Day breaks in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as early risers listen to a ranger's talk.
Civil War reenactors fire a cannon at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
Visitors go flyfishing with a guide in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
A kayaker navigates the Obed Wild & Scenic River.
Visitors ride horses in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Point Park visitors were locked out last year during a partial government shutdown after Congress failed to enact legislation appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014.2012 Park visitors/What they spentAll National Park System parks 283 million $14.7 billionChickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park 1,032,844 $61 millionGreat Smoky Mountains National Park 9,685,829 $741.5 millionObed Wild & Scenic River 212,446 $3.5 million2013 Park visitors/What they spentAll National Park System parks 274 million $14.6 billionChickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park 905,984 $55 millionGreat Smoky Mountains National Park 9,354,695 $734 millionObed Wild & Scenic River 198,366 $3.3 millionsource: National Park Service
A year ago at this time, national parks across the country were closed due to a partial government shutdown.
Park grounds, visitor centers, in-park hotels, campgrounds and most park roads were shuttered for the first 16 days of October.
Visitation for nearly all national parks dropped because of that, and, as logic dictates, so did visitor spending.
Communities near Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park were among those to feel the squeeze the most, according to a recent National Park Service report. Hardest hit were Tennessee and North Carolina gateway communities to the national park that's always the busiest: the Great Smoky Mountains.
There's no question that the shutdown hurt his park, said Brad Bennett, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park's superintendent. The 16 days were right between the park's September and November battle anniversaries.
"It's a time where we do get to see a lot of visitors" normally, Bennett said.
Chickamauga had 39,791 visitors who spent $2.4 million in October 2013. Doesn't sound too bad, until you compare it to October averages from 2010-2012: 99,188 visitors spending about $6 million. That's a 60 percent drop in visitors and spending.
Bennett speculates that something else knocked down Chickamauga's counts last year: the historic storm that washed out much of New Jersey's shoreline in late 2012.
"Hurricane Sandy affected a lot of people's leisure vacations" well into 2013, Bennett said. "We have visitors from all over the country, but especially the eastern seaboard."
All told, Chickamauga had a 12 percent drop in visitation and a 10 percent drop in spending, from 2012 to 2013.
"You never want to see a decline in the number of people visiting your community," said Bob Doak, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. "What I understand ... is there has been a bounce back from that."
Looks like it, Bennett said. Chickamauga is running about 1.5 percent higher in visitation this year than last year, he said.
The same probably goes for the Obed Wild & Scenic River in Lancing, Tenn., which showed a 7 percent drop in visitation and a 5 percent drop in spending, from 2012 to 2013.
But Dave Carney, the park's chief of interpretation, said he doesn't concern himself too much with year-over-year drops -- even if they are as high as 10 percent -- because all kinds of things cause swings, including trends in European travel.
Obed's visitors include climbers and kayakers who enter the park from multiple locations -- and in some cases start paddling before they enter the park and keep paddling right through it, until they exit. Which is to say, those visitors might not show up in counts. Federal officials get there visitation figures from road counts and visitor center calculations, among other factors.
"We're not ... Yosemite where you can close a gate," Carney said. "There's a lot of people who come in that we don't see at the visitor center."
Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406.