The gorgeous fall colors will still come this month to the Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina, but many of the millions of travelers who normally arrive this time of year at America’s most-visited national park probably will not, in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
The result is a triple tragedy for the region: extensive damage that has closed many roads and trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, thousands of homes and businesses in ruins and millions of dollars in lost revenues from tourism and recreation.
The full extent of the damages to the park and the communities surrounding it might not be known for weeks, but it is clearly a calamitous situation in the park that last year drew 13.3 million visitors, three times more than either the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park, according to the National Park Service.
