Looking toward the Porters Creek watershed from along The Boulevard trail:
The higher elevation spruce-fir forests of the Smoky Mountains have been slowly decimated as stands of Fraser Fir are virtually wiped out by the invasive balsam wooly adelgid insect; nowadays there are mere towering skeletal relics:
NW from the shale outcroppings atop Myrtle Point:
Leconte Lodge, near the peak of Mt. Leconte. Built around 1930 by a Gatlinburg mountaineer it has evolved to a small rustic tourist venue for those willing to make the trek to the mountaintop – and pay the fees, of course:
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