Appalachian Trail: Clingmans Dome to Newfound Gap

Hike #44 : August 15, 2015

8.4 miles

8.2 new miles
552.3 total overall miles

382.7 total miles of 800.8


For this hike, I'm joined by Eddie and Randy (who was fashionably late, I may add) at Newfound Gap where we drop a car and head for the highest point of the entire Appalachian Trail, Clingmans Dome.

Newfound Gap

From the parking lot at Clingmans Dome, we head up towards the observation tower. Its a nice cool morning with fantastic views as we walk the paved road up. This little walk, although a short half mile, is always surprisingly rough. Its no wonder there are several resting spots along the way. I imagine many a tourist cuss that walk.

We, of course, stop by the tower and soak in the views which were much better than I thought they'd be. Its always hit or miss at such a high elevation.

Clingmans Dome

From the tower we connect with the Appalachian Trail heading towards Mt. Collins. The trail is a lush explosion of mossy green.

The Appalachian Trail

The trail is absolutely beautiful. The surface of the trail is rocky with many steps along the way as we make our way downhill. You would tend to think that walking from the highest point of the AT to anywhere would be all downhill. You'd be wrong. This is the Smoky Mountains and the rule of thumb is: Its always uphill! At about 2 miles down, we reach Collins Gap and begin the climb to Mt. Collins. For the next mile the trail is rather steep and strenuous before leveling back out in time to arrive at the junction with Sugarland Mountain Trail. Just past Sugarland Mountain on the left, we come the Fork Ridge Trail junction exiting to the right. Its just a short walk along Fork Ridge Trail to Clingmans Dome Road, so we walk out and back to go ahead and collect that small section of trail.

The trail rolls up and down for the next 2.5 miles through more mossy beauty. This part of the trail is very unique with many uprooted trees. The enormous roots, exposed, are awe inspiring.

Eddie standing beneath a huge exposed root holding a large boulder. 

These roots stand easily 15 foot or higher as I stand 6'2" in front of them.

The trail continues mostly downhill until coming to the junction with Road Prong Trail. Here the trail briefly emerges from the forest meeting with Clingmans Dome Road before continuing on back into the woods. Here we begin to get a little rain and I soon meet with my second bee sting of the summer. This time a honey bee somehow found his way beneath the tongue of my shoe where he gave his life just to sting little ol' me. Honey bee or no, it still freaking hurt! Time to hike the pain away. I pour it on and double time it up the next half mile until reaching the Beech Forest Exclosure where the trail actually goes over the fence, twice.

Platform to walk over the fence at the Beech Forest Exclosure.

From here, its pretty much downhill and we keep our eyes peeled for the famous and yet somewhat hidden "Hiker's Tunnel". There are several 'trails' that walk to the road along this stretch. Although Eddie had convinced Randy and myself he was 99.9% sure he knew where the tunnel was, my confidence was waning. Oh, who am I kidding? I thought he was full of crap and that we'd most likely missed it. Just then we came to a steep and rocky water drain and Eddie attempted a joke by saying that it was the trail to the tunnel. When I turned to look, I saw what could possibly indeed be the tunnel. What a coincidence, eh? I nominated myself to scout it out and sure enough, we'd found it. If not for Eddie's smart aleck little joke, we'd probably missed it.

The Hiker's Tunnel!

View from Clingmans Dome Road directly above the Hiker's Tunnel.

From here, the hike is all but over and we are soon back in the Newfound Gap parking lot. This is a very impressive hike and certainly one worthy of doing again someday. Just another reminder of how blessed we are to live so close to not only the Smoky Mountains but also the Appalachian Trail that dissects it. Great hike!


TRAIL REVIEW

Appalachian Trail - 7.7 miles

Clingmans Dome Overlook

The "Hiker's Tunnel"

Wanna hike the 900 without getting lost? Start by checking out the book Day Hiker's Guide To All The Trails In The Smoky Mountains by Elizabeth L. Etnier.

Hiking Trails of the Smokies or "The Little Brown Book" from the GSMA

Hiking Trails of The Great Smoky Mountains by Ken Wise

There is loads of information in the pages of GoSmokies.com.