Visitation through all the entrances of Great Smoky Mountains National Park was off by 29.2 percent in January 2011 as compared with January 2010.
All three main entrances were down for January 2011 compared with January a year ago:
Gatlinburg counted 87,387 visitors last month (down 33.4 percent from 2010), Townsend counted 39,596 (down 2.3 percent, Cherokee counted 50,080 (down by 41.3 percent).
The 13 outlying entrances were also off with 37,551 visitors, a decline of 18.8 percent.
While many may remember January-February of 2010 as an usually snowy winter season, the pressure on the main Park Road, Newfound Gap Rd (US-441), was still heavy when it was open, because I-40 was closed near the TN/NC state line due to a rockslide, which fortunately was not the case this year.
Another factor that worked to depress Park visitation this year, was the number of significant winter events that affected the low elevation roads around the Park.
This forced the closure of many of the outlying Park entrances such as the Cherokee Orchard Road near Gatlinburg and the Deep Creek area and Lakeview Drive near Bryson City.   
The fact that many area school districts are working to find ways to make up their excess "snow days", is a good indication of the frequency of those disruptions.

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