Newfound Gap Sunrise, Third Time’s the Charm & Andrew’s Bald

We put our coffee in a to-go mug and headed up to Newfound Gap early on Sunday, 10/23, to try and catch the sunrise. It’s hard to time it just right and with a clear sky we didn’t get the dramatic shots we were hoping for – still it was gorgeous. Newfound Gap is at 5048 feet and it was pretty darn cold. 

Early morning color at Newfound Gap.

Rising sun and ice still on the trees.

Sunrise on the Smokies.

We weren’t sure what Clingman’s dome would be like, but we were fairly certain it wasn’t going to be any warmer! Lol. In that we were right. It was still icy with temps below freezing – not exactly ideal hiking weather. A change in plans – a detour to Starbucks for a hot chili mocha and then we’ll come back and hike in the afternoon after it’s had a chance to warm up a bit. All in favor, say, “Aye”. The vote was unanimous. Lol.

At Clingman's Dome you can look down on the clouds.

Icy hike or Starbucks - that's a no brainer. Lol.

Even the weeds look good dressed for winter.

We drove through Gatlinburg but couldn’t find parking so went back to the Starbucks in Pigeon Forge. Ugh! We made good use of the Wifi (got two blog posts uploaded!) and lingered over our coffees. By the time we finished it was getting close to lunch so we ended up waiting in the incredibly long and s—l—o—w line to grab some food for the road. Must be a southern thing, I’ve never stood so long in a Starbucks line – I was seriously thinking I would owe rent if it took any longer!

Anyhow, the crowds should have been a tipoff. As we headed back to the park the traffic slowed to a crawl and stayed that way, inching along bumper to bumper for miles and miles. When we turned up the road to the Dome we knew we were in trouble. The road is seven miles from the turnoff to the Dome and it was packed. Even though the Dome parking lot is large there is no way it could accommodate even a fraction of the folks trying to get up there. About a mile or so below the dome cars were lining the roadside. We crept along a little farther and decided those folks had the right idea, we were watching them make much better time walking than we were in the car. Rog found an open spot and we hiked up to the dome. Apparently Sunday afternoon is an extremely popular time to drive the park and visit the overlooks. Lesson learned. :)

By mid-afternoon we finally made it to the top of Clingman’s Dome observation tower – third time’s the charm! It was still icy anyplace there was shade and I doubt we could have made it up this morning, even if it had been open. 

Observation tower at Clingman's Dome.

Definitely using the handrails - it's icy up here!

Part of the spiral ramp to the observation tower, it would've been a fun ride if we could have just slid down. 

Luckily the trailhead for our planned hike to Andrew’s Bald left right out of the parking lot at the Dome.  “Bald” is not a comment on Andrew's hairstyle, it's an open meadow, typically with views of the surrounding mountains.There was a little residual snow along the trail, but the sun was out and the 3.6-mile hike was fairly pleasant. Still lots of up and down, but we had a nice break sitting in the sunny meadow before starting back. Rian even made a new friend. At least until he jumped and we screamed. Lol.

Red berries against the blue sky.

Much of the hike was through the pine forest.

Rog enjoying the view from the Bald.

We're enjoying the sunshine and a well deserved break. Lol. 

Look! Rian made a new friend.

He was pretty patient ...

... and then he jumped and we both screamed! Lol. 

Rian’s flight leaves tomorrow afternoon (Monday, 10/24), so this was our last day together. I can’t believe how quickly the time as flown! It’s been fun to have her visit and I hope she enjoyed her time here. We sure had some crazy adventures with the temperature swinging from 90˚ to 28˚ in just two days! We don’t leave the Smokies until Wednesday and Rog is scoping out nearby mountain bike trails for tomorrow. Guess his rib must be feeling better. Lol.