Tag: national parks

First Road Trip for 2018- Finale

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The day started with a drive on Newfound Gap Road, which traverses the highest parts of the park, and ends in North Carolina. Along the way is Clingman’s Dome, the highest peak in the park. The hike to the observation tower is not a long hike, but, the trail is very steep, it is ranked as one of the more strenuous hikes in the park. Knowing that, we all decided to stay by the parking lot, which still offers some fantastic views of the mountains. Among the cars parked were several Minis, they were either on their to or from a rally. One of the Minis caught my eye- I am a huge Jeremy Clarkson fan, and the owner of the car turned it into a Clarkson/Top Gear tribute. I had to get some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a picnic lunch on the way to North Carolina, and continued on to the old Mingus Mill, which is near the Oconluftee Visitor’s Center (the North Carolina side of the park).

After stopping at the center, we headed back, and stopped at a turnoff overlooking the Oconoluftee River. We got some long exposures of the rushing water, and then continued back toward the NW end of the park where we were staying. We made another stop at Tremont, and by the time we were done there, it was dinner time.

 

 

 

 

We drove into Gatlinburg and had dinner at Bones BBQ Joint, it was a great last meal of the trip. Afterward, we went to the Ole Smoky Distillery and had a moonshine tasting. I bought some to bring back, it was really good!

 

 

 

 

 

Thus ended our spring excursion to the Smokies. As always, a fantastic time, with great people to share the experience with. Cathie and I will be returning to the Smokies in November. Before then, other adventures await, it will be a great summer!

First Road Trip for 2018, Part 4

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The adventure continued on Tuesday, May 1. We got up extremely early in order to catch sunrise from the location we had scouted on the Foothills Parkway. We arrived just as dawn was breaking. The valley below the overlook had a farm with some cows grazing, and due to the temperature, there was a mist hugging the valley floor. It was serene. As the sun cleared the mountains on the horizon, I was able to catch the sunburst over the valley (the featured photo). While the sky itself was not overly dramatic, it was still a great sunrise. We spent the better par of an hour there, then, headed back to cabin for breakfast.

At the start of the trip, I mentioned to Cathie that I really needed to get a haircut. I didn’t have the chance to do it before I left. My day job had been extremely hectic that week, and, Saturdays are my normal haircut day. But, we were in Kentucky on that past Saturday. Cathie thought this whole thing was strange, but, hair doesn’t cut itself. And, I’m all about supporting local businesses. After breakfast, I called the place I chose, and made my appointment, and Joe also took advantage and scheduled an appointment as well.

As our appointments were at 12:30, we decided to kill some time and played a round of miniature golf. On my trip to visit Cathie last August, we played a LOT of miniature golf. We also were battling some very harsh mid-day light, so, we had to find other ways to occupy ourselves. As much as sunny days are nice, and they are, for photography, they do not work well. After the first round of golf, we got lunch, then went for our haircuts. Cathie was still bemused by this whole thing, and got some photos of Joe and I as we were getting our haircuts.

Afterward, we played another round of golf, and the second course was much more fun than the first one. By the end of that round, we had gotten to later afternoon, the light was starting to improve, so we went to Roaring Fork Nature Motor Trail. There are some great hikes to waterfalls, but we didn’t have the time to do either one, so we drove the loop road until we got toward the end. There is an excellent roadside stream among some large rock formations, and the water was running strong. I navigated through the stream, trying not to hurt myself on the very slippery rocks, and set up for a couple of long exposures in the middle of the stream. Whatever it takes to get the shot!

We spent well over an hour and a half there, and the light was starting to fade. Since the light was no longer ideal, we did not stop at the old mill at the end of the motor trail. Instead, we headed back to the cabin, had dinner and relaxed a little. And we thought we were prepared for what awaited us the next day.

First Road Trip for 2018, Part 3

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Monday, April 30, was my 50th birthday. Spending my birthday with my two favorite people is what this was all about. We had breakfast at the cabin, and then ventured into the park. Whether it was too warm, or we arrived too late, the Cades Cove area was not blanketed in its usual morning fog. And there was not much going on around the loop road, so we ended up stopping only at the Cable Grist Mill. I had the chance to finally use the new Lee neutral density filters there, getting some long exposures of the turning water wheel. We then stopped at the souvenir shop, and since I needed a hat, I bought a Smokies trucker cap (two of them, I couldn’t decide on one or the other), plus a few other items. We had lunch, and then scouted the Foothills Parkway for sunrise locations. On the way back into Townsend, we stopped at a country store, where Cathie found a table that she fell in love with. The table was a bear holding up the glass table top. It was hand carved, really well done, but, was quite expensive.

These mid-day diversions became a necessity for most of the trip. Although the weather was spectacular, there were little to no clouds during that week. This makes more for some very harsh light, particularly from mid-morning to late afternoon. Whether you’re shooting in the visible light spectrum, or infrared, that harsh light from the sun directly overhead does not result in the best photographs.

Once we finished at the store, we headed back into the park, and went to one of my favorite roadside rivers, on the road to Cades Cove. We stopped there for close to an hour, and because there are tall hills on both sides of the road, the sun was blocked, giving us some more even light. I utilized the filters again, getting some long exposures of the raging waters (the featured image at the top of this post was taken there). When we finished, our original plan was to head back in the direction we came. But, traffic was backed up all the way to our spot, due to road resurfacing near Tremont. Knowing how far that road was, we decided to head back to Cades Cove and then take the Rich Mountain Road, and head back to Pigeon Forge that way for dinner. It turned out to be a happy detour. First, at Sparks Lane, there was a large group of horses grazing, and walking right up the fence to check out us crazy humans. I was able to get some photos after I was freed from Cathie’s car. For some reason, Cathie decided to park right next to the only road sign on Sparks Lane, blocking me so that I could not open the door. After about 10-15 minutes of her merrily photographing the horses for herself, she realized I had not gotten out of the car. That’s when I pointed out where she had parked. Thanks, Cathie, lol! Once I was able to start getting some photos, the first of a few weird occurrences happened with my workhorse Nikon D800. As I was rapidly firing, the viewfinder suddenly went dark, and the metering was not working. Even after turning the camera off and on, taking out the battery and putting it back in, it was only when I had changed lenses that it started working ok. I went back to the lens I was using, and it seemed to be working fine again. This happened a few other times on this trip. I’m still researching what the issue could be. 

We continued on to Rich Mountain Road, and on the drive up the hill, we came across a bear. It was the first one I had seen in the park in my two trips. I was on the wrong side of the car to get any kind of decent shot. At one point, I had gotten out to try to retrieve my camera from the trunk, but this got the bear’s attention. To be safe, and to not encourage her to approach closer, I got back in the car. Cathie got several photos, that was good enough for both of us. Finally, we headed out to get dinner. I chose Bennett’s Barbecue Pit for dinner, we ate there the last time. The food is excellent, as was the beer, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly after a great first full day in the park.

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Final

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I have combined the final two days of our trip into one post, because the virus I picked up was greatly impacting my ability to be active. Wednesday was still pretty active, but I needed breaks throughout the day. Thursday was the worst of it, and Mother Nature actually helped a little by giving us some bad weather on Thursday.

Wednesday, we planned to start the day back in Cades Cove, at Sparks Lane. On Wednesdays, the loop road is closed to motor vehicles until 10 am, so we planned on walking to Sparks Lane from the main parking lot. When we got there, the gate was open, so we drove to Sparks Lane instead. We spent a couple of hours photographing the area, which was enveloped in a heavy fog. While we were there, another photographer came with a couple from Germany who he was leading on a workshop. We all hung out, talked, took some great photos, and Cathie and I made a great connection with a phenomenal photographer, Joseph Rossbach.

Since we did not eat breakfast before leaving for Cades Cove, we decided to leave and get something to eat. On the way out of the park, we stopped at a pull-off to photograph a rapidly running river, because we hadn’t gotten any photos of them the previous days (joking).

Things were really starting to get tough for me, though. I started running a fever, and even though the temperature was in the upper 70s, I was wearing a thermal shirt due to the chills. After breakfast, we went back into the park and there was a shorter hike that I felt I could handle. When we got there, though, there was a sign stating that the trail was closed about halfway to the spot we wanted to get to. So, we ended up doing some longer exposures of another river that ran past the parking lot. We left that area, drove around for a bit, then decided to get some dinner. We wanted to get back to the Newfound Gap Road and up to the Morton Overlook for sunset. When we got to the Morton Overlook, a pleasant surprise was waiting for us. Tony Sweet, a photographer I have long admired (and who led the workshop in the Badlands that I attended last September) was there with his workshop. Cathie got to meet Tony, we talked, and then we got set up for the sunset. The sunset was great, although due to the clouds near the horizon, the color faded pretty quickly. Still, it was fantastic seeing Tony again, and finally getting a great sunset from a signature spot in the Smokies. The sunset is the banner photo for this article. On the drive back down the mountains, unfortunately, my ears plugged up and did not pop. This just added to the rest of my miseries, as it was really messing with my equilibrium, as well as just being plain annoying.

Thursday morning started with a torrential downpour, and me feeling like absolute crap. I was deep in the throes of this virus, and aside from getting a small breakfast, I didn’t do much of anything except go back to sleep. A few hours later, we went and got lunch at the local A & W- I haven’t been to one in a VERY long time. The rain was still coming down heavy, and I ended up sleeping some more in the afternoon. Finally, around 4 pm, I started feeling slightly better, and the rain stopped, so we drove back to the Park, and went to Roaring Fork. It’s a beautiful area, deep in the woods, with a loop road that winds its way up and back down the hills. Which meant I had more ear issues. But, we still got some great photos of the river, and the mill toward the end of the loop road.

We had dinner, got back to the hotel, and I prepped all of my gear for the return trip. I still had a 9-10 hour drive to get back home Friday, and I had no idea what shape I was going to be in for it. Fortunately, the worst of the virus seemed to have passed, and I was able to get up and be on the road early Friday morning, and made the drive back. And thus ended my first Smokies adventure. Even with the health issues I ended up with, it was an unforgettable trip. The beauty of the area cannot be described, it has to be seen. I can see why it is the most visited National Park year after year. It has something for everyone- great hikes, scenic vistas, valleys with mountains shrouded by clouds and fog, and while we did not see a bear, wildlife abounds. I will be returning, sooner rather than later. There is still so much I have to see there. And hopefully next time, I won’t be dealing with a plague at the same time.

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Part One

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My friend Cathie and I had been talking about taking a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains since she returned from her trip there this past October. Since I usually travel the last week of April somewhere, we decided this would be a good time for our trip. I drove out Sunday morning, April 23, and arrived late afternoon. We then set about creating a general outline of how we would tackle the park. The first full day was Monday, and the one spot I wanted to see was Sparks Lane in Cades Cove. Since Cades Cove is set in a valley, it frequently is foggy in the morning. As infrared photography is my favorite photographic medium, I knew it would provide some excellent infrared opportunities. But, earlier is better, the fog tends to burn off quickly. So, we couldn’t get there early enough for sunrise, but we would get there not long after sunrise. I say “would” because Mother Nature threw a curve ball at us- due to the heavy rains the area had experienced both Saturday and Sunday, the road into Cades Cove was closed because of a downed tree. The featured image is the road, just past the closed gate. So, we explored the area near the gate. At one point, a park ranger drove past Cathie, and he said we could take an alternate route to get to Cades Cove after all. It was a long detour, but we did get there after all, and the fog was still in the valley. The photo below is one of the infrared photos I took there.

We explored more of the Cades Cove area- the loop itself can take up a few hours, winding through the valley, stopping at several old structures, and giving great views of the valley. We stopped at the John Oliver cabin, one of 80 historic buildings in the park. The cabin is set deep in the woods, and is very well preserved.

We continued on to the old Cable Grist Mill and the surrounding buildings, including the barn and corn cribs. The woods surrounding the mill provided us an unexpected opportunity to photograph some deer up close and personal.

After leaving the Cades Cove area, later in the afternoon, we went to the Tremont area, along the Middle Prong Little River. Due to the rains, the rivers and streams were running fiercely, and there was an abundance of opportunities to photograph the running waters, and waterfalls on the roadside.

This was the start of my first exploration of the Smokies. There is more to come, we had three more days of fun!

Civil War Battlefields, Part 1- Vicksburg, Mississippi

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I have decided to start a series of blogs about my other passion, the American Civil War. As an amateur student of history, and having an ancestor who fought in the Civil War, I have had a deep interest in the War for over 30 years. In most of my travels over the past 20 years or so, I have tried to visit as many of the battlefields that are left as possible. There are still some I have not seen, and I hope to see them over the next few years.

The battlefields are part of the US National Park System. While the parks themselves are well preserved, some do not encompass all of the acreage that was fought over. It was not practical for the government to try to turn an established town or city into a National Park, for obvious reasons. But, not long after the war ended, the effort began to preserve as much of the battlefields as possible.

The first installment of this series is about the battle of Vicksburg, which really wasn’t so much a battle as a siege. It is really easy to get to, either by car or plane. I prefer to drive, as I can carry more camera gear with me, and I can stop in Memphis and spend time there to and from Vicksburg.

For an historical perspective, Ulysses Grant had been trying since late 1862 to capture the city. Vicksburg was crucial, as it is situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Union naval vessels and northern merchant ships could not navigate up and down the Mississippi while the Confederates held the town. Several attempts to take the town directly had failed, so Grant, during the early spring of 1863, marched his troops through the swamps on the west side of the river, crossed back over the river, and circled aback to surround the town from the east. Once he reached the town, it took another 47 days, but finally, on July 4, 1863, the Confederates surrendered the town to Grant.

Many of the battlefields are dominated by statues, monuments and memorials. Vicksburg has its share, but you can still appreciate the terrain, and understand why it was such a difficult task to take the town. It is a beautiful place, but as with all of the battlefields, it’s very somber at the same time. When you know what happened there, how many soldiers on both sides were lost, as well as the civilian casualties, it gives you pause. The National Cemetery has a plaque, as they all do at each of the battlefields, telling how many are buried in the cemetery, and how many are known versus unknown. At Vicksburg, there are 18,244 interments, of which, 12,954 are unknown.

The photographs accompanying this are just a sample of some of my favorites that I have taken there during my many visits. Some are infrared, some regular photos. Most of the battlefield on the tour takes you around both defensive positions that were dug into the hillsides, or built on them, by the Confederates. Others are the Union positions. At varying points during the siege, the two lines were less than 200 yards from each other. The townspeople dug themselves into hillsides too, to protect themselves from constant Union artillery bombardment. The Visitor’s Center there gives a very accurate depiction of what the civilian experience was during the siege.