Deep into the Smokies

The Great Smoky National Park is a very special place to Jesica and I! I think both of us view it as the “home team”. It’s a showcase of just how beautiful Appalachia is! My good buddy, Brian AKA “The Waterfall Hillbilly” went on his usual stroll up a creek to find things others don’t see. When he shared his images of this particular waterfall on his social platforms, “Waterfall_Hillbilly” I knew I had to put on my hiking boots and hike up this creek. Where he goes there are no trails! A couple years went by and we finally hooked up! Jesica and I met him and his better half, Heidi and the adventure began!

**The Waterfall Hillbilly in his environment**

The plan was to meet them at the trailhead around 4:30 in the morning! Yes, 4:30 a.m.!! That meant we had to leave Blairsville at around 2:00. So, the alarm went off and we were both actually excited believe it or not! I knew we were in for a treat! The drive went pretty quick and soon we were at the trailhead and they were already there. To back up a bit, I haven’t hiked a whole lot since my knee surgery so, I was a tad concerned about my stamina. Regardless, we were doing this hike! We got our gear and headed out. We were on the trail for just a bit in the cover of night, then it was time to bushwhack! It’s all fun and games crawling through thick Rhododendrons until your tripod grabs every dang limb in the Smokies! I called those things all kinds of names that I can’t put here!:) Once we got to the creek, it was time to get our feet wet. We hiked up the creek for a good bit to avoid all the limbs and other obstacles. Although some of the rocks are so slippery you really have to be careful! I’ve walked the creeks with Hillbilly in the past and there is a trick to it. Brian stopped and said that we were getting close and we were able to see the top of the falls deep into the woods! Each step the falls got more and more visible and it was just stunning!! Brian did say some of the moss that lined the creek had been washed away by the flood during Hurricane Helene but just off the creek the moss was like carpet!

It was time to drop my backpack and pull out my camera! When I’m places like this I have to have my head on a swivel because my wife turns into a 5 year old!! She is climbing every tree and rock around looking for anything she can find! She would rather eat a p-nut butter and jelly here than any 5 star restaurant in the world and that’s why I love her!! I just was wandering around at first looking for compositions. The first image was the one above called “Worth the Wait”! It sure was worth the wait! The next image I got was one I found up the moss covered bank to my right. The moss was like carpet! It was so spongy and soft! I saw this small tree that was leaning over and it was catching some nice light. The sun was just coming up and the light was really beautiful. The background behind it was still in shadow a little so the little tree was really popping! I called this one “I’ve Been Framed” because the fall is framed very nicely by the small tree, the larger tree on the left, and then the sloped moss covered bank.

I made my way to the other side of the creek to look at some ferns I saw when shooting “I’ve Been Framed”. Once I got over there, is was as pretty as I thought it would be! I had these beautiful ferns along with some moss and of course the beautiful waterfall in the background! I was very close to the ferns so I had to use the technique of focus stacking to make sure everything was nice and sharp! So here is “Lush”!

When we got there, our friend Heidi was all over this one composition and it was so good I had to grab it!! She found these twin Trilliums that were in peak bloom! They were amongst all the moss to create a beautiful scene. Again, I had to use focus stacking because I wanted the Trilliums to take up a large portion of my image so I had to get very close. The camera is only capable of so much so I had to use this technique so it would all be in focus. I also moved my camera around to make sure the flowers were separated and not touching. I was very happy how this turned out! The wind was blowing some so it made it kinda difficult to get everything in the right place, but I think it turned out well. Here is the image “Twins”!

After this image is when this peaceful little journey into the smokies turned a little dicey! This fall is what they call “bluffed in”. It was very steep on the sides to get past this fall. Hillbilly and Heidi said there was another beautiful fall just above it. The only issue is crawling up the side of this bluff! Again, I have this 35lb backpack with a tripod that wants to grab everything which was not ideal in this situation to say the least. So we headed up this ledge grabbing on roots and kicking holes into the ground for some leverage. All four of us made it up safely and we got to this other fall which had even more moss! It was so thick you could literally headbutt the rocks and be totally fine! I didn’t try it so don’t hold me to it!:) The sun was up a little more so I placed it just behind a tree to create a nice little sun star. So I had the nice light beaming down the creek and hitting some of the moss and the old growth trees in front of me to make such a nice photo. I called this one “Sunkissed”

This spot was so pretty that I just kept moving around just to get a different composition of the same area. There were these three trees to my left that were catching some great light so I wanted to capture them. I also wanted to showcase all the moss. So here is the image I called “Moss Boss”.

It was time to head back down the cliff! With the help of my good buddy, Hillbilly, we all made it back down! He has so much experience in this environment that it was somewhat comforting:). Once we made it back down we sat a bit and chatted about our day and ate a few snacks. While we were talking I just couldn’t help but see some more images calling my name. The light had got higher in the sky and was coming down the fall creating beautiful lighting situations! So I pulled out my camera again and snapped these three images! I called them “On the Rocks”, Light Hearted”, and “Lit”.

Our time in the backwoods of the Smokies was now over. It was time to grab our gear and hiking sticks and head out! This place was so pretty and in a park that sees 15 million people annually, we didn’t see another soul! On our way out we could see a lot more things since we went in when it was still pretty much dark. There were all kinds of wildflowers and even a huge patch on Ramps! Jesica and I always love being in the woods with Hillbilly! It was even better this time because we got to meet his soulmate, Heidi. We already have another trip planned and I can’t wait! I hope you enjoyed this journey into the Smokies! If you’ve not experienced the Smokies and love the mountains I encourage you to plan a trip. Thank you for the time and let me know if you want one of these images for your home!

Chasing Autumn in Appalachia

Join my mailing list!