Great Smoky Mountains National Park has closed the observation tower at Clingmans Dome through Friday, July 27, for rehabilitation work.
The day use area at Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the park at 6,643 feet in elevation, remains open. The popular area, at Newfound Gap on the North Carolina/Tennessee border (elev. 5,048 feet), includes a visitor contact station and store, a half-mile paved trail to the tower, and restrooms. The trail is bordered by wildflowers in the summer.
The trailhead for North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail is at Clingmans Dome, and the Appalachian Trail crosses the area, as well. Both also remain open.
> See our look at the Clingmans Dome / Newfound Gap area
and an alternative stop at the beautiful Mingo Falls.
Workers are to apply a new surface to the observation tower ramp to complete a project begun last year but delayed by excessive rains, a park official told the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Last year, contractors repaired deteriorated areas on the concrete columns and walls, stabilized support walls at the base of the ramp, and repaired stone masonry, the newspaper said. The work was funded through a $250,000 Partners in Preservation grant awarded in 2016 to the Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
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