Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Fall Harvest Festival This Weekend At Great Smoky Mountains National Park

If you've ever wondered how they make sorghum syrup, head to Great Smoky Mountains National Park this Saturday to find out the process. That and other mountain arts will be on display during the park's annual Mountain Life Festival at the park's Mountain Farm Museum.

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By Kurt Repanshek - September 15th, 2009 6:00am

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With the Fall Rut Beginning, Wind Cave National Park Rangers Leading Elk Bugling Programs

One of the oddest sounds you might encounter in a national park at this time of year is the high-pitched squeal of elk. Better known as "bugling," this sound is as magical as that of a wolf howl hanging in the air.

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By Kurt Repanshek - September 12th, 2009 6:00am

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National Park Quiz 68: Fishing

Take this quiz and see if you are piscatorially competent. Answers are at the end. If we catch you peeking, we'll make you tell us where the fish are biting.

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By Bob Janiskee - October 29th, 2011 1:14pm

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Great Smoky’s Highway 441 to be Closed Temporarily for 75th Anniversary Rededication Ceremony

Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441), the only highway crossing Great Smoky Mountains National Park between Gatlinburg and Cherokee, will be closed from sunset Tuesday, September 1, until late afternoon Wednesday, September 2.

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By Bob Janiskee - August 31st, 2009 11:07am

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70-Year-Old Backpacker Airlifted Out of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Spam, fruit, and rainwater sustained a lost 70-year-old backpacker in Great Smoky Mountains National Park who was hoisted to safety Sunday morning by a Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter after being stranded atop an outcrop for the past week.

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By Kurt Repanshek - August 30th, 2009 2:29pm

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Updated: Missing Backpacker Found in Good Condition in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A backpacker missing since Tuesday in the rugged backcountry of Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been found in good condition but will have to spend another night in the woods, officials said Saturday afternoon.

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By Kurt Repanshek - August 30th, 2009 6:09am

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Searchers Set to Resume Search For Backpacker Missing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Searchers who have been scouring parts of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in search of a missing backpacker hoped to be aided Saturday by dogs trained to pick up the human scent.

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By Kurt Repanshek - August 31st, 2009 6:50am

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Wet, Rugged Conditions Make Search Tricky For Missing Backpacker at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Wet and extremely rugged conditions were hampering a search Friday at Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a 70-year-old backpacker who had been expected to return from a trip on Tuesday.

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By Kurt Repanshek - August 28th, 2009 12:46pm

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On Politics, Bureaucracy, and "Glamping" In the National Park System

The National Park Service's National Leadership Council met in Ohio last week. The meeting of the agency's top management was supposed to be the first under the direction of Jon Jarvis as Park Service director. Political gamesmanship, and apparently a dose of bureaucracy, unfortunately left Mr. Jarvis wearing his Pacific West Region director's hat.

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By Kurt Repanshek - August 21st, 2009 5:47pm

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Roads Closed by Rockslides at Olympic and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks Reopen

Roads in two NPS areas that were closed recently due to rockslides have reopened in time for the coming weekend. The routes are an eight-mile section of Little River Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Hurricane Ridge Road in Olympic National Park.

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By Jim Burnett - August 20th, 2009 9:55am

INN Member

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