14 May 2016, Saturday

Breakfast is at Crockett’s 1875 Breakfast Camp. We had to go there because it
is at the intersection of Parkway and M&O street – really!
Actually breakfast is quite good. I have a short stack of 2 pancakes
with fresh strawberries. Each pancake is at least an inch plus thick.
O has some waffles similarly appointed.

The morning is busy, and there is quite a lot of typing to do, not to
mention drying and reorganizing our backpacking gear. We finally head
for Sugarland Visitor Center around 2 pm and view the film about
GSMNP. We learn there are more varieties of trees here than in all of
Europe. We also learn that the salamanders here represent the largest
body mass (collectively) of any other carnivore in the park, bears
included, although the narrator points out that an individual salamander
wouldn’t have much of a chance one on one with a bear. We also learn
that the vast biodiversity here is in large part due to the fact that
glaciation during the last Ice Age stopped north of here. Species
from the North sought refuge on the mountain tops and southern
species thrive at lower elevations. It is a crossroad of sorts.

After the film and a short but expensive visit to the gift shop, buying
more books of course, we drive back up Newfound Gap Road to
Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the park at  well over 6000 feet. We climb up to the
observation tower in the cold wind, passing a mama bear and her cub
in the brush off to the side of the trail as we go. We are both very
glad to have warm jackets with us. The temperature up there s a cold
47 degrees F.

Photos taken, we return to Gatlinburg where it is a relatively warm 62 degrees. We have dinner and return to do more laundry and to upload blog. Tomorrow we move on to Cades Cove.