PAGE TWO

NEWFOUND GAP ROAD ACROSS THE NATIONAL PARK

 

After stopping at the Visitor's Center to deposit more hard earned cash for maps, info pamphlets and other stuff we haven't looked at since, it was "head for the hills" --- literally. Nothing here would remind us flatlanders of California's Central Valley, except the lingering haze that could be seen in the distance. The weather was in the 70's, with very little humidity, so we enjoyed a once in a lifetime experience close to where two of my great-grandfathers were borned (sic). This park is the most visited in the nation, but we beat the hordes and found the crowds friendly, smiley and energized, just like us. Not much wildlife to speak of. Never got to see The Bear Who Went Over the Mountain. Just a lot of birds, squirrels and short-necked, van-drivin', Coke-guzzling, flag-waving American Yahoos.

HERE'S NORTH CAROLINA

 

Clingman's Dome is the highest point in Tennessee. Named after Congressman and Civil War Brigadier-General Thomas Lanier Clingman of North Carolina, who explored these mountains and named this one as one of the highest in the Appalachian range in 1855. Of note: "he furnished valuable evidence of the depth of the atmosphere by his observations on the August meteor of 1860 and affirmed long before the days of Edison that sound might in some way be transmitted with the speed of electricity. He published several volumes, including his public addresses. In later years the unselfish services which had brought him fame left him unprovided with the comforts of life, and the close of his days was a pathetic illustration of how the world may forget." WordyDave's great-grandfather was named after him, Elbert Clingman Mathis. You'll see many of the trees dead or dying at the higher elevations. This is because of a small wax-covered insect,  the balsam woolly adelgid, that attacks the trees. Other pests and diseases affecting the park include chestnut blight, southern pine beetle and dogwood anthracnose. Gypsy moths near the Virginia-Tennessee border threaten oak forests with "total destruction." The hemlock woolly adelgid could eliminate Park hemlocks, and destroy the entire forest type according to the Park Service. Both insects came from Europe.

MINGUS FALLS