Day 5 July 13, 2021 Clingermans Dome -Cherokee, NC - The Rattler

This morning we traveled to clingmans dome in the Great Smoky Mountains national Park clingmans dome is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains national Park it is the highest point in Tennessee and the third highest mountain east of the Mississippi at 6643 ft on clear days views expand over miles as we traveled our temperatures went as low as 54°. We traveled route 441 from Sevierville to clingmans dome Road then 7 miles back through clouds we parked and hiked a half mile trail extremely steep trail to the observation tower on top this is not a hike for the faint of heart. Pets bicycles and strollers are not permitted on the pave trail to the observation tower the trail is paved and takes much longer to go up than to come down. The trail actually crosses over the Appalachian trail it marks the highest point along the Appalachian trail from Georgia to Maine. Although we weren't able to see because of the clouds in the end it was worth the hike. After leaving clingmans dome we traveled to Cherokee North Carolina where we stopped at a local Indian store the Harley shop which consists of t-shirts and accessories and ate at the front porch cakery and gallery. After leaving Cherokee we traveled on route 74-40-209 and traveled the Rattler from Crabtree North Carolina to Hot springs the Rattler consists of 290 curves over 24 miles after arriving in Hot springs we traveled route 25 to route 411 back to Sevierville and made it back just as it began to rain. I actually enjoyed the Rattler much more than the dragon's tail it was less crowded and the switchbacks were just as great and spread out a little more. We traveled 207 miles today.