Rich Rings Photography

Each year I go to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) in Tennessee/North Carolina in the Spring and Fall. The workshops are held at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (GSMIT) and have been taught for years by a fantastic group of photographer instructors.

This year I decided to take some extra time off work and not only spend 4 days in the GSMNP but also drive the entire Blue Ridge Parkway from north to south.

Seven hours in the car to get to Waynesboro, VA and my starting point at the North end of the parkway. First morning was spent at basically the first East facing overlook on the parkway. While the sunrise wasn’t really all that special my adventure was ready to begin!

Unfortunately, as the sun came up and I made my way down the Parkway I realized I was just a week or two late to see “peak” color. This was especially true as I climbed into the higher elevations. On top of the lack of colors, I was dealing with quite heavy traffic on the Parkway. Lots of people had the same idea as me I guess.

So I spent most of my time the first 4 days of the trip driving from one hotel to the other along the 469 mile Parkway hoping for a good sunrise each morning, good sunsets and/or some fog to get good conditions for photography. I did take a few side trips off the Parkway to see waterfalls in NC like Linville Falls above and Looking Glass Falls. I spent two nights in Asheville, NC and things started looking up as I finally got some good light for a sunrise and some serious fog on Halloween for the drive into GSMNP. I’ll Follow up on the second half of the trip in the next post.