Good Morning Smokey Mountains

Today is our last day in Tennessee and we decided to spend it in the Smokey Mountain National Park. Our destination was Clingmans Dome, which is located at 6,643 feet. According to one book, it is the highest point in Tennessee, and the third highest mountain east of the Mississippi.

The Great Smokey Mountains

These are my three hiking buddies...don't they look like they are ready for this day...are you? Let's go for a hike...

This is the right trail

The clouds hanging over the mountains and valleys early this morning

What beauty

The flowers and butterflies are just beautiful

The observation tower on the summit of Clingmans Dome offers a spectacular 360 degree view. It was a steep half-mile walk to this point. Temperatures at the dome can be 10-20 degrees cooler than in the surrounding lowlands. But after the hike up here we didn't care.

The observation tower

This view is from the top of the Observation Tower

This is a view coming back down the trail

Yes, there is a lake down there

Well, we all made it back down the trail and weren't breathing quite as heavy as we were when we went up. All I can say is that the walk and the view was breathtaking!

A creek bed we located while driving back down to Pigeon Forge

We got back to Pigeon Forge and quickly found a place to eat, which ended up being Mexican Food. It tasted really good. After lunch we went to the Old Mill Square and did some shopping. We found a local craft fair and looked around and then headed back to to the RV Park for the rest of the day. We will be packing up tonight and in the morning getting ready for our travel to Hendersonville, NC. We plan to leave early so Mark and Jim can get there and get set up before the Texas/OU football game.

So for now, I will leave you with this thought:

Life is Short...Take the Scenic Route!

See you from North Carolina