Grandfather Mountain State Park
I’m not really chomping at the bit for autumn already… or am I? Fall, when conditions are just right, turns these mountains into something quite magical… especially when you can get a little fog action here at Boone Fork Creek. Being somewhere between 4,000-5,000 feet in elevation, the “fog” here is more aptly clouds after a storm swept through.
I’ve been going through many older images… and wondering why I’ve never posted some of them. Boone Fork is always a favorite place, especially when fog is present… to me, it adds a layer of beauty to the image and makes one wonder what’s seemingly out of reach. Though it can be accessed from many points of the Tanawha Trail, the best access point here is the Boone Fork Parking Area at Milepost 299.9 along the Blue Ridge Parkway… and the only way to truly hike the creek is by getting your feet wet.
The creek is situated between two steep rises in the Grandfather Mountain Highlands… the best way to hike it is by getting your feet wet. The creek bed consists of huge rocks that have tumbled from those rises throughout the millennia. The creek, which originates from the top of Grandfather Mountain, finds a path of least resistance through those rocks, often by little drops such as this one. With some of the purest and clearest water anywhere in these mountains, the air here is also is quite clean, particularly after the passage of thunderstorms. Though often I’m busy with the camera, I take the time to just soak in the natural beauty here… it is a place of reverie!
I’m getting prepared to get out to the mountains soon for some winter photography… some in my circle here in Durham don’t much understand that. This image is from the fall of 2015 at Boone Fork Creek. I was pretty upbeat this day, though there were some who questioned my sanity on getting out to photograph in the clouds that had dropped over the highlands. As you can see, it was a perfect day to translate nature’s beauty through photography. No, it’s not the sunshiny day many would go for… but they’re missing out. My photographer buddies in the mountains know better and can find beauty where you least expect it.
That same understanding comes to the forefront this time of year, though with regard to everything in our lives, not just photography. It seems many choose not to look for beauty in this world for one reason or another, especially with concern to a post-Christian culture. Ecclesiastes 3:11 points out something pretty extraordinary, however, with that as a concern: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Perhaps it's time to tap into that "eternity" to see this world the way God does... chances are you will find beauty where you least expect it. Go be beautiful!
One More...Autumn Anticipation Avery County, Western North Carolina Accessed via the Blue Ridge Parkway (mp 303.7) Date Taken: October 13, 2010 ...
Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Grandfather Mountain State Park!
Most notably Michael Kight.