Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
"Sha-con-a-ge"--
when translated from its native Cherokee,
this evocative word means "blue, like smoke."
Looking out from the summit of Clingmans Dome,
one can see how the word perfectly describes the bluish haze and
mist-like clouds rising up along the Great Smoky Mountains at sunset.
At six-thousand, six-hundred and forty-three feet
Clingmans Dome is the highest mountain in Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
the tallest point in Tennessee,
and the highest point along the 2,100-mile-long Appalachian Trail.
It's also distinguished as the third highest mountain east of the Mississippi River.
Those that make the trip to the top of Clingmans Dome
are rewarded with panoramic views of the entire Great Smoky Mountain range,
which is one of the largest protected areas in the eastern U.S.
A view from the summit on clear days
provides the opportunity to see for over 100 miles in every direction.
To many,
a hike up Clingmans Dome is the highlight of a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains.
In the early 1800s,
settlers in the region referred to this mountain as "Smoky Dome",
since the mountain was so often shrouded in clouds
and its rounded summit was shaped like a dome.
The mountain was renamed to honor U.S. Senator and Confederate General Thomas Lanier Clingman.
Who explored these mountains later in his life and spent years measuring some of the
highest points in the range.
Relying mainly on barometers, Clingman was the first to accurately measure the peak's elevation
and at the time thought Clingmans Dome was the highest mountain in the east.
Later, Mt. Mitchell in western North Carolina was found to be 41 feet higher.
The weather on Clingmans Dome can be unpredictable.
While it maybe sunny in lower elevations,
the summit of the dome is often shrouded a veil of clouds.
The Dome also receives more than 85 inches of rain per year
giving it the distinction of being a temperate rain forest.
Strikingly,
ever since weather data has been collected at the higher elevations in the Smokies,
the high peaks have never reported a temperature as high as 80 degrees.
Clingmans Dome is one of the coolest areas of the park
so being prepared for rain, cold wind, and colder temperatures is a must when
visiting the Dome.
This section of the Great Smoky Mountains
also harbors the largest and most intact eastern spruce-fir ecosystem remaining
in the U.S.
From the western slopes of Clingmans Dome to Cosby *** in the northeastern corner of the park,
a 25-mile-long southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest clings to
the highest portions of the Smokies.
These forests are related
to the boreal forests in eastern Canada
and are some of the wettest and cooler regions in the national park.
Red spruce occurs as low as 3,500 feet
and normally becomes the dominant tree type at 5,500 feet.
Fraser fir, a tree species that is only native to the southern Appalachians,
appears at 3,500 feet and
becomes the dominant tree at 6,200 feet and above.
The top of Clingmans Dome is predominately Fraser fir trees.
This spruce fir forest is a relic of the last ice age
when many northern species were forced southward.
Once the climate started to warm,
the stranded northern species
retreated to these islands in the sky
with their colder conditions.
This habitat contains many northern plants and animals that are at the
southern limits of their range.
Some species such as
the red-cheeked salamander
and Rugel's ragwort exist at higher elevations of the Smokies and nowhere else on earth.
Beginning near 5,000-foot-high Newfound Gap,
the Clingmans Dome Road is one of the highest mountain roads east of the Mississippi River.
Almost the entire length of the road takes one through a grant spectacle of high
elevation ecosystems with sweeping views of the mountainscape.
At the terminus of the road, a very steep half-mile-long trail
leads to the summit of Clingmans Dome.
There, an observation tower rises above the treetops
to offer a commanding view of mountain ridge after mountain ridge.
Clingmans Dome is also famous for its hiking trails.
Two prominent trails, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and the Appalachian Trail, traverse
the high terrain around the Dome.
The Mountains-to-Sea Trail in an 835-mile trail
that starts atop Clingmans Dome
and treks throughout the entire state of North Carolina.
There are also no entrance fees to enter Great Smoky Mountains National Park
or the Clingmans Dome road,
so it is a rather affordable vacation for families to visit one of the most scenic
mountain areas in the United States.