KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT)– The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was rated by Budget Travel magazine as one of the “13 Best Places in the U.S. for Wildlife Viewing”.
The magazine ranked the park the best place in the nation to see American Black Bears. The article estimates the black bear population at about 1,500.
Cades Cove is listed as the “Perfect Spot” in the park to view the bears.
MARYVILLE, Tenn.- A 17-year-old has drowned in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The teenager was from Florida, and died Saturday playing along the Little River in Blount County.
She was swept over a 15-foot water fall after wading in ankle deep water. Park investigators say she got trapped in chest-deep water at a crevice at the bottom of the falls, but was held under by the force.
Signs in the area do warn about being in the water because of its strong current.
BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) – UPDATE: A spokesperson with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has released the name of Saturday’s drowning victim.
17-year-old Amber Rose Mirisola from Mount Dora, Florida, died from the drowning incident at “The Sinks” along the Little River.
BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) – Rescue workers have recovered the body of a 17-year-old girl – the victim of an apparent drowning – pushed underwater by the force of a waterfall.
It happened in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at a popular swimming area known as “The Sinks” – just 10 miles west of Gatlinburg – along the Little River.
Rescue workers were called to the area about 3:30 Saturday afternoon when the teen, who was from Florida, was swept over the 15-foot waterfall. Witnesses say she had been wading in ankle deep water and was attempting to wade across the river above the falls when she lost her footing and was swept over.
Park officials say she became entrapped in chest-deep water at a crevice at the bottom of the falls and was held underwater by the force. The rescue was a complicated effort that involved a rope and pulley system.
“You’ve gotta shelf down there and what happens is you get stuck underneath the shelf and basically you gotta be able to come out the same way you came in,” explained TN District Ranger Steve Kloster with GSMNP. “So, if you slid down this way – that’s the way we gotta bring you back up and out; so it’s very difficult for people at the bottom of the falls to try and pull them out.”
Some visitors had formed a human chain to try and free the young woman but the force of the water was too great, according to Park officials. There are signs posted at “The Sinks’ about the danger of the falls and warns visitors to use caution.
Several agencies assisted in the rescue including divers in the Blount County Sheriff’s Office and Townsend Volunteer Fire Dept. – with assistance from the Blount County Fire Dept. and Rural Metro Ambulance.
Park officials have not released an identity on the 17-year-old but said she was visiting the area from Florida.
——
Divers from several agencies and Rangers from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are searching for a body – the victim of an apparent drowning.
Bob Miller with the National Park says rescue crews have been looking for a juvenile female for two hours. She had gone swimming in a popular water area known as “The Sinks.” A witness on the scene says it appears the girl slipped on some rocks and fell into the rapids.
Changes may be on the way for campers in The Great Smoky Mountains and they might come with a fee.
Right now, hiking in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is free, but in order to better serve outdoor enthusiasts, the park is toying with the idea of a charge.
Conner Cruise had a great day hiking with his dad, “Because it’s just fun.”
He and his dad live in Florida and loved the fact of, “Paying nothing.”
Thursday, they were day hikers, but were practicing for one day hitting the backcountry.
“Just came on this trip tried to prep my son and prep myself for what we might run in to and see how we do,”explained Curtis Cruise.
After hearing he could possibly one day pay for a trip like that, Cruise said, ”If I’ve been doing it for free all along it would be tough to step up and pay, but as long as it was a reasonable fee I think it would be good for the parks.”
Thousands of people a year go deep in to the woods and hike. They are backcountry campers. They can reserve campsites and rough it for days.
However, the park is now having internal discussions about charging a user fee and a campsite reservation fee. They said it’s to increase services.
Some park visitors have mixed reviews.
“I don’t think they ever should. things are high enough the way they are. I understand they need to maintain the camp, but I don’t believe that’s the way it’s going to be. Maybe they could draw revenue from the city or something like that, but this should be free,” explained Kentucky resident John Dunsil.
Illinois resident, Richard Neil, said, “Good, because if they’re going to pay it brings in money.”
Park Spokesman, Bob Miller, said as of right now there is no set price. He says if it happens it would be in line with what other parks are charging.
10News checked around. The Grand Canyon charges $ 10 for a permit and $ 5 per hiker, per day.
Yellowstone National Park charges $ 20 for a campsite reservation.
Glacier National Park charges $ 30 for a permit.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park plans to take public input online and at public meetings.
Changes may be on the way for campers in The Great Smoky Mountains and they might come with a fee.
Right now, hiking in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is free, but in order to better serve outdoor enthusiasts, the park is toying with the idea of a charge.
Conner Cruise had a great day hiking with his dad, “Because it’s just fun.”
He and his dad live in Florida and loved the fact of, “Paying nothing.”
Thursday, they were day hikers, but were practicing for one day hitting the backcountry.
“Just came on this trip tried to prep my son and prep myself for what we might run in to and see how we do,”explained Curtis Cruise.
After hearing he could possibly one day pay for a trip like that, Cruise said, ”If I’ve been doing it for free all along it would be tough to step up and pay, but as long as it was a reasonable fee I think it would be good for the parks.”
Thousands of people a year go deep in to the woods and hike. They are backcountry campers. They can reserve campsites and rough it for days.
However, the park is now having internal discussions about charging a user fee and a campsite reservation fee. They said it’s to increase services.
Some park visitors have mixed reviews.
“I don’t think they ever should. things are high enough the way they are. I understand they need to maintain the camp, but I don’t believe that’s the way it’s going to be. Maybe they could draw revenue from the city or something like that, but this should be free,” explained Kentucky resident John Dunsil.
Illinois resident, Richard Neil, said, “Good, because if they’re going to pay it brings in money.”
Park Spokesman, Bob Miller, said as of right now there is no set price. He says if it happens it would be in line with what other parks are charging.
10News checked around. The Grand Canyon charges $ 10 for a permit and $ 5 per hiker, per day.
Yellowstone National Park charges $ 20 for a campsite reservation.
Glacier National Park charges $ 30 for a permit.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park plans to take public input online and at public meetings.
Changes may be on the way for campers in The Great Smoky Mountains and they might come with a fee.
Right now, hiking in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is free, but in order to better serve outdoor enthusiasts, the park is toying with the idea of a charge.
Conner Cruise had a great day hiking with his dad, “Because it’s just fun.”
He and his dad live in Florida and loved the fact of, “Paying nothing.”
Thursday, they were day hikers, but were practicing for one day hitting the backcountry.
“Just came on this trip tried to prep my son and prep myself for what we might run in to and see how we do,”explained Curtis Cruise.
After hearing he could possibly one day pay for a trip like that, Cruise said, ”If I’ve been doing it for free all along it would be tough to step up and pay, but as long as it was a reasonable fee I think it would be good for the parks.”
Thousands of people a year go deep in to the woods and hike. They are backcountry campers. They can reserve campsites and rough it for days.
However, the park is now having internal discussions about charging a user fee and a campsite reservation fee. They said it’s to increase services.
Some park visitors have mixed reviews.
“I don’t think they ever should. things are high enough the way they are. I understand they need to maintain the camp, but I don’t believe that’s the way it’s going to be. Maybe they could draw revenue from the city or something like that, but this should be free,” explained Kentucky resident John Dunsil.
Illinois resident, Richard Neil, said, “Good, because if they’re going to pay it brings in money.”
Park Spokesman, Bob Miller, said as of right now there is no set price. He says if it happens it would be in line with what other parks are charging.
10News checked around. The Grand Canyon charges $ 10 for a permit and $ 5 per hiker, per day.
Yellowstone National Park charges $ 20 for a campsite reservation.
Glacier National Park charges $ 30 for a permit.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park plans to take public input online and at public meetings.
With a destructive tree pest moving southward, officials in the Smokies have tightened firewood restrictions inside the national park.
Firewood now cannot be brought into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Knox, Blount, Anderson, Loudon, Grainger or Union counties, which lie just north and west of the park.
All of the counties have been quarantined by either state or federal forestry officials, who are trying to halt the spread of the emerald ash borer and thousand cankers disease. The canker disease is fungal and is spread by a small twig beetle.
The tree species at greatest risk from the borer and the fungus are ash, black walnut and butternut.
Park regulations bar campers from bringing in any wood from quarantined counties unless it bears a U.S. Department of Agriculture pest-free certification.
The ban applies even to firewood harvested outside the park in Blount County and intended for use in Cades Cove, which lies within the same county, but inside the park boundary.
“Visitors who come to enjoy camping in the national park should be extremely cautious with the source of wood that they use for their campfires to help protect the Park’s great biodiversity of plants and animals,” said Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson.
Biologists in the Smokies have battled other pests for years, among them the hemlock wooly adelgid, which attacks the hemlock trees that shade streams in the park. Earlier, the balsam wooly adelgid killed many Frazier fires that once graced Clingman’s Dome and other spots on the mountain ridges.
The forest that became the Smokies was decimated in the 1930s by the American chestnut blight, which is an Asian fungal disease.
TOWNSEND (WATE) - A Texas man drowned while tubing Monday morning in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The victim is Dick Chijioke, 34, from Plano, Texas.
Chijioke was using a rental tube in the Little River with his family at the “Wye,” the junction of the Little River and the Middle Prong near the Townsend entrance to the park.
Officials say Chijioke’s tube tipped and he fell into a 12-foot deep pool of water. Eyewitnesses said he failed to resurface after he slipped out of the tube.
Several people from his group, along with other visitors, tried to find Chijioke underwater before emergency personnel arrived. They got the call at 11:22 a.m. and found Chijioke at 12:26 p.m.
Rural/lMetro paramedics tried to resuscitate Chijioke on the way to Blount Memorial Hospital, but he was pronounced dead by hospital officials at 1:05 p.m.
The National Park Service called the Townsend Volunteer Fire Department to the scene. The Blount County Sheriff’s Office also sent its Special Operation Response Team, divers and a chaplain for the family.
You will be redirected to the page you want to view in seconds.
