C L I N G M A N S   D O M E

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
North Carolina/Tennessee Border

It took me 9 minutes to get up here. Geeze, I'm really all sweaty now. It's rather cool today, I'd hate to try to duplicate this feat in the throes of a hot summer day. My time boils down to a pace of 18 minutes per mile or 3.3 mph. Not bad, considering the sign at the trailhead says it may take you up to 30 minutes to hike to the top. My time was a good one, but, I doubt I could actually maintain the same pace over an hour. I'm almost 40 ya know.

Time to board the spaceship, or rather, climb up to the observation tower.

Around the perimeter of the observation deck are 8 equally placed placards, each indicating landmarks of interest. After looking at the first two placards, the scenery starts to look pretty much the same wherever I look. Being completely unfamiliar with any of the indicated landmarks, I'm thinking this information is of interest to only those folks who either live in the area or are very familiar with the area's geography. For all others, it's in one eye and out the other.