NC06 — Great Smoky Mtns NP

After saying "farewell" to Ron, we set off for the main part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We traversed the main road that bisects the park, stopping at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, then taking a brief hike up to Clingman's Dome, a longer hike to the end of Chimney Tops Trail, and ending at the Sugarlands Visitor Center.  This day was easily the most crowded of our time in Asheville, especially at Clingman's Dome.  The 2-h drive home was accompanied by about a half hour of heavy rain, the first of this trip.  I was impressed in learning from a movie we saw at Sugarlands about the concentrated biological diversity of this park.  (Hint: It's tied to the fact that the continental ice sheet from the last ice age stopped only a bit north of here.)  I was also impressed by how steep was the climb up to Chimney Tops.  Ingrid wants me to record that she was just kidding in the photo at the locked gate.