Despite
the fact that Laurie and I have lived here in East Tennessee for almost 8 years
now, we’d never driven up to Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park. Neither of Laurie’s
sisters had been there before either.
So…off we went!
We
drove over Pigeon Forge via local roads and highways. We hadn’t been in the area since the deadly
and destructive fire in Gatlinburg last fall.
We don’t like crowds all that much and we’re not big shoppers either so
we don’t get over this way very often.
We’ve been to Dollywood, a few of the restaurants and shops and we’ve
been to 3 theater presentations in the years since we moved to Tennessee.
It was
a weekday about 2 weeks before the Memorial Day Holiday when we drove through
Gatlinburg on our way to Clingman’s Dome.
We’ve been to Gatlinburg enough to know that the streets and sidewalks
were relatively empty…significantly fewer visitors than I expected even a
couple of weeks before the holiday.
As we
exited Gatlinburg headed east on US Hwy 441, we immediately spotted fire
ravaged ridge lines and low peaks. This
horrendous fire was a record breaker for this area of the USA. Over 17,000 acres were burned and 14 people
lost their lives… (More on the fire later in this posting)
FYI…US
Highway 441 runs for 939 miles, starting at from US Highway 41 in Miami Florida
and ending at US Highway 25W in Rocky Top Tennessee. It crosses the Smoky Mountains from near
Cherokee North Carolina following a winding route over to Gatlinburg
Tennessee. Traffic on US Hwy 441 can be
challenging during the summer and fall tourist seasons.
We
exited US Hwy 441 and took the road up to Clingman’s Dome. The mountains had recently recorded several
inches of snow which was still in evidence along the road and up near the Dome
itself. The Clingmans Dome Road is open
annually from April 1 through November 30.
Upon
arrival near Clingman’s Dome, we all bundled up…it was windy and fairly
cold…and started taking photos. I’m in
the background with Bonnie next and Karole is closest to Laurie’s camera.
What
the heck! Selfies are still in…right?! Laurie took this selfie of herself and her
sisters with the mountain ranges stretching on behind them. They look pretty happy don't they!
Despite
the chilly weather and fewer tourists than I’d expected we were hardly alone at
Clingman’s Dome. The parking lots were
almost full and the various languages being spoken were testimony to the fact
that the visitors to the Smoky Mountains National Park were from all around the
world!
This is
one view from the edge of the parking area at Clingman’s Dome.
The
Cherokee called the Dome “Kuwa'hi”, or "mulberry place." According to
a Cherokee myth the mountain was the home of the White Bear, the great chief of
all bears, and the location of one of the bears' council houses. The mountain was dubbed "Smoky
Dome" by American settlers. In
1859, the mountain was renamed by geologist Arnold Guyot for compatriot Thomas
Lanier Clingman, an American Civil War general who had explored the area
extensively in the 1850s and then spent many years promoting it.
Note: Thomas
Lanier Clingman was a Democratic member of the United States House of
Representatives from 1843 to 1845 and from 1847 to 1858, and a U.S. senator
from the state of North Carolina between 1858 and 1861. During the Civil War he
refused to resign his Senate seat and was one of ten senators expelled from the
Senate in absentia. He then served as a general in the Confederate States Army. Clingman's Brigade fought at Goldsboro,
Battery Wagner, Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Globe Tavern, Fort
Fisher, and Bentonville.
The
views are pretty spectacular aren’t they!
The beautiful blue skies and sunshine made the views pop!
At an
elevation of 6,643 feet, Clingman’s Dome is the highest mountain in the Smokies,
the highest point in the state of Tennessee, and the highest point along the
2,174-mile (3,499 km) Appalachian Trail. It is also the third highest point in all of
Eastern North America.
Note: In the early morning hours of June 12,
1946, an Army 3rd Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress crashed near
the summit of Clingmans Dome, killing all twelve crew members. The plane was in route from Chicago to
MacDill Field Florida and it had been last reported over Knoxville, about 45
miles away from the crash site.
This
National Park Service information center and souvenir store is located just
beyond the parking lot at the foot of the walkway or path up to the actual peak
of Clingman’s Dome. The store was full
of people buying memories and trying to escape the chilly wind.
I like
this photo because of the contrast it shows.
At Clingman’s Dome you do feel like you’re on top of the world!
The 2,200
mile long Appalachian Trail crosses Clingmans Dome at the top of the
mountain. In addition, the western
terminus of the 1,150 mile long Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which connects the
Smokies to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, is located atop Clingmans Dome.
This
photo, which I ‘borrowed’ from the Internet, shows the Clingman’s Dome
Observation Tower. It is accessible via
a half mile trail or walkway that begins near the Forney Ridge Parking Area. This short steep trail is half a mile long
and it takes visitors up another 300 feet to the 45-foot observation tower at
the top of the mountain. We just weren’t
dressed for this adventure and it will have to wait for another visit…
On the
way back down through the mountains to Gatlinburg, we stopped so Laurie could
take a photo from the Newfound Gap scenic viewing area right along Newfound Gap
Highway, aka US Hwy. 441. This road is
also known as The Great Smoky Mountains Parkway. Newfound Gap is 5,048 feet above sea
level.
Prior
to the development of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Newfound Gap was
an undiscovered pass 2 miles east of what was long thought to be the lowest
mountain pass over the Great Smoky Mountains…Indian Gap. Indian Gap Road, an unpaved, challenging trail
frequented by traders, farmers, and even by the Confederate Army during the
American Civil War, was completed in 1839 and named after the old Cherokee
Indian trail that the road paralleled. Newfound
Gap itself was not recognized as the lowest gap in over the mountains until
1872, when Arnold Guyot measured many of the mountains in the area and
determined the "Newfound Gap" to be a lower, more accessible mountain
pass.
Laurie
couldn’t resist feeding these panhandlers at Newfound Gap. These crows were very experienced beggars and
cautiously ate directly from her hand.
Note: According to the National Weather
Service, despite being located in the south, Newfound Gap has around 19 snowy
days per year. That’s comparable to 18 days
in Minneapolis Minnesota. Annual
snowfall at the Gap generally ranges from 45 to 100 plus inches per year. Being in a national park, Newfound Gap Road
is only treated by snowplows and a gravel-sand mix. No chemicals can be used for snow removal due
to their harm to the environment. The
road was closed for days after the Great Blizzard of 1993 when 5 feet of snow
fell, and snowdrifts piled up to double that depth.
On the
way back down the mountain from Newfound Gap, I pulled over and Laurie took a
photo of this pretty little cataract flowing on toward the valley below.
Note: The Great Smokies are part of an
International Biosphere Reserve. The range is home to an estimated 187,000
acres of old growth forest, constituting the largest such stand east of the
Mississippi River. The cove hardwood
forests in the range's lower elevations are among the most diverse ecosystems
in North America, and the Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest that coats the
range's upper elevations is the largest of its kind. The Great Smokies are also home to the
densest black bear population in the Eastern United States and the most diverse
salamander population outside of the tropics.
Along with being a Biosphere Reserve, the Great Smokies have also been
designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Returning
to Gatlinburg Tennessee, we got out of the car and walked around a bit…and, as
you’ll see in another posting yet to come, we did a little shopping too. Once I was on foot and could look around, I
saw just how close that destructive fire had come to the main business district
in town! Scary for sure!
The highly respected Arrowmont School of Arts
and Crafts is located just behind where I stood to take this photo and they
lost buildings in the fire. The distance
between the fire on hill across the street and the school isn’t more than a
quarter mile… To learn about this school, go to http://www.arrowmont.org/.
Just
click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by and joining us in this little adventure!
Take
Care, Big Daddy Dave
