This view is from Clingman's Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee and North Carolina. At 6,643 feet it is the highest point along the Appalachian Trail.(Unlike some higher altitude mountains, the base level elevation is much lower to begin with.) You can take your auto to a parking area below the summit. The hike up is quite steep but paved, an oddity in this terrain but a blessing to those who may not be able to handle a trail climb. I have visited this site several times but this is the clearest view I have seen. My face was sunburned! Last visit was during winter and clouds covered all but the tips of the higher mountains in view. A visual decent in the photo clearly shows how evergreen trees take over where the deciduous ones cannot survive. Yet, it is the leafed trees during the color changes of fall which attract the most visitors to the mountain park lands. Bleaching skeletons are visible evidence of the very tragic destruction of mature Frasier Fir trees caused by an imported bug, the balsam woolly adelgid. Introduced from Europe around the turn of the century, it has become an important pest of true firs and is established throughout the Fraser fir type in the southern Appalachians. Another evergreen, the Red Spruce is possibly endangered by pollutions but some debate exists as to what and how. Younger trees seem to be healthy and prolific in areas. I can get to the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in less than an hour drive. Getting to the mountains takes as much more time passing through tourist areas outside the park. Weekdays and off season visits are quick to the mountains. Trails abound in these rough and tumble mountains and provide the hiker a rich experience. More of the Smoky Mountains and mountain streams is coming to my gallery.