Smokies Spring Day 7: Finale

Earlier posts in this series:

Back Story Day 1 Day 2  Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

It’s fitting, I think, that I’m putting a wrap on the spring trip to the Smokies (2022, mind you) on the same day that I begin a week-long trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway with friend of the blog Steve Carter. This trip, which will span the length of the parkway, which winds for 469 miles through the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, will end early next week, but will likely mean that there won’t be another blog entry after this one until the first full week of June. So you have been forewarned. The just-beginning trip will be chronicled on this blog, some time before the end of the current millennium. Probably.

In the meantime, let’s recount the final day of 2022’s spring trip to the Smokies which, you will recall, was dominated by sunny skies and breezy conditions for the first six days. But that was not to be the case on the seventh and final day.

I received a call on the evening of Day 6, shortly after I returned to Gatlinburg from a session at WhiteOak Sink, from Nye Simmons, who had been keeping an eye on the weather forecast, and told me that it called for a very low cloud ceiling the next morning, which could, he said, make for some pretty dramatic conditions at the higher elevations along the Newfound Gap Road and the Blue Ridge Parkway. He said he was planning to make a day of it–for at least as long as the conditions held–and that I was welcome to join him, if I was interested.

When Nye Simmons tells me that there’s a chance for dramatic conditions, I pay attention, doubly so when we’re talking about the Smokies or the Blue Ridge Parkway, areas about which he has literally written the books about photographic opportunities. I told him that I was definitely interested and we agreed to meet, early in the morning, at a spot on the Newfound Gap Road, on the Tennessee side of the park, that we both knew.

This was a good lesson for me, as, knowing the forecast, my inclination would have been to head off to Roaring Fork or some such place to photograph streams and waterfalls in the anticipated cloudy skies. Had I done so, I would have missed out on something–the foggy conditions that are extant at high elevations when the cloud ceiling is low.

There could be sloppy conditions, Nye warned me, and I told him that I’d be prepared. And, for the first 30-45 minutes or so after I arrived, that’s what we got==a relatively light, but steady rain. But ultimately, the rain stopped, more or less completely, for the rest of the day, even though the foggy/cloudy conditions persisted into the early afternoon, by which time we were 40-odd miles up the Blue Ridge Parkway. But before we got that far, we stopped a number of times. as the ensuing imagery will demonstrate.

At comparatively low elevations on the Newfound Gap Road, mostly leafed-out trees shared the scene with flowering species.

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

But as we climbed, leaves were replaced by buds and the fog effect grew relatively stronger.

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

At the Oconaluftee Valley Overlook, it was a completely different atmosphere.

Oconaluftee Valley Overlook, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Oconaluftee Valley Overlook, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

And on the decent toward the park’s southern entrance, additional scenes came into view.

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Newfound Gap Road Black & White, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Newfound Gap Road, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

When we had cleared the southern entrance to the park and just ventured onto the first few hundred feet of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Nye pointed out what he calls “The Boundary Tree,” an ancient sycamore simply dripping with character.

Boundary Tree, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Boundary Tree, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Then we began our ascent of the parkway, and stopped frequently, even though we had, more or less permanently it turned out, mostly left the foggy conditions behind.

Quailia Indian Reservation Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Quailia Indian Reservation Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Burches Bald Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Spring’s Abundance, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Soco Gap, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Soco Gap, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Soco Gap, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Thomas Divide, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Balsam Mountan, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Spring Close-Up Black & White, Balsam Mountan, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

Nye and I parted for good at Balsam Mountain, as he was going to work his way back to Knoxville and I had a number of spots inside the park that I wanted to photograph, so I retraced my steps back to the parkway’s terminus and started the climb back up the Newfound Gap Road.

I made a couple of stops along the Oconaluftee River for starters. The sun was out by now, but it was late enough in the day that numerous spots were in open shade.

Oconaluftee River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Oconaluftee River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

And then I paid a visit to the unnamed roadside waterfall that I had scouted, but not been able to photograph, several days earlier.

Tributary Waterfall, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Tributary Waterfall, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Tributary Waterfall, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

As I was heading back toward Gatlinburg, I decided to make my last stop at Morton Overlook, for sunset. It was still about an hour until the sun went down, but spots at the overlook are limited and so I decided to wait it out. While I was doing so, I made some long lens images of spotlighted trees in the valley below.

Morton Overlook, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Morton Overlook, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Finally, it was time for the main event.

Morton Overlook, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Sunset, Morton Overlook, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Sunset, Morton Overlook, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

And with that, the final images of the trip were made. It hadn’t been my most productive trip to the Smokies; the predominant weather (and relatively poor spring bloom) conditions had seen to that. But I had explored some new locations and found some very nice scenes and was, overall, happy with the experience.

I hope you enjoyed the chronicle. In the relatively near future, I’ll start laying out the trip to Minnesota (and northern Wisconsin) that unfolded in the fall of 2022, as I continue catching up on neglected photo experiences.

I’ll “see” everyone in a couple of weeks.