This dramatic photo of fires burning over Gatlinburg, Tennessee, was taken by Bruce McCamish/Bruce McCamish, used with permission

Editor's note: Contributor Danny Bernstein, who lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and frequently leads hikes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, wrote about the aftermath of the Chimney Tops 2 fire on November 30 as firefighters continued to battle the flames and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, was struggling to recover from the conflagration that hit late Monday into Tuesday.

On November 25, Black Friday, I opted outside and took my two visiting granddaughters to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park offered hikes in both North Carolina and Tennessee. We opted for a five-mile walk from Sugarlands Visitor Center, which would in part qualify my 7-year-old granddaughter as a Junior Ranger. She was thrilled.

It took us an hour-and-a-half to reach the heart of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where I crawled along at about 10 mph. I groaned at the long lines in front of the pancake houses. With no quick place to park, I didn’t get a second cup of coffee. We headed directly to the visitor center. At 9:30 a.m., it was packed.

Today, I would gladly wait in line in Gatlinburg. I would be happy to be in a traffic jam to get into the Smokies. However, the park is closed and the city of Gatlinburg is in shambles because of horrific wild fires.

The park closes roads and trails here and there for weather problems and bear activity. A main road, U.S. 441, the Newfound Gap Road, goes through the park, linking Cherokee, North Carolina, to Gatlinburg. Tourists use the road to travel across the Smoky Mountains and sometimes never stop. Even during the 2013 government shutdown, the main road wasn’t closed to through traffic.

Eric Wood, the trails supervisor for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, during a happier time on the Chimney Tops Trail, back in June 2015 when the newly rebuilt trail was celebrated/Danny Bernstein

Now Great Smoky Mountains National Park is shut tight due to a fire that flared up near the summit of the Chimney Tops Trail, a steep, two-mile trail. Park officials believe the fire was caused by someone. I don’t know how far this person climbed to set the woods ablaze, either accidentally or intentionally, but I’m betting not too far. People who want to harm the park aren’t hikers or lovers of nature. Park staff closed Chimney Tops Trail as soon as they detected the fire, on Wednesday, November 23. Five days later, winds up to 80 mph and extremely dry woods combined to sweep the fire through Gatlinburg, the main gateway town into the park. As of Saturday, 13 deaths have been confirmed along with an estimated 1,000 ruined structures.

As park Superintendent Cassius Cash’s motto states, the Smokies are “Two states, one park.” Though I’ve lived in Asheville almost 16 years, I’m still grateful to live so close to a national park - the most-visited park in the United States. Yes, I’ve visited many parks out West on vacation and admired their scenery and character.

However, the Smokies is my park. I’ve hiked every trail, over 800 miles, making me a Smokies 900 Miler (http://900miler.smhclub.org/). As a volunteer, I lead monthly hikes for Friends of the Smokies, and other hikes for almost any nonprofit organization that asks me. I was on the board of Great Smoky Mountains Association, the park partner that manages the bookstores and publishes the best information about the park.

Right now, like many others, I feel helpless. The only thing I can do is to donate more money to the park via Friends of the Smokies and encourage others to do so as well. I almost got into my first flame war on Facebook with a woman who wanted us to pray for the Smokies. “Praying is good,” I said, “but cash donations are better.”

“We at Friends of the Smokies are overwhelmed by the amount of support we’ve received in response to the devastating fires,” Anna Zanetti, North Carolina Director of Friends of the Smokies said. “The Chimney Tops area is remote and difficult to reach due to the steep terrain and cliffs making firefighting efforts especially difficult.”

It’s particularly heartbreaking because Chimney Tops Trail underwent three years of trail restoration through the Trails Forever program. The trail, though still steep, is a pleasure to climb.

“The park has not released information about the current condition of the trail but it is hard to image that the trail will come out from these fires unscathed,” Ms. Zanetti said.

The park and Gatlinburg are year-round destinations. So many people will be hurting this Christmas season. Gatlinburg, a tourist town, depends on visitors to frequent their restaurants and motels. They’ve already canceled their Fantasy of Lights Christmas Parade.

Superintendent Cash encouraged everyone to hike a hundred miles this year to celebrate the National Park Centennial. The park invited everyone who completed the challenge to a reception at the Gatlinburg Convention Center. Before the fire, their biggest problem was that over 1,000 hikers accepted the invitation. Now who knows if they’re going to have the celebration.

I buy almost all my holiday gifts, such as calendars, books, and T-shirts in the Smokies bookstore. I’ll be using the website, but without visitors, GSMA will feel the pinch as well and have less income to support the park.

The park will open as soon it can, if only partially. And I will be there on the first day to show my support. However, all national park units will close again on December 10, if Congress doesn’t pass a budget before. That will affect visitors across the United States.

So here’s the commercial announcement. If you really want to help after this horrific tragedy:

• Donate to Friends of the Smokies through their Facebook page.
• Buy your holiday gifts from the Great Smoky Mountains Association.
• Visit the Smokies as soon as it opens and bring your friends and neighbors
• Return to #1

Danny Bernstein is a hiker, hike leader, and outdoor writer. Her latest book, Forests, Alligators, Battlefields: My Journey Through The National Parks Of The South, celebrates the National Park Service Centennial.