Most Americans are traveling far less than in years past, due to one ofthe worst economic downturns in decades. Many are looking close to homefor a place to spend their summer vacation, and that will likely meanrecord crowds at state and national parks.
Mostpeople would probably guess that one of the nation's iconic westernparks - Yellowstone, Yosemite or Grand Canyon - would be the mostcrowded. But in fact, a park located in the eastern United States seesas many visitors annually as those three better-known western onescombined.
It's , which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee.
Ranger Bob Miller says this park hosts well over 9 million visitors every year, far more than any other national park.
"Bycomparison, Grand Canyon National Park is second with about 4.5million. Yosemite and Yellowstone have about 3 million each."
The reason for that, he explains, is the park's location, near the densely populated eastern seaboard.
"A hundred million people could drive here in a day," he adds.
Becauseit's such a popular destination, the soothing sounds of nature in theSmokies blend with the far-less-soothing sounds of traffic. With somany people trying to find a slice of nature to enjoy, you wonder how apark like Smoky Mountains survives all the attention.
But Miller says it isn't the park that suffers the most, it's thevisitors' experience in the park. He points to an area called Cade'sCove.
"[It] is an 11-mile [17-km], one-way loop road throughan historic district. Real scenic, lots of wildlife to see - bears anddeer and turkey - and it's just a real popular destination. It isn'tunusual for you to be stuck in traffic for three hours on that 11-mileloop road."
Worse than the traffic, though, is the impact theregion's growing population is having on the park's air quality. TheSmokies are named for the blue mist that always seems to hover aroundthe peaks and valleys. But because it sits downwind of some of thenation's most heavily industrialized areas, Miller says the Smokies arefar smokier than they should be.
"[There are] ozone levels thatare high enough to damage about 30 species of plants in the park. Wealso have acid deposition that's as acidic as vinegar in some cases,where rain and fog can descend at pH [acidity levels] under four."
In contrast, pure rain has a pH of about six.
Still,despite all these people problems, Miller says as Great Smoky MountainsNational Park , the Park Service is focused onkeeping people coming.
"If you look historically at the last75 years or so, the average visitor has been a white, middle-classfamily that grew up with the family camping trip, have fond memories ofthat and pass it along to their kids. But increasingly, the demographicof America is changing."
This new average citizen is less interested in nature, less interested, in fact, in being outdoors at all.
"Youknow, kids, instead of being out playing out-of-doors, are spending alot more time online on Facebook and on all kinds of electronic media.They're not activities that really get you in touch with nature,"Miller points out, adding, "And a lot of families don't have the timeto spend taking their kids out and getting involved with nature."
Sorather than waiting for the visitors to come to the park, the ParkService is taking the park to the visitors. Rangers are presentingnature programs at local schools, and they're also experimenting withonline tools, like podcasts and a Virtual Visitors Center.
Thefact that so many people visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park, inspite of the crowds and the noise and the pollution, is perhaps thebest possible testament to the park's enduring beauty. As Ranger BobMiller points out, it has 200,000 hectares of forest, 1,300 kilometersof walking trails, 1,100 kilometers of fishable streams, and a wealthof plant and animal life few other parks can rival.
"Wehave about 200 species of birds, a lot of which are neo-tropical. We'vealso got 60 species of mammals, ranging from lesser shrews, which arethe weight of a dime and less than an inch [2 centimeters] long, to800- or 900-pound [350- or 400-kilo] elk. We have something in therange of 1,600 bears in this park, which is somewhere in the range oftwo per square mile [one per square km]." There are also 1,600 speciesof plants, including well over 100 tree varieties.
More thanenough reason, park visitors seem to believe, to endure a littletraffic to enjoy a whole lot of spectacular natural beauty.