GSMNP Reopens Popular Trail

It has taken three years, but the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Monday announced the re-opening of the Ramsey Cascades Trail after a lengthy restoration project. Over the past three years, the National Park Service along with Friends Of The Smokies, built two new footlog bridges; added new decking and handrails on a 20’ hiker bridge, plus added more than 600 new steps for hiker safety and erosion control. They also installed 151 new trail drains along with removing tripping hazards, like roots and rocks from the trail.

The project had begun in the spring of 2022, but in the summer of that year, a flash flood washed out part of the trail. So, during this project, the crew constructed a new 900+ foot section of trail to bypass the section that was washed away. Park officials say that volunteers were essential to the completion of this project—110 volunteers contributed more than 1800 hours’ worth of work. A ribbon cutting ceremony took place on Monday. The park says Ramsey Cascades Trail is now open seven days a week.