Spiral ramp, Clingman's Dome, panoramic view of Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee and North Carolina, Appalachian Mountains, USA.

A spiral ramp leads to a popular observation tower on Clingman's Dome, with a panoramic view of Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee and North Carolina, in southeastern USA. Clingmans Dome (6,643 feet or 2,025 meters elevation) is the highest mountain in the Great Smokies, the highest in Tennessee, the highest along the 2,174-mile (3,499 km) Appalachian Trail, and the third-highest mountain in the Appalachian range. A paved road connects it to U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road). The summit is coated by a Spruce-fir (or "boreal") forest, common in northern latitudes, but found only in the highest elevations in the southeastern United States. Clingmans Dome, like most of the Great Smokies, consists of a type of lightly metamorphosed sedimentary rock (especially sandstone) that is part of the Ocoee Supergroup formation, created from ancient ocean sediments nearly one billion years ago. The Smoky Mountains are among the oldest in the world, lifted approximately 200-300 million years ago in the Alleghenian orogeny. Panorama stitched from 6 overlapping photos.

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Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / Photoseek.com
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Contained in galleries: TN/NC: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA: Southeast favorites: KY,NC,TN,VA,WV

A spiral ramp leads to a popular observation tower on Clingman's Dome, with a panoramic view of Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee and North Carolina, in southeastern USA. Clingmans Dome (6,643 feet or 2,025 meters elevation) is the highest mountain in the Great Smokies, the highest in Tennessee, the highest along the 2,174-mile (3,499 km) Appalachian Trail, and the third-highest mountain in the Appalachian range. A paved road connects it to U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road). The summit is coated by a Spruce-fir (or "boreal") forest, common in northern latitudes, but found only in the highest elevations in the southeastern United States. Clingmans Dome, like most of the Great Smokies, consists of a type of lightly metamorphosed sedimentary rock (especially sandstone) that is part of the Ocoee Supergroup formation, created from ancient ocean sediments nearly one billion years ago. The Smoky Mountains are among the oldest in the world, lifted approximately 200-300 million years ago in the Alleghenian orogeny. Panorama stitched from 6 overlapping photos.