Autumn in the Smokies

I began the journey home over the past two days, but dallied for hours in the Blue Ridge and the Smokies, which are in full glorious fall color.  The weather was definitely autumnal...a strong cold front dropped temperatures into the 30s and 40s, along with a brisk wind.  Quite a change from Charleston and Miami!  But the colors are spectacular.  This pic and most of the others were taken in Great Smoky Mountains NP, or close to it along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The hillsides blaze in a palette of color.  The photographer is always searching for the perfect combination of color and light, and occasionally you can come close.  It was a brisk 31 degrees when I took this shot.

The woods, when backlit by the sun, are magical.  One might even call the scene heavenly.

A typical hillside in the Smokies.

Up close, the sunlit leaves resemble an impressionist painting.  Closest thing a photographer can get to the genre!  Blow this pic up for full effect.

Sun, colors, and shadow create endless mosaic forms.

Light, leaves, and tree trunks.

The forest undergrowth can also be spectacular.

A stream courses through the autumnal Appalachians.

The forest floor presents a scene out of a Jackson Pollock painting.

A trail in the Smokies.

Around many corners of the Blue Ridge Parkway and highway 441 through the park, a vast array of colors await.  

The first time I was here was in mid November 2006...a little late.  The leaves were almost all gone.  This time, two thirds of the way through October, I nailed it.

This impressionist scene was shot from my car window.  There were actually a lot of people about.

The Smokies were designated as a national park in 1934.  At the time, hundreds of families lived in the park.  The older folks were grandfathered in and allowed to stay; other families were bought out and relocated.  At any rate, no one homesteads in the park any more, but evidence of the early residents pops up here and there in the forest. 

This shot was taken in Pisgah National Forest, ascending into the Blue Ridge.

Delicate colors and tree trunks.

The undergrowth blazes!

A particularly fine mix of colors on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Hillsides in the Blue Ridge.

Much of the forest in western North Carolina is a mix of evergreen and deciduous forest.  The dark green of the firs and pines contrasts nicely with the leaves of the maples, poplars, and other deciduous trees.

Late in the day, shadows make the light cool.

There were some showers in the mountains yesterday.  Temperature dropped as low as 37, but no snow.  It will come soon enough.

Yes, the Lizards were here.  The mountains in this region are of course not as high as the ones in the Western US, but they are substantial enough to make their own weather, and make you huff and puff while hiking.