An avid hiker and “dedicated” volunteer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than two decades was found dead on the North Carolina side of the range nearly a week after going missing.

1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024. Francis, who served as deputy superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park for 11 years and as superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway for eight, also noted ...

A beloved National Park Service ... Great Smoky Mountains are generally moderate, although extremes do occur, especially at elevation. The higher you go, the lower the temperature is likely to drop.

A hiker missing in the Great Smoky Mountains ... visited national parks in the country, with some 13.3 million visitors in 2023. According to previous Citizen Times reporting, the park conducts ...

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which sprawls across a half-million acres of rugged, forested terrain in Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, is one of the most-visited national ...