To identify National Park Mystery Spot 8, you needed to work your way through this devilish ditty:

Our mystery spot is a place to stare.
This awful poem will take you there.

Huff and puff. Higher! Higher!
Hang on, guy, where’s the fire?
Doing 360 might let you count seven.
You just never know when you’re that close to heaven.

 Putting it all together brings you to the observation tower atop Clingmans Dome in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

To solve this puzzle you probably need to look at the clues in a holistic way – the gestalt, if you will – but two of the lines could get you there all by themselves. If you are standing on the Clingmans Dome observation platform (“a place to stare”) on an exceptionally clear day, which is most likely to occur in October or November, the 100-mile visibility allows you to see into seven different states * if you look in every direction (360 degrees) -- thus, “doing 360 might let you count seven.” There is no other place in the National Park System where you can do this.

* North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia.

”Hang on, guy” is also a giveaway clue. “Hang on, guy” is another way to say “cling, man.”

“Where’s the fire?” is a very helpful clue, too. Sure, it’s something you might say if you wanted somebody to slow down, but you’d also say that (or at least think that) if the air looked or smelled smoky….. as in Great Smoky Mountains.

“Huff and puff. Higher! Higher!” could imply a lot of things. In this case, it relates to the fact that the half-mile trail leading from the Clingmans Dome parking lot to the observation tower at the summit is so darn steep that many visitors find it moderately strenuous. (Benches spaced at intervals offer rest for the weary. I can attest to that because I have personally used them.) Since the Appalachian Trail passes very close to the summit trail, some visitors walk a short piece of the AT on the way to or from the summit so they can say "been there, done that."

Of course, you must go “higher! higher!” if you are to eventually make your way to the mystery spot, and you’ll be plenty high when you get there. At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome is not just the highest point in the park and in the state of Tennessee. It is also the second-highest point east of the Mississippi River. Only North Carolina's Mt. Mitchell (6,684 feet) is higher.

I don’t know if anybody found the last line of that ditty useful. The “you just never know” part does relate well to the uncertainty of getting that seven-state view, which is conditional on both the weather and the amount of air pollution. Pollution alone can reduce visibility to less than 15 miles on many days.

By some accounts, Clingmans Dome has the worst air pollution, on average, of any single outdoor place in America’s National Park System. Air pollution levels recorded near the observation tower are commonly worse than those found along the traffic corridors of major cities like Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Houston. The mountaintop clouds can be as acidic as vinegar.

Postscript: If you'd like to stand on that Clingmans Dome tower yourself, you'll need to wait a while. Clingmans Dome Road, the spur connecting to Newfound Gap Road (NC Hwy 441), is now closed to vehicular traffic for the winter and will be closed to all uses (including hiking, skiing, sledding, etc.) from February 15 to May 28 (Memorial Day weekend).