Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Smoky Mountains

Location: Smoky Mountains, Tennessee

The weather has not been sunny and bright, but I did manage to get into the mountains for a while. I started at a lower elevation and hiked to Laurel Falls, a little over a mile one way. Like so many places, water has been scarce here lately, so the volume of water in the falls was not great. The weather was mostly cloudy, but the sun came out every so often.


Click for Larger Image of Laurel Falls

I then started up the mountain towards Clingman's Dome, a 20 mile trip on a mountain road. It started to lightly rain, and it was actually very beautiful. The green in the pine trees was very dark, and the red, gold, and orange leaves almost glowed.

When I passed the 12 mile mark, the rain was really pouring down, and the visibility was a few feet. It didn't seem worth continuing if the only view I would get was fog, so I turned back at that point. The rain was only at the higher elevation -- as I descended, it tapered off until it finally stopped. If the weather cooperates, I'll try again to get to Clingman's Dome before I leave for Kentucky.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I wish I had known you were going to the Smokies. I love the place and could have pointed you in the right direction for great pics.

Did you ever make it up to Clingman's Dome?? If not you have to try again some other time.

O.B. Sirius said...

No, I never did on this trip. I plan to make a return trip -- next time maybe the weather will cooperate a bit more! Good to hear from you, Don.
Z.