We had about an hour drive to Clingmans Dome this morning and stopped at a couple of overlooks to get all warmed for the upcoming view from the top!
At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome is the highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is the highest point in Tennessee, and the third highest mountain east of the Mississippi. There’s a paved 1/2 mile walk to the observation tower on the summit. The walk is steep but there are benches along the way. On clear days views expand over a 100 miles. Unfortunately, air pollution often limits viewing distances to under 20 miles and today was even less than that just due to cloud cover. It was still a great walk! As instructed by the NPS we had bundled up a bit. The temperatures on Clingmans Dome are often 20 degrees cooler than at the Visitors Center. It was great to feel the cool air!
We thought we’d pay our respects to the Appalachian Trail again on the way down.
We craved more of those mountain views and we got them on our way to the sugarlands Visitor Center.
Sugarlands had a short Nature Walk to Cataract Falls so we took a little stroll through the woods. Sugardlands is all set for Halloween with that ghost stump!
