Today was another day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We began our morning with a drive up to Balsam Mountain and onto an off road trail for some up close views of the scenery and wildlife. We brought Haley along with us and boy did she enjoy herself, riding in the back of the truck howling and carrying on with excitement. Today we saw another black bear this one pretty close. After our morning drive we headed back to the campground for some lunch and a little relaxation and then set off later for a trip up to Clingman's Dome, the highest elevation in the park. We parked and hiked the steep 0.5 mile path up to the observatory on top. When we had left the valley it was about 78 degrees and where we parked at Clingman's Dome it was a chilly 57 degrees and even colder on top of the observatory. The views from up top were pretty breathtaking; you were level with the clouds. We hiked a little ways on the Appalachian trail and then headed back down to the truck. On our drive out of the park saw two more elk, this time they were so close we could have petted the bull, as he almost stuck his head in the window.
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