Clingmans Dome tower in Great Smokies closes June 4 for repairs

Getting to the highest point — and one of the most popular spots — in the Great Smoky Mountains will require a little patience starting Monday.

Clingmans Dome Observation Tower, which commands the most sweeping view of Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a clear day, will be closed Monday to June 15 while a rehabilitation project that began last year is completed. Workers need to apply a final surface overlay along the tower ramp, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said.

While visitors will not be able to climb the tower at 6,643 feet in elevation that straddles the North Carolina-Tennessee state line, the Clingmans Dome parking overlook area will remain open and offers similar scenic mountaintop views, according to the park service.

The visitor contact station and store, the trail up to the tower, and all access to the trailheads in the vicinity, including the Mountains-to-Sea and Appalachian trails, will remain open.

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Visitors should expect some construction traffic in the area and along the trail. They also might be pleasantly surprised, Soehn said.

"The work is weather dependent. They need five days of dry weather to accomplish the work. If visitors get up there, they may get treated if the tower doesn't close exactly on June 4. Or work might go faster and it might be open five days earlier," she said.

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 on the tower built in 1959.

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This work has been financed through a $250,000 Partners in Preservation grant, awarded in 2016 to the Friends of the Smokies on behalf of the park after being one of the nine most voted-for parks in the Partners in Preservation: National Parks Campaign.

The observation tower was a landmark design of the National Park Service’s Mission 66 program, which started in 1956 to upgrade and transform park planning, management, architecture and the visitor experience in honor of the 50th anniversary of the National Park Service in 1966.

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Clingmans Dome tower draws millions of visitors who climb the path to the tower to see distances of up to 100 miles over the surrounding mountains and valleys. Although the path is paved, it is not Americans with Disabilities Act compliant, so it is too steep for wheelchairs or baby strollers.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the country, last year drawing 11.3 million visitors, tying a record set the previous year.

Follow Karen Chávez on Twitter: @KarenChavezACT

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