NC National Parks is the third deadliest park in the United States

If I were to take a look at the deadliest National Parks in the United States, the state of North Carolina would not be on the list but here they are at number three.

Frommer’s has listed the top parks in the United States with the most deaths annually. Finding out that the park closest to my own hometown is on the list is quite a bit surprising. Especially since I have been there a few times.

The Great Smoky Mountains sit on the state border with Tennessee. They Smoky Mountains offer one of the more stunning vistas in the U.S. Eastern coastal states. Naturally, high peaks and waterfalls give travelers something to head towards and the hiking offers endless trails to the top.

According to Frommer’s Zac Thompson, the Great Smoky Mountains have had 92 deaths since 2010. That is high enough to put them in third behind the Grand Canyon, in Arizona where 134 deaths have occurred and Yosemite National Park in California where 126 people of have died.

Thompson points out the cause of death is typically falling. The exact causes of death were not included in the study by Outforia.

Reading down Thompson’s excellent piece on the subject, it should be noted that number of visitors play into and if we look at those statistics, North Cascades N.P. in the state of Washington could be considered the deadliest given 30,000 visitors and a 652 deaths per 10 million people.

Either way, it’s still interesting that the Smoky Mountains are as high as they are.