| DOME | The trail reaches its highest elevation, 6,643 feet (2,025 m), at the summit of Clingmans ___ (4) |
| FLORIDA | It's highest elevation (345 ft.) is the lowest of all 50 |
| KEELYHODGKINSON | English runner who won the women's 800 m at the Olympics earlier this month (5,10) |
| GEORGIA | _ Bell, British runner who won bronze in the 1500 m at the 2024 Olympics (7) |
| GODS | The Greeks believed they lived at the summit of Mount Olympus (4) |
| NOON | Time when the sun reaches its highest point (4) |
| EDEN | It's at the summit of Mount Purgatory in 'The Divine Comedy' |
| PELE | On her death, this Hawaiian goddess of fire is said to have created an eternal resting place at the summit of Kilauea Volcano |
| ATOP | At the summit of (4) |
| TENN | Clingmans Dome is its highest point: Abbr. |
| CREW | They ensure the packet reaches its destination safely (4) |
| SOLSTICE | From the Latin for "sun", either the shortest day of the year or its longest, when said star reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon (8) |
| DEEP | Consider how a river reaches its mouth initially (4) |
| IWOJIMA | The battle on this Japanese island in WWII produced Joe Rosenthal's enduring image of the US marines raising the the American flag at the summit of Mt Suribachi (3,4) |
| OHIO | Where Lake Erie reaches its southernmost point |
| CROW | Word used to describe the summit of a hill or rise; the human forehead; or, a ship's gangway (4) |
| CALDERA | Deep crater at the summit of a volcano formed by the collapse or explosion of its cone (7) |
| ROOF | The summit of architecture (4) |
| APEX | What is the summit of anything (4) |
| BROW | The summit of a hill or pass (4) |
