The Great Smokey Mountains – Asheville – New River Gorge – Red River Gorge
Mountains and gorges, with time winding in between them – a photographic journey.
Photography often requires travel, and because of the other obligations I have currently, there really was not a lot of time to spend in each one, as it was a long roadtrip, though visiting each place felt like a long time while there.
Photographs, starting from Indiana, with its farmland and barns, at a place in between Bedford and Brownstown on the 50:
The Great Smokey Mountains
The one thing these four places have in common is that they are beautiful nature areas, with two of them formed by the streams in the gorges, and the other two by the mountains nearby them.
The Great Smokey Mountains were blue and misted this time, and filled with dappled light and the beginnings of fall color, with its reds and yellows. Any place there is worth seeing along the road, although the top two are Newfound Gap and Clingman’s Dome. If those are the only two places one can visit, that is enough, with the Appalachian Trail running through both spots.
Asheville, North Carolina
Known for its art, there are many studios and galleries in the small mountain town of Asheville, which is at the end of one of the Blue Ridge Parkway roads coming from The Great Smokey Mountains.
There was an art gallery that was not open that I would like to visit one day, American Folk Gallery, next to the food co-op in Asheville. Every art gallery looked interesting, however, in Asheville.
The Biltmore is a place many visit while in Asheville, however, I went to the grounds but did not tour around this time – though if one is willing to spend some time and money to visit the grounds and house of the Biltmore, it is like visiting a castle or other residence of the sort in Europe.
The gallery I visited in Asheville is called The Grovewood Gallery. This happened by chance and it is in a nice little village setting near a hotel with a vast green grounds and is quite pleasant. It has many handworked art pieces, showcasing paintings and furniture.
Though everyone has different taste, here are some of the ones I liked.
Fayetteville – The New River Gorge, West Virginia
West Virginia – Wild and Wonderful.
There is a slightly nostalgic feel in the ancient mountains here. It is a former coal-mining town, and for anyone who has read and likes The Hunger Games by Susan Collins, it is as close to being in Katniss Everdeen’s hometown as one could imagine. The town is not a wealthy one, yet it is filled with an atmosphere of adventure and excitement in an outdoor spirit, and there is an attitude of ruggedness running through it given all the mountain adventures, along with rafting and cycling. It is small, yet full of things to do if one likes the outdoors. The New River Gorge has only recently become a National Park on December 27, 2020. There is mist in the mornings often and it can seem like a different country, espeically along by the waterside of Gauley Bridge, in between the mountain pass roads.
If there is only time to do a few things in Fayetteville, the top ones are:
Walk down the stairs of the New River Gorge Bridge Overlook
Hike along the Endless Wall Trail
Visit Fayetteville
The Red River Gorge, Slade, Kentucky
Slade – what is unique to Kentucky is this area is the Red River Gorge, though Slade is itself a rather poor district in Kentucky that does not have a lot of wealth, yet many people come here from around the world for its world-class rated sport and traditional rock climbing, and other outdoor activities. The Natural Rock Bridge is in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in one scene in winter. There are many hiking trails that wind through the forests, some of which are short and relatively easy, like the Whistling Arch Trail, the trail (if one takes the Sky Lift) along the Natural Rock Bridge, and others.
Some things are worth doing, and the hike to the top of the Natural Rock Bridge, a 2 mile loop, led to some nice views. It’s not always easy to do things like this, but then again, having done climbing, running, and tennis, along with other sports, and photography, training comes with discipline and sheer will some days when the motivation is lacking at the start. The views were worth it, and it felt like a completion of the journey, which was a farewell of sorts to a way of life in the summer and previous years, as the seasons are changing.
There was a horse I met along the Tarr Ridge Road who came up to me and was very friendly – so much so, that I wished we could have gone on a ride together, though I had to continue on the way. Maybe I will see the same horse once again, though fleeting moments are all we have sometimes with one another on the journey.
Gallery:
One way to make roadtrips better is to take the roads less travelled. While the main highways are faster, the smaller ones are often more scenic, and only twenty to thirty minutes longer to the destination. The road less travelled is the one sometimes best chosen. As always, all opinions are my own.
