One Steep Hike and One Super Sunset

Day 14, continued

After the Conference closed, I couldn't wait to get back to the nature of The Great Smoky Mountain Park. I decide that even though it was tourist-peak Sunday, I would go to one of the most popular places in the park; Clingman's Dome.

the tower at Clingman's Dome

the parking lot, where I started, as seen from the tower

The dome is the highest place in the park, and in Tennessee, but just in case that isn't high enough, there is a 54 foot tower perched on top! The walk up to the tower is a mere one-half mile, but is almost vertical, so feels like about 100 miles. The good news about being a photog, is that you can stop frequently and take pictures - or just act like you are taking pictures - and no one is the wiser.  After many stops, I reached the tower and then climbed the ramp up the addition 54 feet. It was a great view with the clouds wafting through me on their way to points further along. These waves of mist would change the lighting and visibility so suddenly a distant peak was visible, or the trees would peek out of the top of the cloud.

While it was a nice view, the crowd was more than I wanted to deal with, so I headed back down the path... my knees were not sure that was any easier than going up for them. I found a spot about half way down, that had a great western exposure to watch the sunset. So I stayed there for about the next hour, watching the people trudge up and run down, and the sun gently arc towards the horizon.

I had started the day down at the bottom in the fog, but by the sunset, it was crisp and clear up on top and, as it got cooler, the clouds formed an ocean of waves below us. So here are pictures of the ride up, the top, and the sunset on the way down.

And one panorama for you, too!