The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was mostly closed yesterday after a snowstorm the day before. I headed out to the Greenbrier, hoping to find the gate open, but no luck. So I parked and hiked on up the road to the point where the rocks and rapids create a popular spot in the summer…
Yesterday’s Greenbrier in Winter photo was so pretty that I had to do some more. Both of these are along the trail to Ramsay Cascades. The one above is the footbridge at the trail head, and the one below is on up the trail a bit. A nice wet slow that really clung to the…
For all my blog, facebook, and twitter followers I’m offering a free image that can be used as a desktop wallpaper or as a screensaver. The image can be downloaded from http://williambritten.com/wallpaper/winter-silence-screensaver.jpg This is an impressionistic snow scene taken in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smokies National Park. The effect is created by moving…
Greenbrier Autumn Watercolor is another new one from the 2010 fall season. It’s a triptych, or three vertical panels that create a horizontal scene. I’ve been wanting to do a triptych, and this autumn panoramic was the perfect opportunity. The scene is in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was taken…
Color Cascade is a new fall image for 2010. It was taken from one of the bridges spanning the Ramsay Prong of the Little Pigeon River in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This picture was taken from exactly the same spot as the winter scene below. This image was taken…
This footbridge is one of the special places in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains. It crosses the Ramsay Prong of the Little Pigeon River at the beginning of the trail that leads up to the Ramsay Cascades waterfall, and from there on up to the Appalachian Trail. Standing on this footbridge affords…
Continuing the autumn road theme. The Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is such a calm, cozy, and welcoming place. After the road turns to gravel, and you turn left over the bridges, the way leads up towards the Ramsey Cascades Trailhead. In winter this is a bleak and beautiful place; in…
The Smoky Mountains Hiking Club cabin still stands in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You can see it by taking the Porters Creek Trail. In 1935 Dutch Roth helped build the cabin. These are his photographs. Below are some excerpts from his journal, titled Tales from the Woods, about the…
The Smoky Mountain area is not known for its covered bridges. This one was built fairly recently. The bridge spans the Little Pigeon River just downstream from where it runs out of the Park in the Greenbrier section. It’s a nice, peaceful spot for swimming or fishing. You can find it by taking the road…
Flowering Spurge (Euphorbia corollata) is a large, bushy plant with many small flowers. It favors fields, roadsides, and open woods. The picture above was taken along the Cades Cove Loop Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The image picture was in the Greenbrier section along Porters Creek Trail. Look for Flowering Spurge in…
We’ll spend this week catching up on our review of the summer wildflowers found in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Pale Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) is also known as Pale Touch-Me-Not. This is a large plant, up to six feet, favoring moist, shady wooded areas. The name Jewelweed refers to its habit of accumulating water…
Smooth Creeping Bush Clover (Lespedeza repens) is a trailing, ground-hugging, member of the pea family that adds a beautiful accent to the dry woods of summer. The pictures here were taken along Porters Creek Trail in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Please stop in and visit me to see the…
If you drive into some of the less traveled areas of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, such as Greenbrier or Tremont, eventually the road turns to gravel, and in summer you will start to see large quantities of butterflies. So many that sometimes it’s hard to keep from running them over. The swallowtail above…
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) is a tall, single-stalk summer wildflower, blooming during late-summer in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It favors moist streambanks and roadsides. The pictures here were taken along the Greenbrier Road. The Latin name siphilitica refers to the use of this plant as a treatment for syphilis. Please stop in…
Southern Harebell (Campanula divaricata) inhabits dry, rocky slopes, trailside or roadside. The blooming period in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is from July to October. Unless you are carefully examining your surroundings, you may miss this delicate beauty. The plant is a foot or two tall, with tiny light blue blooms raining down from…
The picture above is from the Tipton Homeplace in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s a great example of the vernacular architecture known as the cantilever barn. The style of hanging a large upper loft area over two cribs below is unique to the area in and around the Smoky Mountains…
Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) is a member of the orchid family that grows to 18 inches tall. It’s a fairly rare Smoky Mtn wildflower to find! The ladies above were spotted stepping out just off Twin Creeks trail near the Bud Ogle Place on the Roaring Fork. The photo at the bottom was taken…
Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum) is one of the most attractive, and most elusive of the Trilliums. A rare sight, perhaps because it is at the southern edge of it’s range in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Painted Trillium favors cool northern forests. Identification is very easy, with the prominent maroon paint circling the inner…
Showy Orchis (Galearis spectabilis) is, as the name implies, in the Orchid family. It’s a spectacular discovery, when you find it. But as a matter of fact, both times I’ve stumbled on this beauty have been at the edges of parking lots. Not exactly the distinguished presentation that might be expected for such a regal…
Whenever the creeks of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park swell with rainfall, which is often in the springtime, the kayakers come forth. It seems like a daring adventure to me, and a paradoxical compromise between going with the flow and aggressively making your own path. These folks must watch the weather like tornado chasers,…
Porters Creek Trail is a delightful meander in the Greenbrier section of the Smoky Mountains. Head east out of Gatlinburg on Route 321, then after about 6 miles, the Greenbrier entrance will be on the right. Eventually the road will turn to gravel and you’ll pass the bridge to the Ramsay Cascades Trail. Continue straight…
There are many old pioneer cabins in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Most of them were constructed from native wood, shaped with hand tools such as the broad ax, froe, adz, and drawknife. The wood in these buildings seems unique and different, with a life of its own. Or perhaps it is the life…
Perhaps the last decent snowfall of the winter this week created a winter dreamscape up in the Greenbrier section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. These pictures tell the whole story. Click on the first one to bring up a larger slide show, then put your mouse over the image to go forward or…
Another light snowstorm through most of the day yesterday, but not enough to close the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I drove up into the Greenbrier section and found a winter fairyland. So beautiful and dreamlike … I’ll have some more images soon from my roamings, but first a few abstract treatments….
The picture above is the footbridge leading to the Ramsey Cascades Trail in the Greenbrier section of the Smoky Mountains. Yes, it’s still cold and quiet around here. Another cold, snowy scene from the Greenbrier is below. But to warm things up on the waning days of winter, there’s a gallery of quotations down below….
I live in Gatlinburg TN, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Smokies are a very spiritual place, and I attempt to capture some of that spirit in each of my photographs.
If you are in Gatlinburg, please stop in at my gallery .
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