No More Buff Jumping In Townsend (Knoxville, Gatlinburg: safe, park, place)

[LauraC]

Oh, wait. It's no more BLUFF jumping in Townsend. Apparently, people would climb on the rocks and jump into the Little River near the Townsend Wye but the place is being used by so many people now that the officials at the Great Smoky Mountain National Park say it's no longer safe and they don't want some bluff jumper crashing down on an inner tubers head. In the Associated Press news story, an 80 year old Knoxville man says they might just have to arrest him since he's been bluff jumping at the spot for at least 50 years, sometimes 4 times a week every summer.

On a more positive note you can still climb up the rocks and jump off the bluffs into the same Little River in a place called The Sinks (further up the river near Gatlinburg). And, of course, in Townsend, you can still float by on your inner tube and frolic in the water. Just don't do it in the buff.