Day 2 - Gatlinburg & Clingman's Dome

Today was another full day here.  We decided to take Cathy's suggestion for breakfast at the Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg, so we headed there.  Had a delicious breakfast, even though it was 11:30 by the time we got there.  Parking in Gatlinburg is a problem, there is almost no free parking, so you have to find a parking lot.  We paid $7 for 3 hours, and after we ate, we did a little shopping (mostly window shopping).  We did buy new cases and covers for our new cell phones so we can carry them with us, they are too big to be very comfortable in our pockets.  You can see mine in a later photo.  And Joe bought a leather belt.  Plenty of people here, even though we think we are probably ahead of the main summer season.

We left here about 2:00 and headed toward Clingman's Dome, the highest part in the park.  Along this road we had to stop for road construction at a tunnel.  Joe could see no reason for the tunnel (it didn't go through a mountain) so he was convinced that it was a wildlife overpass like they have in Canada.  When they let us move through, he made me ask the flagman, who told us that no, it was just the road.  And sure enough, we curved around and drove right back over the top of that tunnel.  (Made me feel stupid.)

There's pretty views along this route, and sometimes we could see the highway far below that we had just been on.  This is from Morton's Overlook, and the road was completed in 1932.

Our next stop was at the Tennessee/North Carolina state line.  Again, the CCC's were instrumental in building a lot of the structures, roads, etc. here in the park.   

 The Appalacian Trail goes through here, so we can now say we've both been on that trail.  Joe thought we might have to kick it up a notch if we are going to get to the end of it in Maine by Friday (only 1972 miles to go).

 This was a pretty  busy place, and we can imagine that later in the summer it would be hard to drive around here.  We think we lucked out this week because traffic has not been too heavy.  (See my new phone case)

There's a lake in the distance in this photo, but it doesn't show up very good.  I don't know how many miles away it is.  We saw it again from the top of Clingman's Dome.

We got to Clingman's Dome and the trail up to the top looked rather daunting.  I wasn't sure we could make it but Joe made me keep going.  Joe has been interested in seeing the Hemlock Trees sort of famous here, and he thinks this might be one.

We had lots of stops but about 1/2 way up, the people coming down told us there was a bear up near the trail, so that gave us both some momentum.  There were actually two bears moseying around under the brush.  We never got a very good look, or picture, but that black spot in the middle of this picture is a bear I think. 

We finally made it to the top of the trail, breathless and aching.  Then we had to walk up to the top of the tower.  There were nice views from here, but a storm was moving in, and the temperature was quite chilly (windy too).  Joe sat down to recover a bit.

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  "At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome is Great Smoky Mountains National Park's highest point. It is the highest point in Tennessee, and the second highest point east of the Mississippi. Only North Carolina's Mt. Mitchell (6,684 feet) rises higher.  . . . Located along the state-line ridge, it is half in North Carolina and half in Tennessee. The peak is accessible after driving Clingmans Dome Road from Newfound Gap, and then walking a steep half-mile trail. A paved trail leads to a 54-foot observation tower. The Appalachian Trail crosses Clingmans Dome, marking the highest point along its 2,144 mile journey."

It was definitely a steep trail, and it felt like it was about 5 miles instead of 1/2 mile.  I think they got the decimal in the wrong place!

 

We got back down from the Dome and stopped in the Visitors Center.  The walking down was difficult too.  Joe's heel (plantars fascitis) was killing him and I was having trouble with my knee. 

We had seen a donation box the very first night, on our EWVD in Cades Cove, and I told Joe if I saw a bear here I would donate.  So it was time to ante up.  I actually shorted them - we've seen 6 bears and I only donated $5.

We take lots of pictures with our little camera and it does a pretty good job, but as we walked back to the car we saw this guy setting up a Serious Camera.

His wife/girlfriend picked out a spot on the sidewalk and immediately covered up completely with a blanket, so it looked like he planned to be here for a while.

It was 62 degrees when we got in the car, and I would guess it was 10 degrees cooler at the top of the tower.  We headed down off this mountain and ran into rain before too long.  The drive back to the campground is always pretty and scenic, even in the rain.  We saw another turkey along here too.  We head heard about a new restaurant in Townsend so we decided to give it a try.  Thumbs Up for Fireflys.  It was delicious, a cozy little 10-table restaurant.   Finally we called it a night and hobbled back into the RV.  I went to bed early just to stretch out my legs.  Joe can hardly walk so tomorrow should be interesting -- looks like a driving day.