Taking a little bit longer than originally anticipated, the Little River Road in the Smokies reopened around midnight last night after being closed by a rockslide last Wednesday.
The slide occurred about two miles west of Metcalf Bottoms, forcing the closure of an eight mile section of the Little River Road from Townsend to Metcalf Bottoms.
The rockslide was just one of many that have plagued the region this winter.
A University of Tennessee geologist
says a combination of terrain and wet weather is to blame for many of the recent problems in East Tennessee. He also says we should expect more slides this year.
"The water gets into the crevasse, then it freezes and it loosens that material. Then it thaws. Then more water gets in and it freezes again and expands. It is almost like a jack hammer. It just loosens that material until eventually the slope will fail," explains Region 1 Director Steven Borden, with the state Department of Transportation (TDOT).
Here’s a list of the rockslides/landslides (that I’m aware of) that have occurred in the region since last fall:
* A series of rockslides on the
Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Spur road (U.S. 441) resulted in closures and detours that will last until April.
* A small rockslide occurred on
SR-73 near the entrance to the Tremont Campground in early February.
* A massive landslide took out the backside of one home and caused minor damage to three other homes on
Rich Cove Road in Maggie Valley in February.
* A massive rockslide on
I-40 closed a 20-mile stretch of interstate between the Haywood County boundary and the Tennessee state line last October, and will remain closed until late April.
* A major landslide on the
Blue Ridge Parkway near Ferrin Knob Tunnel No. 1, which is about six miles uphill from the parkway's interchange with N.C. 191 in Bent Creek, between Asheville and Mount Pisgah, has shut down the BRP until July.
* A recent rockslide covered the main road at
Grandfather Mountain State Park just below the Split Rock and the Sphinx Rock.
* Rock slides continue to block
U.S. 64-74 in the Ocoee River Gorge about 12 miles west of the North Carolina-Tennessee state line. Hope to be cleared by April 16.
* And of course the now famous
video that shows a man actually driving into a rockslide on U.S. 129 (The Dragon) about two miles south of Chilhowee Dam.
Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.
If you plan on hiking this trail in the next few weeks or months, you should expect to see a lot of downed trees and downed rhododendron on the trail. Based on the fact that most of the fallen rhododendron still had green leaves on them, I would say it's likely they fell during the recent snowstorm.
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