Clingmans Dome GSMNP

I took advantage of an opportunity during Thanksgiving week in November 2012 to watch the sunset from Clingmans Dome.  On the drive up the Newfound Gap Road, I stopped at Morton's Overlook to take a picture of a sun dog or parhelion.  At the second overlook on the Clingmans Dome Road, I stopped to take a picture of the Deep Creek basin.

Sun dog

Deep Creek basin

The one-half mile trail from the parking area to the dome is wide and paved.  The elevation at the parking area is about 6300 feet and it is 6643 at the dome.  The path averages a grade of over 12% and is apparently more challenging that it might first seem as numerous people were taking advantage of several benches along the way.  If you have any doubt that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is truly a national park, I offered to take a snapshot of a family on the way up the trail and found they were visiting from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  While taking pictures of the setting sun from the tower and ramp, I chatted with a couple from New Hampshire.

Ice on the tower ramp

The spruce-fir forest on Clingmans Dome is a relic of the last ice age.  While the forest has been protected from logging since the 1930s and air pollution has been drastically reduced in the past forty years, the Fraser firs in the forest have been decimated by the balsam woolly adelgid during recent decades.  Numerous snags dot the landscape as shown below.

Looking east toward Mount LeConte and Newfound Gap

Looking north toward Pigeon Forge

Looking west toward Mt Buckley

Looking south toward Forney Ridge

Looking down from the tower

Sun emerges below the clouds

Purple mountain majesty

Seemingly endless ranks of ridges

Going...

Gone!  Another day is done

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm.

Little River Canyon National Preserve

The new entrance to the Little River Canyon Center was complete on my mid-November, 2012, visit.  It is directly across Alabama highway 35 from the Little River Canyon Parkway, Alabama route 176.  The new intersection includes a turn lane on Highway 35 and vastly improved sight distances.  The center is a multiple-use facility owned by Jacksonville State University.  The National Park Service has a visitor center inside and shows an excellent 20-minute movie in the large auditorium.  A gift shop is also located in the center as well as restroom facilities with running water.

Little River Canyon Center

Compared to my last visit during the summer, the flow of the Little River was greatly reduced.  Because of the lower flows, much of the area above the falls was dry.  A short trail leads from the parking lot toward the Highway 35 bridge and then drops down to the river by way of several rock steps and ledges.

Little River Falls, November 2012

Little River Falls, June 2012

Fall colors at Little River Falls

The river flows over a series of small rock ledges above the falls

Shallow pool reflects Highway 35 bridge

A smattering of fall colors remains at Lynn Overlook

My previous Little River Canyon National Preserve post is at http://americantraveljournal.blogspot.com/2012/06/little-river-canyon.html.
The preserve website is http://www.nps.gov/liri/index.htm.

Russell Cave National Monument

After driving through Bridgeport, Alabama on US 72 for many years and noticing signs stating that Russell Cave National Monument was only five miles off of the highway, I finally visited the monument in mid-November, 2012.  The National Geographic Society purchased the land around the cave and donated it to the American people in 1961.  The visitor center is named for the long-time editor of National Geographic Magazine, Gilbert H. Grosvenor.

Gilbert H. Grosvenor Visitor Center

Inside the visitor center is a museum area with archaeological exhibits, a small gift shop, and a museum with an excellent 8-minute video presentation about the human history of the cave.

Alabama State Champion Blue Ash (on right)

While the cave is over seven miles long, it has been closed to visitors for several years.  However, adjoining the main cave to the north is a cave shelter that was created by a partial collapse of the cave roof thousands of years ago.  Archaeologists have found evidence that the cave was occupied for long periods of time over the last 12,000 years.  A short boardwalk leads from the visitor center to the cave shelter.  Ranger Antoine provided an enjoyable and educational guided tour.  His description of the invention and use of the atlatl was very interesting.  He has written and produced a video presentation about the atlatl that is available on the park website.  The entrance sign contains a depiction of a hunter using an atlatl.

Creek running in to Russell Cave

Boardwalk to cave shelter

Cave shelter

Shelter opening faces east

View from outside the cave shelter

There is a two mile paved loop trail up the the side of Montague Mountain.  The trail climbs about 600 feet to an elevation of about 1300 feet and provides some wonderful views of Little Mountain across the valley.  Several interpretive signs have been placed along the trail to aid visitors in learning more about the plants and animals in the area.

Paved trail leading up from the boardwalk

The leaves have obscured the trail

There is a bench, so I must still be on the trail

Another bench beyond the rock garden

Some of the trees still had vibrant leaves

Life is tenacious as illustrated by this tree
growing out of a rock

This is not a trial I would plan to attempt during the fall after a soaking rain as there were some fairly steep sections that would be very slick when covered by wet leaves.  With a combination of cultural, historic and scenic attributes, Russell Cave is definitely worth visiting.

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/ruca/index.htm.

Andrew Johnson National Historic Site

We took the short drive up to the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville, Tennessee in early November, 2012.  As is our custom, we started at the visitor center where we watched a 13 minute film about the life and times of Andrew Johnson.  Mr. Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1808 and was apprenticed to a tailor after his father died.  After a few years, Mr. Johnson ran away and settled across the mountains in Greeneville.  Here, he opened a tailor shop that quickly became a gathering place for political debate.  Mr. Johnson was elected alderman, then mayor, state representative and state senator.  In 1843, he ran as a Democrat and won election as the U.S. representative for the 1st congressional district.  After five terms in the House, Johnson was elected Governor of Tennessee in 1853 and again in 1855.  In 1857, the state legislature selected him to serve as a U.S. Senator.  In 1861, Tennessee seceded from the union, but Johnson remained loyal to the union and retained his senate seat.  In 1862, Abraham Lincoln appointed Johnson as Military Governor of Tennessee and in 1864 he was elected Vice President of the United States.  Upon Lincoln's assassination, Andrew Johnson became the 17th President.  His plans for "restoration" of the rebellious states were at odds with the "reconstruction" demands of Congress.  Relations soured to the point that Congress passed a bill over his veto that required the Senate to affirm and Cabinet dismissals.  After he dismissed the Secretary of War without consulting the Senate, he was impeached, but acquitted by one vote in the Senate.  After leaving the presidency in 1869, Johnson was elected to the Senate in 1875 becoming the only person to serve in the Senate after serving as President.  One interesting note about the film is that former senator Fred Thompson is the voice of Johnson.  

The visitor center also houses a museum and the original tailor shop in its original location.  A protective building was erected around it in the 1920s.  Johnson's early home in Greeneville is across North College Street from the Tailor Shop.  The statue depicted at the top of this post is across East Depot Street from the Tailor Shop.  

Memorial building housing Tailor Shop

Tailor Shop

A Johnson - Tailor

Early Home on College Street

Early Home side porch

Around 1851, the Johnsons moved about two blocks southwest to what is now know as the homestead.  While tours are scheduled every day, they were cancelled on the day we visited due to staff illnesses.

In addition to the two houses and the tailor shop, the national cemetery on a hill south of town is also a part of the site administered by the park service.

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/anjo/index.htm.