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from the top of the UFO-shaped observation tower,
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atop Clingman's Dome, which is in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The top picture was taken at about 10:00 AM. I spent the previous day driving most of the North Carolina part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and then used my tent for the first time. I woke up early and headed for the summit. It was pretty sunny when I got to the parking lot, but as I walked up the paved, but very step, mile-round-trip trail, the fog really came in. It was very eerie as I was the only one there at the top, and the trees are all being killed by the Balsam wooly adelgid, a tiny insect accidentally imported from Europe. Look:
