Trip Report - Great Smoky Mountains

storl

storl

Joined
Apr 17, 2007
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I spent a soaking wet week with my girl in the Smokies a couple of weeks back. It rained literally every day, and rained the entire hike on a couple of the hikes we went on. We were going to backpack a couple of the days, but I wussed out since I messed my ankle up on the AT. We still had fun, since it was a week away from work in the woods, but at least one day with no rain would have been nice.

I am pretty disappointed with the pics I took. I tried not to get my camera too soaked, so I did not take as many pics as I normally do. I know, bad excuse.

Here is the view from the top of Chimney Tops. Pretty much all of our views from the week looked like this:

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We hiked on a couple of relatively unused trails, so the trails were covered with all kinds of undisturbed fruits and flowers. There were fields full of tiger lilies.

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This is part of the AT that is pretty indicative of our hikes. Yes, water is completely covering the trail. No, my lens was not fogged. That was real fog in the air. :)

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I wish I had spent some more time with this next shot, and had grabbed some more shots from different perspectives. Clouds swallowing half a mountain that I was about to hike up was pretty incredible to see.

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These guys were across the river from our campsite one morning. I wanted to make them breakfast, but I am guessing the park rangers in view of my site and the other campers would not have appreciated that.

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I love hiking up and down rivers and falls, so one day was spent exploring Laurel Falls. The trail is paved and there are crazy amounts of people going down to the falls, but once you start hiking down the falls, you can find complete solitude. In the times I have hiked down a decent distance, I have never seen another person, other than the people I was with. I am glad that everyone else doesn't have the constant urge to explore like I do.

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I put some pics of some berries I could not identify up at my site. I know you guys know a lot more about edible plants than me, so maybe you can help.
 
Here are a couple of pics that I was messing with in my photo editing software:

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One of these days, I will take the time to learn how to actually use that program. :)
 
AWESOME!!!! Thanks for sharing! You sparked many memories...

When I was growing up, my family would travel to Gatlinburg, TN at least once a year, sometimes twice a year, for a vacation. Sometimes we'd meet family friends from WV there. Traveling to Gburg was the standard until I graduated from high school. As a family, we didn't do any hard-core hiking of backpacking. My parents weren't into that sort of thing, and I picked it up when I was in college. Anyhow, we'd drive to locations, and do little hikes. It was always fun, and I can't say I've never had a bad time inthe Smokies.

When i was in high school and college, I longed for the days when I could travel back to the Smokies and camp, hike, and travel around on my own terms. I have yet to realize that dream.

The last time I was through the Gburg/Pigeaon Forge area, the traffic was absolutely HORRENDOUS! If/when I return to the Smokies, I'll probably stay somewhere else.
 
We stayed in the park, so traffic was not bad, but you still have to worry about the grandpa trains (slow moving cars) on the winding mountain roads.

We did go into Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge for showers (and fudge) a couple of times. The traffic was not too bad, but it was during the week, so I am sure that was a big factor. I try to avoid Pigeon Forge, since that is the opposite of why I go to the Smokies. Gatlinburg still has some nice parts and great restaurants (and fudge), but it is getting worse and worse every year.
 
Beautiful lush greens. Reminds me of Fugji Velvia slide film that always tweaked that lush green colour. What camera are you using?

I definitely have a weak spot for the moist/foggy softer tones coupled with lush green vegetation. You've captured that wonderfully! Great macro shots of the tiger lilies. Also great job on the deer. Not always easy to get deer on film. Looks like they are on the move too!
 
Thanks for the compliments. :) I was actually pretty unhappy with the pics.

Camera was a Pentax K10D with the kit lens and a 50-200 lens. No filters or anything like that.

The color was not tweaked in the first post, but I messed with the shadows, color, and exposure in the second post.
 
storl said:
These guys were across the river from our campsite one morning. I wanted to make them breakfast, but I am guessing the park rangers in view of my site and the other campers would not have appreciated that.

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Click to expand...

I am sure the deer would have appreciated bacon and eggs.
 
Awesome pics, did ya know the bulbs on those Tiger Lilys are edible and don't actually taste too bad !!!
 
I just made the drive from TX to MA about 3 weeks ago, and I loved the portion of the drive that was in TN...it is one really pretty state. I wondered about the camping there..thanks for the pics. Gene
 
Hi. I see that your companion is carrying what appears to be a North Face Flight Series backpack. What model is it? How is it?
 
Beautiful pics. My wife & I hiked the Chimney Tops on our honeymoon. It's a lot of elevation gain for only 2 miles, but the view from the top is worth it.
 
Nice pictures. It has been a while since I was in the Smokies. The rain is part of the package - you don't get all that green from dry weather.
 
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