Image of the Week

I made a trip up to the Great Smoky Mountains last weekend and found winter still holding on at the higher elevations of the park. A storm had just passed through leaving behind what looks like snow capped mountains, but is actually a coating of hoar frost that commonly forms on the mountain tops here during the winter months. It's really beautiful and has a different look to it than snow. This image was taken at Clingman's Dome, the highest peak in the Smoky Mountains and the second highest peak east of the Mississippi, at an elevation of 6643 feet and runs along the North Carolina/Tennessee state line. The bare trees are Hemlocks that have been infested with the woolley adele insect that has eaten away at the trees leaving behind a graveyard of trees.