As a volunteer for Great Smoky Mountain National Park, I was assigned to its highest mountain. What was the history of Clingmans Dome? Who had explored its natural environment and what had been discovered? What has life been like? What has the mountain endured? What challenges exist today? What can I do to help? These questions and more led to my search for answers and the birth of my book, Clingmans Dome, Highest Mountain in the Great Smokies. As a career nurse practitioner in cardiology, family practice, and emergency medicine, I spent my weekends climbing mountains or piloting a small plane somewhere. When I retired, thirty years of independent nature study became more structured in earning my naturalist's certification through the Blue Ridge Naturalist's Program at the NC Arboretum/UNCA. I now teach a class at the NC Arboretum on Spruce-fir Forest Ecosystems for the naturalist's program. In a few months I will complete the NC Environmental Educators Certification Program and the Southern Appalachian Naturalist's program at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (UT-Knoxville) next spring. As a breeder and speaker on white doves/homing pigeons, to be released at weddings, funerals, and other special events, I wrote a short story entitled, "Instincts", that was a finalist in the 2012 Short Story contest hosted by Grateful Steps Publishing Co. and e-published in a collection of winners.