"southward, two mighty ranges of the appalachians shouldered their way into the blue distance like tremendous caravans marching across eternity. "
       --hervey allen

clingman's dome is located on the tennessee and north carolina state line, within the borders of great smoky mountains national park, and is the tallest mountain in the park, and the second highest in eastern north america. like most peaks in the great smoky mountains, clingmans dome climbs prominently above the surrounding terrain, rising nearly 5,000 feet (1,525 meters) from base-to-summit.

reputedly known as "kuwahi" (the mulberry place) by the cherokee indians, the mountain was originally dubbed "smoky dome" by local scots-irish inhabitants. in 1859, the mountain was renamed for thomas lanier clingman (1812-1897), who extensively explored the area in the 1850's and spent many more years promoting it.

clingman was also a lawyer, member of the u.s. congress (house and senate), and a brigadier general for the confederate states of america. the mountain was named for clingman due to an argument between the u.s. senator and a professor at the university of north carolina named elisha mitchell, over which mountain was actually the highest in the region. mitchell contended that a peak by the name of black dome (now known as mount mitchell) was the highest, while clingman asserted that smoky dome was the true highest peak. a confederate compatriot, arnold guyot, put the dispute to rest when finding that smoky dome was 39 feet (12 m) shorter than black dome.

clingman's dome, like the other mountains of the region, was created from fractured, faulted precambrian rocks, overlayed with the ancient ocoee supergroup of partially metamorphosed sedimentary rock. the actual age of the mountains is somewhat speculatory, but they are among the oldest in the world, likely somewhere from 200-300 million years old.

nikon d2x, nikkor 80-400 vr @  80mm, 1 second, f/16