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Recreation in the Smokies

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Laurel Creek provides a cool haven for Will Minor and his son, Harper, 5, on Sunday, July 31, 2011 in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. There has been a large decline in visitors to the park during peak summer months. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

Photo by Saul Young, copyright © 2011

Laurel Creek provides a cool haven for Will Minor and his son, Harper, 5, on Sunday, July 31, 2011 in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. There has been a large decline in visitors to the park during peak summer months. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

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  • Laurel Creek provides a cool haven for Will Minor and his son, Harper, 5, on Sunday, July 31, 2011 in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. There has been a large decline in visitors to the park during peak summer months. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • Visitors tour the inside of the Primitive Baptist Church on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at Cades Cove. According to the Park Service, there have been a large decline in visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during peak summer months. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • A Park visitor relaxes along the bank of Laurel Creek on Sunday, July 31, 2011 inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • Ranger Frank Graham talks with visitors Sharon Metes, left, Dorthy Holder, Doreen Mendola and Beverly Matarasso on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011, at the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. Through June, visitation at the park is down 13 percent from last year. "What we have found here locally is people are working five and a half, six days a week to make a living. They don't have the recreational time .... that they used to," said Graham. (ADAM BRIMER/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • Rob Stansberry helps 9-year-old Madi, center, and 17-year-old Jade, left, as they begin tubing down the Little River at River Rats in Townsend on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011. The family travelled from Ludlow, Ky., for a vacation. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • Tina Kitchen, right, of Chicago, Ill., takes a photo as members of her family load up for tubing down the Little River on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011, in Townsend. The family of 28 came from across the United States -- as far as Washington and New York -- for a reunion. "For us, the thing about the Smokies is there aren't many places in the country that can accommodate the size of our family. We like cabins that are big enough for all of us" Kitchen said. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • Park visitors walk back to their vehicles after visiting the John Oliver cabin in Cades Cove on Sunday, July 31, 2011. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • Cliff Ott, left, and his wife, Fayla, from Sevierville celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary under a shade tree at Cades Cove on Sunday, July 31, 2011, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With them are their children, Seth and Luke, right. According to the National Park Service, visits to the park were down 17.6 percent from June 2010, typically one of the busiest months of the year. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • A visitor is silhouetted at Clingmans Dome Sunday, July 31, 2011, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park had 800,000 fewer visitors in 2010 compared to 1999 when it set a single-year attendance mark. "That's a substantial concern and there's no easy explanation for it," said Smokies spokesman Bob Miller. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • A view of the Smokies from Newfound Gap Rd. on Sunday, July 31, 2011. According to the Park Service, there have been a large decline in visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during peak summer months. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • Information management specialist Mary Webb, left, answers questions for visitors on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011., at the Townsend Visitor Center. With 58,262 visitors this year through July, Webb said 2011 is likely to set a new low for traffic. "We just don't have as many visitors as we used to," said Webb. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)
  • Jeremy DeWeese, left, and his sister Abbie DeWeese hike the short trail to the John Oliver Cabin in Cades Cove on Sunday, July 31, 2011. There have been a large decline in visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during peak summer months. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

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