Photographing one of the many creek scenes in the Smoky Mountains presents a few challenges. First is the desire to capture the sense of flowing water, rather than water that is frozen. To do this you will need your camera on a tripod with an exposure time of one-half...
It's that beautiful time of year again when the Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) bloom along the trails and in the woods of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Mountain Laurel are similar to, and often mistaken for, Rhododendron. In the Smokies the Laurel...
Continuing our theme of spring wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, first up this week is the Crested Dwarf Iris (Iris cristata). This flower is an April bloomer, especially along the Chestnut Top Trail near Townsend. On the Bud Ogle Nature Trail...
If you do much hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you've certainly found yourself in the situation pictured above. Love them or hate them, footbridges are common along Smokies trails. Some are vertigo-inducing challenges, and others are tame...
A spring snow dusted Mt. LeConte on Tuesday night, closing the road to Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It's not unusual to see the contrasts of winter and spring in one scene as in the picture above. The summit of Mt. LeConte is around 6500...
"The year's at the spring, And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hill-side's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn; God's in his Heaven— All's right with the world!" Robert Browning
What a special moment this was. I had been wandering along the Lynn Camp Prong in the Tremont area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a beautiful fall day, but nothing was drawing my attention. Then I came upon this spot where some downed trees...
Fringed Phacelia (Phacelia fimbriata) is the wildflower that covers the hillsides along the Newfound Gap Road like a late dusting of snow in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The blooms form a densely packed groundcover in April. The Fringed variety is one of...
Just a hundred yards north of the Townsend Wye is a parking lot, and across the road is the start of the Chestnut Top Trail. In spring this is one of the premier Smoky Mountains wildflowers hikes, with opportunities for photos every few feet! The trail cuts into a...
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...