Rainbow Falls Trail, post-burn pictures

[illabelle]

This is a report from our first visit to the burn area after the fire that devastated Gatlinburg and portions of the Smokies in late November, 2016.

Last Saturday, February 4, we learned that most trails were open that connected to the Roaring Fork Motorway loop from Gatlinburg. The exception is the Bullhead Trail, which remains closed. Still several closings closer to the Chimney Tops area. We had limited time, only hiked an hour up Rainbow Falls Trail. Below are selected photos from that walk. I expect we'll return late in the spring to see how things have changed.

Note the rhododendron on the left side of the road. The brown is where it was singed as the fire swept through. This was a common sight. In many places the brown goes up about 8-10 feet, with greenery above. In some places no green is visible two-and-a-half months after the fire. I guess those won't survive. I failed to get a picture, but we saw freshly sprouted beautiful green grass along the road banks in several places, obviously from recent seeding efforts.

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Charred stump of a large long-gone tree.

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Never used to see all these rocks littering the ground. Low vegetation is gone, along with much of the leaf litter.

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Similar to the road view, this trail view shows rhododendron singed as the fire swept through.
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This photo looks from the trail uphill at the edge of the charred leaf layer over the exposed mineral layer. This photo worries me. With a humus layer so thin, and yes I expect it's probably thicker away from the edge, how does a beetle, or an earthworm, or a chipmunk, or a centipede survive? How do the rhododendron survive? How long does it take for new organisms to move in? How much degradation and erosion occur before the soil is stable?

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Black and brown, bare and unprotected. Sad.

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[Bmelee]

I hiked up to about 5000 feet on Rainbow last Thursday. The burned areas where you were at lower elevation are not as bad as those up high. In the lower areas, most of the burn involved dead wood, the rhodo, the leaf litter, and stumps that continued to burn for weeks. These areas are recovering quickly in lower elevations in the park and I doubt you will see much evidence of the burn by the end of the year. It will look much like the controlled burn areas in the Abrams Creek section of the park. Up high, however, the fire burned hotter (probably due to the high winds which did not penetrate as much into the lower coves and valleys). Up there, it looks much like a war zone with shrubs and trees burned down to stumps, as well as fracturing rocks due to the extreme heat. image.jpgimage.jpegimage.jpg
These pictures were taken around 4500 feet. The area around the falls was not touched by the fires. As a side note, the grass you saw may or may not have been recently planted. When the fire burned through the area along 441 up to the Chimneys from Sugarlands, it did not burn any of the grass along the roadside. It was off to drive through there in the first week or two after the fire and see those green strips along the road when everything else was black. The change since then has already been dramatic, more leaves have fallen and green is starting to emerge, wiping away the evidence of the fire. At least these areas have been cleared of most of the tinder for a few years to come. It also has made off trail hiking easier, as many long hidden artifacts have been uncovered! Nature is resilient and will repair these areas faster than we think.

[Dogwood]

Black and brown can be beautiful. Yes some changes occurred that humanity may not appreciate and certainly be problematic as you've indicated. Not debating your entire concerns. Although this fire was human caused naturally occurring fires have historically been part of healthy ecosystems. It is when man gets involved attempting to unduly control the environment instead of cooperating with it, as humanity is a component of the environment that must ebb and flow with it, not separate levitating above it looking down from some self appointed lofty perch, perspectives go awry. In some of the pictures I mostly note large trees still standing looking like they are doing OK. What I mostly note is the brushy understory affected by fire. This is similar to what the Forest Service does instituting controlled burns to create healthier forests and protect human property. It reminds me of trees like the Redwoods who have evolved with thick cambium layers to survive fires. I'm guessing Nature here too will adapt creating a new environmental paradigm...Nature, the environment, post Rainbow Falls Trail fire.

YES, to Bmelee saying "Nature is resilient." Humanity, a component of Nature, a component of the environment, must be equally resilient.