The 2016 Smoky Mountains wildfires 18 months later

Burned trees from the Great Smoky Mountains 2016 wildfires on Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the packed Great Smoky Mountains Sugarlands Visitor Center in Gatlinburg last Saturday, a National Park Service Ranger told us the 2016 fires had swept about 10 percent of the park with winds gusting at 87 mph and hopscotching from one mountain top to another.  On our weekend trip everywhere we saw natural and human destruction.

 

A view on Ski View Drive from the now obliterated Gardens cottages looking down on the burned out Highlands Motel, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

On Ski View Drive, blackened trees stood near remains of homes and a motel, burned to their cores.

The ranger said it would take 80 years for the area to return to its natural state, but already, healthy greens cover many pieces of ground, in contrast to burned out trees and blackened bark. 

The former Highlands Motel on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The former Highlands Motel on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The former Highlands Motel on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee which would make a great movie site or Halloween adventure in its present condition/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The former Highlands Motel on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Parts of Ski View Drive were reminiscent of cemeteries, quiet and sad, with no signs of life, save the sprouting greens on the ground quickly coming back.

 

Remains of the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Remains of the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
A view from the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Burned trees from the Great Smoky Mountains 2016 wildfires on Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Remains of the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  This one used to be for rent at Mountain Rentals and Chalet, according to the sign/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Remains of the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Fourteen people and one bear died in the tragedy started by arson by juveniles. The ranger said jurisdiction over their crime is still in a squabble between local authorities and the federal government. About 2,400 properties were damaged or ruined and 150 persons, injured.

From the Gardens cottages on Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Gardens cottages on Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said only one bear was known to have been killed in the 2016 wildfires, and we saw this yearling with its mama upending trash cans at a cabin at dusk on Ski View Drive in Gatlinburg. The cabin occupants blew a whistle to frighten them away.  Poor bears!  Searching for food, bold enough to approach human activity during daylight hours/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Scarred hillsides with reconstructed homes coming up as life returns to overtake desolation, a view from Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Where there is life, there is hope for recovery and fun, like hiking  the Alum Cave Trail to Mt LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains. and climbing through Arch Rock. Hikers were aplenty but not too many to reduce the pleasures of being outdoors on a spring day!/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 A bridge over Alum Cave Creek on the Alum Cave Trail/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I believe this is Inspiration Point on the Alum Cave Trail about a half hour beyond Arch Rock on the way to Mount LeConte.  In the distance are burned out mountain tops/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Tourists have returned, thank goodness, but the stark pictures remind us of what man and weather can do to our valuable natural resources.  

Another reminder on the eve of Earth Day to take care of our planet, and Mama, don't let your young ones grow up to be arsonists. 

As Smokey the Bear used to say more often than we hear now:  

Only you can prevent forest fires.

 patricialesli@gmail.com