From Top of the Mountains to the Bottom of a Grotto

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Another Day in Paradise! We dedicated the day to exploring the northern central part of the park, what they call the Sugarlands - named for the dominance of sugar maple trees. This was the location of the wildfire last fall and the effects of the fire are obvious. Still, though, there is so much beauty to be seen here that it was a day full of wonder.

We started the day at the top and worked our way down. That meant going to the tallest point in the park, Clingman's Dome, at over 6600 feet. In the Rockies, we call tall mountain spots 'peaks', but here in the Appalachians, after a couple hundred million years of erosion, the rocky, craggy peaks simply don't exist anymore. Instead the rocks are rounded off, covered with a good deal of dirt, and overgrown with trees. The result is nothing at all that looks like a mountain 'peak', but more of a dome - so that's what they call them. There are a few ridges of very hard rock that have survived a bit more than the mountain tops, but even these are wrapped in tree growth.

To get to the park's highest spot, you drive about seven miles off the parks main road, Newfound Road, to the parking lot. Then you begin a half-mile, very serious hike upward another 330 feet or so. Once at the summit, there is a concrete spiral that takes you up to the observation tower, another fifty feet. From there, the views are simply unequaled. On clear days, they say, you can see 100 miles, which means well into surrounding states and up and down the Blue Ridge mountains. The two points higher than Clingman's Dome (in the eastern US) are clearly visible as are dozens more mountain 'domes', and the valley's between them.

Unfortunately, clear days aren't the norm any more. It is one thing to talk about the 'smoke' generated by these mountain trees. But most of the haze you see from up there doesn't come from the trees, but rather from coal burning power plants located miles away. Prevailing winds carry the stuff from as far as Missouri and Indiana here to get trapped by the inversions in the mountain valleys.

Acid rain is also an increasing problem. Since these mountains get so much precipitation, a lot of that low-pH water vapors are turned loose on the vegetation below, penetrating the soils, and contaminating the water. That problem is one park rangers can do little to control.

Another problem is the adelgid, a beetle accidentally introduced into the eco-system from Europe. It, unfortunately, kills fir trees specifically. Fir, and spruce, are the trees at the tops of these domes, above about 5500 feet. More commonly found in Canadian forests, they form a forest on the higher reaches of these mountains because the cooler conditions approach those found further north.

Which raises yet another ecological issue - global warming. Scientists are monitoring the effects of increasing warming on these mountain systems. One finding, already obvious, is that the fir/spruce forests are being squeezed out of existence. The transition zone, where the forests change from hardwood to conifers, is rising up the mountain as the temperatures at the top keep increasing. Eventually, it will be too warm at the tops of these mountains to support those kinds of trees. Like the Everglades, this park is going to change substantially in the coming decades

Returning to the car, we went back to the main park road and headed north to the Sugarlands Visitor Center. The road begins its descent just a few hundred feet north of the Clingman's Dome road at the Newfound Gap. There is a monument there and that is where Roosevelt dedicated the park back in the 30's. Continuing down the road, the views become a little more closed in as the road gets surrounded by the tree canopy. The variety of the greenery around you is overwhelming to us New Mexicans, used to wide-open deserts. It has a soothing effect and, at times, can be a little mesmerizing. Certainly encourages napping (although I don't recommend that while driving!). There were at several places fire scars from last fall's fires in the park.

At the bottom, we turned into the Sugarlands Visitor Center, probably the main park VC, especially on the Tennessee side. There we watched the park movie, which was good, but not as informative on park geology as I had hoped.

From the visitor center, we headed north just a few miles, out of the park and into Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The road dumps you into the town right at Stoplight 10. Yes, directions in this town are given by stoplight number. They all have big numbers right below them, so you can't get the wrong one. Gatlinburg is simply a town different. We were amazed at how touristy and commercial the place was and how crowded the sidewalks were. Yes, it was a Saturday, but it is still before Memorial Day, and yet there were people packing the walkways. Frankly, I can't imagine what it must be like in the summer months. It reminded us of a cross between a Rockies ski town, (like Vail), and the Las Vegas strip, with the density of maybe downtown Manhattan. At any rate, we were happy to see it from the vantage of our air-conditioned car.

At stoplight 8, I turned right and headed up and out of Gatlinburg and back into the park. After a drive of a few miles, the road narrowed to a single lane and became one-way. This was the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, an opportunity to see old-growth forests from your vehicle. The drive was mostly in very low gears and was another way to see the forest. We did see a wild turkey cross the road and what appeared to be a bear off in the distance.

But driving through the forest was not our main goal. We parked the car at a parking lot and took the Trillium hiking trail 1.3 miles up to see Grotto Falls. The hike itself was novel, because it goes through an old-growth Hemlock forest, another one of the four distinctive forest types in the park. Not only is the hemlock an interesting tree above ground, but the roots are even more fascinating, as the trail crosses over and through many of them.

At our destination, there is another beautiful waterfall. Here it spills over a cave-like formation that allows you to stand behind the cascading water. As long as you don't mind getting a little wet, it is another exhilarating experience, especially after a fairly steep hike in the humid weather. Returning to the car, Joan spotted a black snake winding across the trail, another notch in her wildlife belt. (I don't care for the creatures and let her snap the pictures.)

Back in the car, we drove leisurely down the Motor Nature Trail, and eventually came out at Gatlinburg stoplight number 3. We stopped for gas and some groceries, drove back through the town (now operating at fever pitch), up and over the park and back to the campground.

It was a long, but very rewarding day in the Great Smokies. (17.1.74)

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Photos

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On a Clear Day You Can See Forever - From Clingman's Dome

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Another View from Clingman's Dome

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See, Joan was There Too!

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OK, One more Shot

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The Observation Tower. The Two Seated on the Left Were Hiking the Appalachian Trail Bottom to Top

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Hemlock Roots

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Our Hike to Grotto Falls

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That's a Hemlock Tree

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Grotto Falls

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Grotto Falls, Closer

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Joan Behind the Fall

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Behind the Water