Sunrise and beyond at Julian Price Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway

I love it when a plan doesn’t work out. Last week at Stone Mountain was only mildly colorful at 2,300 feet, so this week I surmised the woods would be blazing around 3,500. I woke at an absurdly early hour and set out for Price Lake on the Blue Ridge Parkway, aiming to arrive at dawn and capture a signature snapshot of blazing reds, yellows and oranges reflected in the still water. Everything about this plan went awry. I left so early that it was still pitch black when I turned onto the Blue Ridge Parkway from Highway 421 just east of Boone. I had time to kill, so I stopped by Moses Cone Manor and clicked a few time-exposures. OK, not bad, but not why I was here. Julian Price Memorial Park was just a few miles down the road. I pulled into the parking area just beyond the dam to see this: OK, so here I am shivering in the cold a hundred miles from my warm bed — and the fall color has fled. Serves me right, actually, because I’m a total snob about “leaf season,” which, to my mind, attracts throngs who appreciate nature only when [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tommangan/THD/~3/A812ujPG3JA/

backpacking Hiking climbing outdoor