Clingmans Dome, North Carolina

Another place we went to was called, 'Clingmans Dome'. This is the second highest elevation in the eastern half of the United States. Our home town, Camden, Arkansas, is at 200 feet above sea level. Our campsite in the Great Smokey Mountains, is at 2,100 feet above sea level. Clingmans Dome is at 6,900 feet above sea level. Most the elevation change can be done be car, leaving only about a half mile hike to the overlook. The hike is paved, but fairly steep. I started out, but realized quickly that I wasn't going to make it, so Destiny went to the top. Unfortunately, she deleted the pictures she took at the top.

While she was hiking to the top to take pictures, all the tourist at the parking area were treated to a visit by a black bear. Black bears are extremely common in the Great Smoky Mountains, and most tourist hope to see at least one on their visit.

The biggest problem with bears, isn't bears at all; it's the visitors. Visitors leave food or trash out, which the bears smell. That by itself still isn't much of a problem, except that when bears get used to human food, or even human trash, they continue to come around. And then when people get too close to the bears, or try to make them go away, this leads to either people getting hurt, or the bears having to be moved to a different location they aren't familiar with, which can lead to the bears dying. In the worst case, bears attack people because the bears are scared, and then the bears are destroyed.