TN man missing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park found dead near Balsam Mountain

A Knoxville, Tennessee, man was found dead Aug. 5 in a remote section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Balsam Mountain in North Carolina, according to a news release from the National Park Service.

Bryce Evans, 23, was reported missing by his family earlier this week.  

Park rangers located his vehicle parked at the Balsam Mountain Trailhead near Pin Oak Gap on Heintooga Ridge Road at about 7:45 p.m. Aug. 4. They closed the road and conducted a search of the immediate area with emergency responders from the Cherokee Police and Fire departments, according to the release.

On Aug. 5, NPS emergency responders and Cherokee Police, Fire, and Emergency Management Services assisted in a search of the area. Within a few hours, they found Evans about 20 yards off the trail, about 1.5 miles from the Balsam Mountain Trailhead parking area, at approximately 11:15 a.m. 

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According a Facebook post from Evans' sister, Analiese Evans, Bryce had been missing since July 31:

"My brother Bryce has been missing since Sunday, no one has seen or heard from him since 1 pm on the 31st. His phone has been turned off. He was on his way back to Charlotte, NC from Knoxville. His last known location was the area around Cherokee, NC. He drives a 2017 Grey Nissan Altima with the plate 4LO-8L5. He is 6’3” and 185 pounds. Please if you know anything or have seen/talked to him reach out to me or my family."

Other posts from family members say Bryce was an Eagle Scout and a member of the Tennessee National Guard.

The Smokies is the most visited national park in the country with some 14.1 million visitors in 2021. It sprawls across a half-million acres of mostly remote, rugged, forested terrain on the Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee border.

Rangers say there are about 100 search and rescue operations a year in the park.

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This is the second reported death in the Smokies in little more than a week. On July 27 a 7-year-old girl was killed when a large red maple tree fell on the tent where she was sleeping with her family in the Elkmont Campground on the Tennessee side of the park. 

Spokesperson Dana Soehn said the tree was cleared away and as of Aug. 1 the campsite had been reopened. She said she would not release any other details "in the interest of protecting the privacy of the children involved."

Karen Chávez is Content Coach/Investigations Editor for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Tips? Call 828-712-6316, email, KChavez@CitizenTimes.com or follow on Twitter @KarenChavezACT.