I have been working on photographing McLeod Plantation for the CCPRC and have been waiting for some early morning fog for a different mood. This morning delivered.
So what do you do with kids on a miserable day? Now that I am a grandmother with regular babysitting duties, I am open to all ideas, but this was one obvious solution. Wide-eyed wonder on steroids – a very successful outing.
At least in the Smokies. Charleston may wait a few weeks. This was the scene that I saw this morning when I arrived at the cove just before dawn – a winter wonderland. Also saw a big male Black Bear pretty close up, and more deer. Great day, but it’s time to go home.
I arrived at the gates of Cades Cove before sunrise and joined the line that had already begun to form. I wasn’t complaining; there were only about 10 cars ahead of me and last weekend a friend was here and there were 80 cars ahead of him. Later I headed to the Roaring Fork Motor Trail near Gatlinburg and it was a riot of color. The towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are just awful, congested tourist traps. It took me forever to find my way out of them. Townsend by contrast is just a normal country town. It has everything you need and it is very conveniently located to Cades Cove.
Sparks Lane, Cades Cove
Middle Prong Little River near Tremont
Regan’s mill, Roaring Fork Motor Trail
Roaring Fork Motor Trail 
I always try to get up to the mountains sometime during fall, and it’s not easy trying to schedule a trip around a time when the color is expected to peak.
Last weekend was the peak fall season for the Cades Cove area, but there is still some nice color around, and seriously, there is no bad time to visit. I did a brief survey this afternoon and one thing is for sure, there are still a lot of tourists in the area. Hopefully most of them won’t be up and about as early as I plan to be. Looking forward to four days of wandering without any time and place restrictions.
Every fall I just can’t wait to get to the mountains and witness the wonder of the changing seasons. This weekend I will be photographing Lindsey and Robbie’s wedding on Saturday evening, and Sunday morning I will hit the highway, headed for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I see that cold weather is forecast to move in, but I’m hoping there will still be pockets of color to photograph. It doesn’t matter, there isn’t a bad time to be in the Smokies. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite images of Dan and Ashley from last weekend.
I passed this house in West Ashley yesterday and was struck by the mass of yellow. Today I drove by again and this time I had my camera with me. Why is it that yellow is such a cheerful color? Hard to feel sad looking at this.
