SummitPost.org

Has anyone managed to locate a USGS survey marker at the TOP of Clingmans Dome in TN? I have seen some posts claiming there isn't one, and that the only marker is the one at the bottom of the paved trail. I have also seen vague claims that there's one at the top. We were there today and I asked the ranger, who said there "should be" a marker at the top, that it "should be very close to the base of the tower," and that the marker at the bottom of the paved trail is a replica of the marker at the top. However, we scoured that area and were not able to find a marker at the top.

I can't find any confirmed reports of a marker at the top, so I'm beginning to wonder if this is a local snipe hunt of sorts...

Alpinist has a nice album of bench marks here:
http://www.summitpost.org/state-highpoi ... ers/781662
Not sure if you can find it in his list.

Alpinist has a photo in that album. Note there are multiple markers in the area.

The one in Alpinist's album looks identical to 64 RJN http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=FB4135

(Comment and photos on that page make the location pretty obvious; lat/long are listed at the top of the page.)

I'm rusty on my survery marker terminology, but I'm guessing that's the one that counts as a summit marker: it's got the elevation on it, and it's not some other type like "horizontal control"

OK, I now understand your question: that one is about 300 feet below the summit. That's weird.

That geocaching site lists the one I linked abobe (64 RJN a.k.a. FB4135), a "horizontal control" nearby in the grass by the parking lot (CLINGMAN a.k.a. FB4060), and that's it. (The giant concrete tower itself is also listed, since the USGS uses it as a control point, but it doesn't seem to have a metal disc.)

That site is pretty thorough, so I'm thinking somebody led you astray.

I do wonder if there used to be one before the tower was built in 1963 - shouldn't be too hard to look that up but I'm supposed to be working

Thanks for your responses. 64RJN (aka FB4135) is definitely the marker by the parking lot (300' below summit) and not at the summit. As confirmation, the photos from http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=FB4135 match my photos of the marker by the parking lot to a T (the unusual wear in the center of the marker is distinguishing).

Alpnists' photo is also of the marker by the parking lot.

Not sure where the ranger's belief stems from, but his lack of certainty was curious. Having spent almost 30 minutes slogging through puddles in pouring rain (wearing sneakers) looking for a marker at the summit, I'd advise future USGS marker junkies to not waste their time looking for a marker at the summit unless someone has credible evidence of a marker there.

As an aside, the roof of the observation tower is shaped very much like a survey marker...my wife and I surmised that it is a giant USGS marker and the marker to which the ranger was referring