place for development"

What will Swain County do with the settlement? The officials would save the principal and use the estimated $2.5 million in interest it would generate each year to help improve both the Swain County's schools and public safety.

We feel as though this is a strong win for everyone. This is the most pristine area of the national park and this hidden jewel offers benefits for the occupants of the park as well as the few lucky visitors who know about and visit this area of the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

Fire Burns in Townsend TN so National Park Service says no to Cataloochee fire.

Today's prescribed burn which was to take place in Cataloochee valley in the Great Smoky Mountains national park has been postponed again.

With relative humilities for too low for a safe burn, the fire management staff decided at 2:00 pm to call off today prescribed burn.

According to the national park service a high fire danger exists right now in both Tennessee as well as North Carolina and there is even a reported wildfire burning just north of the national park boundaries in Townsend TN.

Burn Baby Burn - so says the National Park Service in the Smoky Mountains.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was expecting to conduct a prescribed burn in the Cataloochee Valley North Carolina last Saturday but due to the weather in the Smokies creating an unsafe condition, the burn has been rescheduled for today February 28th.

Last Saturday in Cataloochee Valley both the humidity was too low and the forecasted winds would have been too high to have allowed a safe burn. The idea of a safe prescribed burn is to have the condition as such that the fire would do its job but not get out of control and spread throughout the Smoky Mountains National park.

Again I suggest that you stay away from the area and let the national park service do their job.