Girl Dies In the Smokies At the Sinks

The Sinks

According to the Daily Times a seventeen-year-old girl vacationing with her family from Florida died yesterday after being swept by swift current over the waterfall at the Sinks in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The report says she became pinned between the rocks underwater, where the tremendous pressure of the falls kept her submerged for around three hours, when rescue workers from the Blount County Sheriff's Office and Townsend Volunteer Fire Department were finally able to free her body.

I've been on countless outings to the Sinks since I was a lad, and I can vouch for the strength of the current coming over those falls. Frankly, the guy in the photo just below the falls is pushing his luck. There's a nice, deep swimming hole there once you get a bit downstream from the falls, but this poor girl isn't the first person to drown at the foot of them. As peaceful and beautiful as the mountains are, it is important to remember that they can be dangerous as well.