By now, the story of Hurricane Helene is a tragically familiar one: the endless rain, the swollen rivers, the angry water indiscriminately destroying lives and homes. The storm killed more than 230 people across five states, including 104 confirmed dead in North Carolina and 18 in Tennessee. 

After years of vacationing in the Smokies, Scott and Jayne Young had no trouble deciding where they wanted to retire. In 2016, they sold their lakeside home in Ohio and moved to Gatlinburg.

For the first time in nearly three years, the trail to Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s tallest waterfall is fully open — and following an intensive rehabilitation of its entire four-mile length, Ramsey Cascades Trail is in better shape than it’s been in decades.  

Anne Thomas-Abbott had a “profound” experience this October as she observed students taking part in a National Park Service curriculum about trees and carbon sequestration. The power of the lesson came from the real-life, hands-on engagement in the forest, as students measured trees in the Look Rock area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to find out how much carbon specific trees could capture and store, pulling greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere.

When 2024 dawned in Chattanooga, Tennessee, job hunting was the furthest thing from Jacqueline “Jacki” Harp’s mind. As regional director of REI’s southeastern United States operations, Harp loved her job and the feeling of home that came with nearly 18 years of professional history at the company. But then Smokies Life CEO Laurel Rematore announced her intent to retire, and the equation changed.

When the Safe Passage coalition started working in 2017 to make Interstate 40 a safer place for people and wildlife through the Pigeon River Gorge, nobody knew that, in a few short years, entire sections of the critical roadway would vanish in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

As Hurricane Helene fomented in the Caribbean, it seemed likely that Great Smoky Mountains National Park would take a direct hit. The storm reached Category 4 before slamming Florida’s Gulf Coast, then headed north toward the Smokies. 

As days grow shorter in the Great Smoky Mountains, the colorful landscape hums with life. Creatures large and small scurry through the blanket of fallen leaves gathering nuts and berries, crafting intricate homes to wait out the winter, and preparing for the stillness of the season ahead. 

At 3:30 p.m., traffic flows smoothly along U.S. 441 past the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. The 80-some elk living in this area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park are still invisible beneath the forest canopy as the sun shines bright and warm. 

Growing up, Blount County native Carly Pearson considered time outdoors a way of life. When she wasn’t exploring the stunningly diverse landscape of nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park, she was giving it her all on the soccer field.