GSMNP Up and around and down down down

Woke up to a beautiful day in the mid-30s. Slept well last night. With temperatures like that there was no reason to rush getting off to an early start. Time for a gourmet breakfast camp style.

After the Chill had warmed off I decided to head on up to the highest point in the park. Klingeman's dome is over 5000 feet of straight ascent. Right near the top there's one little dip and then another 500 feet to the top. It's 21 miles of climbing so right at 5% average grade. When I got to the top I was amazed to see that there was a paved path that climbs to the lookout tower at 18 to 19% grade. People were cheering me on as I went up. I think they couldn't believe someone was riding up that kind of grade but to me and my buddies that's just what we do on Monday. The really amazing part was when I got to the top and saw that the lookout tower had a concrete flyover ramp that took you to the top. I tried to get some pictures of it but again it doesn't do it justice. It was simply amazing, as was the view. Of course I had to ride up there too. The first picture is the creek that runs next to my campsite.

Oh and I forgot the Loop da loop on the main road. You go through a tunnel, loop around and go back over the top of the tunnel. The sign explains it. Never done it before.

On to the top.

There were spectacular views from the top. Coming down was 21 miles of pure descent. The few times I glanced at the speedometer I was usually going around 35 miles an hour. That was the speed where the curves felt fairly comfortable and I only was caught by cars twice all the way down. No pictures during the descent for obvious reasons. I got back to camp at five and decided to cook a nice meal. I pulled out all the stops and made a delicious veggie tofu red curry. I made enough for leftovers which are going to come in handy for the next couple of days. One last picture. This is the cute little camper trailer that Ally and Melissa are towing around the country on their tour.