How much of Great Smoky Mountains National Park was Destroyed by Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Fire? (Knoxville: ski resort)

[RotseCherut]

I know its been a couple years now, but I was wondering how many acres of areas still is pretty much burned and destroyed in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I'm looking into moving to Knoxville this summer and one of the major attractions to the area is the beautiful mountains nearby. However, I did hear the fire around Pigeon Forge was bad and I was just wondering how much of the area people would consider still off-limits or too much devastation that it would make it undesirable for hiking and sightseeing.

I know how heartbreaking it must have been to have this fire occur in your backyard. My beloved Columbia Gorge was pretty much completely destroy on the Oregon side. Seeing a charred and burned up Multnomah Falls almost makes me want to bow down and weep in misery. I pretty much avoid the Columbia Gorge like the plague now because I cannot deal with how much environmental destruction occurred in that wildfire. Also, a good chunk of area around Hoodoo Ski Resort in the Three Sisters wilderness in Oregon burned to a crisp. I remember the 1,000,000 acre wildfire that pretty much wiped out the beautiful old growth Redwood, Cedar, Fir forest in the Cave Junction Oregon area. Another pristine wilderness turned into a wasteland. If you see before and after pictures you just don't even want to go back there if you saw how beautiful it was before.

I was just wondering how much of the area of this park people would say is pretty much devastated and how much of the area would still be very desirable for hiking, camping and sightseeing? I've been trying to find maps of the areas that were burned down. I understand a lot of Gatlinburg also burned up in the fire.

It's real sad and being from the Pacific Northwest I am all too familiar with the massive devastation wildfires bring. So many places I use to love are now just burned wastelands that won't grow back until after I am gone.

I'm hoping that a good majority of Great Smoky National Park is still in tact and that the devastation hasn't been too widespread as the wildfires I have witnessed in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

[NJDevil]

I don't think any part of it was completely destroyed, the fire spread across the tops of the trees...you can still see a lot of burned areas but everything underneath is growing. I wouldn't call any area devastated - I believe the worst areas have been cleaned up and reopened (Chimney Tops trail?)

[NJDevil]

There is a Facebook group called Hike the Smokies, you should join, people are constantly posting pics and information.

[crltn19]

According to Wikipedia, the fire burned over 10,000 acres inside the park, and 6,000 acres in other parts of the area. As of last summer, 70% of the area affected by fire were already recovering very rapidly, and after a record wet 2018-19 winter and spring season in this part of the country, you bet the recovery of the forests has been even faster most recently.

https://www.cabinsofthesmokymountain...n-after-fires/

[TheShadow]

The majority of the park was not affected. The burned areas are rapidly recovering. There is a lot of interesting plant and wildlife associated with the recovering areas after a fire. There are also hundreds of areas to hike that are not even in the park. In fact, most of TN hiking is not even in the park. There are numerous state parks, national forests, etc. and in TN state park entry is free. The fire is not a good reason to not move to Knoxville.

As far as Gatlinburg, many cabins burned (over 2000). Many have already been rebuilt and others are under construction. The commercial district on the G'burg parkway was spared, as were most other businesses in G'burg. Pigeon Forge did not burn.

[RotseCherut]

I am very happy to hear that environmental destruction was limited and the area is recovering so quickly. I appreciate everyone sharing with me this information as I was worrying about this area, regardless if I even moved to Knoxville. Driving through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina last year I will say I fell in love with the beauty and felt it was one of the most beautiful places in the country. I guess when I think of large wildfires I think of the ones here in the West Coast and our very dry and hotten summers that just turn our forests into matchboxes. When you add on to the fact of all the illegal logging, clearcutting which helps fuel the fires these forest fires in the West Coast take a major toll on the environment and leave their scars for decades. Just look at the Paradise fire in North California for an example. The Chico area lost a huge amount of its population after that fire as many didn't want to stay and live around all that environmental devastation.


Anyhow, I'm happy to hear that the area is recovering and look forward to doing a lot of hiking and exploring there if I move to Knoxville or even anywhere in the Southeast this Summer.

[hiknapster]

Just drove through Oregon and northern California. It's recovering. In any event, Gatlinburg and the area is doing great.