GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) - Visits to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park increased by 8.7 percent in November.
National Park Service spokesman Bob Miller said the jump was fueled by a 27.2 percent increase at the Gatlinburg entrance to the Smokies. Miller said that was caused by the major rock slide that has closed Interstate 40 just inside North Carolina.
The other major entrances to the park - at Cherokee, N.C., and Townsend, Tenn., were unchanged from October.
The count at the 13 outlying entrances were off by 6.3 percent, but that was mostly because the traffic counter at Cosby was removed for a month of paving work.
Miller said the November figure keeps the Smokies on track for an expected yearly total of 9.4 million visitors. Year-to-date visits are up 4.7 percent.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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