Most likely a cell phone tower, but with the sun rising and the fog off in the valley, it looks more like a remote outpost in Antartica than the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains.
This would be a fantastic drive if not for the 45 MPH speed limit the entire 469 miles that the parkway stretches. Extremely pretty road the entire distance though. This was taken early in the morning near the Cherokee end of the parkway. Traffic is very light before 9a.m. in the morning, so setting up in the middle of the road during the peak of the leaves changing wasn’t too big of an issue.
This year didn’t really provide a good opportunity to get back up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but I hope to spend 3 or 4 days next year driving, hiking, and photographing this fantastic route.
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There always seems to be a lot of time to capture sunsets while the sun is still up. To me, as soon as the sun dips below the horizon, darkness seems to come quickly. This is true up on the Indian Seats. The trail up is to the east of the highest hill, so the descent, albeit very short, starts in dusk and ends in darkness.
This image at least had a full moon to provide some light. Still working on how to capture a good image of the moon without blowing the detail out.
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Spooky, eerie mists
My last trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains was an overnight trip. I headed up to get afternoon and sunsets photos, then woke real early for some sunrise shots. The morning this picture was taken it drizzled off and on for a good three hours. Pockets of drizzle or rain would come and go, and most overlooks were either shrouded in mist or dark from the clouds.
This was one time when the sun almost burned through the clouds. The fog coming off the mountains and the colors in the trees was spectacular–and very, very real.
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A lot of the overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway overlook large swaths (swatches, groups??) of trees. At this stop I walked down about 40 feet into the trees and was bathed by the yellow light from the afternoon sun filtered through the oak trees. In this area there are so many that is looks like a stand of bamboo heading off down the hills.
Although there was only a slight and infrequent breeze, it was enough to fuzz up the HDR bracketed shots I took. So I used a single frame HDR with processing applied to get the color and contrast of the trees.
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