Climbing Clingmans Dome |
 … the foot of the Clingmans Dome observation tower. After almost two-and-a-half hours of near-total solitude, I was shocked to see so many people – but I really should have been prepared for it, because the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is, after all, the most popular park in the USA. The summit of Clingmans Dome is 6,643 feet / 2,025 metres above sea-level, and the mountain is the 17th highest of the fifty US state highpoints. North Carolina’s Mt Mitchell (which is also the highest mountain in the United States east of the Mississippi River) is the 16th highest US state highpoint – a mere 41 feet / 12.5 metres higher than Clingmans Dome. |