Treasured Traditions: Project365: Special Edition

After seeing so many buildings' remnants the day before, I was getting excited to take in some beauty and get away from all the reminders of the fire. I hadn't heard of any of the Roaring Fork Nature Trail historic structures being lost and assumed that the fire had skipped over that part of Gatlinburg. Sadly, I was in for a nasty surprise. The first thing that I noticed as I proceeded along Cherokee Orchard Road towards the trail was how bright it was. Considering it is spring, at first I figured the trees just hadn't completely leafed out yet. As I continued, I realized that many of the trees had been burnt and that most of the rhododendrons had also succumbed to the fires. The understory that previously was there was lost along with portions of crowns of many trees which allowed much more light to enter. Since many of the rhododendrons had succumbed to either fire or drought, very few were blooming. Huge expanses of forest had burned and the trip turned eerie.

Another issue I noticed here as in other forests was the reduction of sounds from animals. I didn't see any black bears around Gatlinburg, either (something that previously was almost impossible to avoid; due to the fact that as soon as anyone spots one, they tend to stop to take pictures [and then everyone else behind them follows suit]).

Something else caught my attention as well; how dry everything was. Normally, especially in the morning; the trail is wet. On this day everything was abnormally dry:

Many trees' crowns have only a few branches leafing out, more than likely dooming said trees.

As I continued through the trail and was coming back into Gatlinburg, the trip suddenly turned even worse. Here is one of the "before" pictures:

Now here are the "after" versions:

Here is another "before" version:

Now for the "after" versions:

Here is the devastation up close:

What used to be the pool is currently filled with gravel:

It was at this point as I was finishing taking pictures and working on returning to the car that I wept a bit. I can only imagine how devastating it was for everyone who lives here.