Clingman's Dome
Elevation: 6311 feet (1924 m)
35 33 24.6 N 83 29 46.8 W
Excursion date: 1998-09-12

Account

Takesha (excursion companion) and I arrived at the Clingman's Dome parking lot near sundown. We stayed a while in the parking lot because there was a bear (a rather large bear at that) sniffing around the trash cans and attracting the attention of nearby humans. I kept my distance, bravely keeping Takesha between the bear and me.

As we were heading up to watch sunset/moonrise from lookout tower, I noticed a benchmark along the trail edge about 15m from the trailhead. What a bonus for a moonlight hike, spying a bear and a benchmark when neither was expected !

Because of the advanced state of the day, the lighting was not good for a photograph. Hence, the photo above is a bit washed out by the flash.

The sunset and subsequent moonrise were beautiful (it was near full moon). After a while, we hiked along the AT for a brief distance before heading back along the connector trail. Before leaving, we had a brief snack among the rocks near the parking lot.