Day Trip

On our long weekend getaway to SV/PF/GB we took an afternoon trip to Clingman's Dome. The last time we were there Emily was in a stroller and I carried Elizabeth up the mountain on my shoulders. 

We made a slight detour on the way through Sevierville to stop at the New Salem Baptist Church. I saw an article last week about the restoration effort, so I figured it needed it's picture taken. According to the sign out front: it was built in 1886 by African-American brick-mason Isaac Dockery, and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's the oldest remaining building in Sevierville and the second oldest church in the county. The church was built in 1886 for the local black community and remains Dockery’s most significant building. The Gothic Revival-style church was originally constructed as a Union church, which welcomed all religious denominations.

 

New Salem Baptist Church 6449 Henry Town Rd

Did I mention is was wicked hot in Sevierville when we left? The temp dropped from 93 in Gatlinburg to 63 when we got to the parking lot on top of the mountain ... 30 wonderful degrees. Aside from the views of the mountains, the most striking aspect of the area is all the dead fir trees. Imported beetle bugs are killing them. The grey-white trunks are striking against the greens and blues and browns.

Dead fir trees half-way up the mountain.

We finished the trek up the hill to the Dome. It was cool and breezy which felt great after the past few days of 90+ heat in the valley. We watched a rainstorm blow across the valley. The girls took some iPhone panoramas. I took this pic on the way down. See the guy in blue at the bottom of the ramp? He must have thought I was taking his picture ... he stopped, smiled, and held the pose until I moved ...xcllnt.

Clingman's Dome

We got back to the camper just in time for this post-rain-storm sunset reflection on the river. The clouds were moving pretty fast and the river was perfectly calm, so I knew this shot wasn't going to last very long ... I quickly set up, framed the shot, and just as I went to click the shutter ... a large couple in an inflatable raft came paddling (more like waddling) up the river, right through the center of the reflection. Son of a ...

I waited as long as I could for the water to settle down but the color was changing and the clouds were starting to cover the sun, so I took this one which has a lovely crease in the center of the reflection ... oh bother.

Pigeon River sunset

Laurel Fork

I keep reading posts saying that the rhododendron along the parkway are in bloom. I really want to get back to Upper Dennis Cove falls when the rhododendron are in full bloom. I made another trip back to the cove Sunday afternoon to check on the progress ... and ... nothing. The rhododendron are just now putting out new leaves, there are a few flower buds, but no flowers.

I walked in to the first creek crossing and came back, the creeks still a bit high, and cold, and I didn't feel like wading across if the blooms are still weeks away.  I took this picture on the way out.

It's a  noisy cascade about a 100 yards downstream from the crossing, down a side trail made by the folk what fish for trouts. It was bright and sunny everywhere except down in this little corner, and I got lucky that the one cloud in the sky covered the sun for the couple of minutes I needed to take the picture. The water is not very clear right now, it's not muddy, just has a rusty tint to it.

Linville Falls - Part Deux

Taken from a big rock in middle of the river down in
the gorge. Most definitely the best angle for a picture.

When my youngest and I were at Linville falls several weeks back we ventured onto every trail except the one that went down in the gorge below the falls. So I went back this past weekend with a hiking-partner-in-crime and we went rumblin, stumblin, bumblin down the trail to the river.

The first half of the trail was uphill and reasonably well maintained, the second half was downhill and quite dodgy, mostly roots and rocks and mud. Its not a trail I would advise taking if it were wet, just too many slick rocks and steep, muddy sections to be safely lugging around a tripod and a back full of camera gear.

It was well worth the effort to get down there for the views. Most definitely the best view of the falls. The laurel along the trail was blooming and a few painted trillium were still in bloom. The trees were leafing out so they had that nice lime green thing going on.

We wandered around for about an hour, snapping a bunch of pictures, trying not to think about the inevitable scramble back up the mountain. The trip back up wasn't as bad as I figured. We stopped a lot, lamented the lack of beverages, got off-trail only once, lamented the lack of snack foods, and eventually clambered back to the top

,

3-shot panorama taken from a rock in the river.

We skipped the plunge basin overlook because there were no beverages or snacks there either.

It was Good Friday and I figured I need to do something 'spiritual'. I had read this quote earlier in the morning "Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection ... in every leaf in springtime." so I decided to go take a walk through the woods and find some new things that needed their picture taken. 


We had a big rain event the previous evening so I knew all the creeks in our area would be running way above normal, so I needed a walk that would not require any creek crossings.The Margarette (Marguerite) Falls trail in Greeneville got some serious trail love a few years ago and all but one of the creek crossings are now gone, The trail was rerouted in two sections, a bridge was added, and several stone staircases have been added to make it a very enjoyable hike. There is only one muddy, slick, steep spot left on the trail.

I almost turned around when I crossed the bridge over the Nolichuckey river, it was way up and way muddy. Muddy water don't make pretty waterfall pictures, do they precious? I kept going, waiting to make the final decision to go or go home when I got to Clark's Creek, it was still running clear ... excellent.


It's getting near the end of spring wildflower season, but I was still hoping for some late-bloomers. I wasn't disappointed. This clump of foamflower was tucked in behind some rocks along the creek. The picture is not quite a sharps as I'd like as there as constant breeze blowing them and I didn't have enough stuff with me to block it.

Foamflower

It was just by chance that I spotted this pair of red and white trillium just above eye level along the trail. The wind was blowing them around pretty good so getting a sharp shot of them was an lot of trial and effort.

Red and white trillium

Now this part of walk was cool, the creek was running really full so there was a constant roar of water until I rounded a bend in the trail and I heard what I swore was a small child laughing. This is a well traveled trail so there are almost always folk walking and playing in the creek. The trail at this point is about 25 feet above the creek, so I was looking for a the source of the laughter but found no one there. Hmmm. I couldn't let it go, so I scampered down to the creek and found this little guy tucked into the rock face that normally doesn't have water flowing over it. The additional flow of water over that small shelf made the gurgling that sounds like a child's laugh. I took a stick and poked it in several places above the small shelf and changed the tone ... big fun.

The Gurgler.

The main attraction. There's plenty of places to rest, picnic, and take pictures. The flow of water over the falls was excellent, the noise level was high and constant, and the consistent breeze made for waves of over-spray and kept the laurel leaves moving, both are bad if you want tack-sharp pictures. So you learn to take what you're offered and enjoy it.

Margarette Falls (aka Marguerite Falls)

You ever get that creepy feeling that you're being watched? Being in a place where there the ambient noise of the waterfall is all you can hear just makes it worse. I was zooming and panning around the face of the waterfall and found the shape of  hooded druid watcher person... I kept subconsciously seeing that shape in the pictures, but not when I looked at the falls. Stephen King would be proud.

The Watcher.

More Rocky Fork

We saw several groups of ferns in various states of uncurling.

I've been seeing Facebook posts from several local picture-takers talking about how many of the wildflowers in our area are currently in bloom. Not wanting to be left out I took the spousal unit out Sunday afternoon for a walk along the creek in Rocky Fork hoping to see some trillium and bearded iris and all the other yellow, purple and white flowers whose names I don't know.

Rocky Fork creek itself was running as full as I've ever seen it. The falls and riffles were rolling loud so I had high hopes of getting some good brackets ... but ... it started raining before we got halfway up the creek ... oh bother.

I did manage to get three brackets which I ran thru Lightroom 4 and HDR Efex Pro and then cleaned up a bit in CS5.5.

The third best set of falls in Rocky Fork creek.

This is the first time I've seen water flowing over this side of the falls.

A close-up of the falls on the left side of the creek.

Linville Falls

This is the first picture I've processed with Lightroom v4.

This was taken back in late January, on a bright sunny day, from the Chimney View overlook. The lighting was as bad as it can get, midday, sunny, cloudless sky, harsh shadows, etc., etc.. The greenery in the front was completely washed out, the river bottom was in complete shade, and the cliff in the upper right was in full sun, making it a flat lifeless gray.

It was also one of the first pictures taken with my new 18-200 lens at 70mm - f11 - 1/60sec..

At that time I processed it in Lightroom 3 and wasn't happy with the results. I just couldn't get the bluish cast out of the water without it adversely affecting the rest of the picture. I tried using HDR Efex Pro to make a faux-HDR version but that made the waterfall too purple, oh bother.

The new white balance brush in LR4 did the trick, it let me tweak the white balance of just the waterfall without affecting the river. Combine that with three or four gradients and the regular set of tweaks and it's a reasonable result from a challenging picture.

Sinking Springs Cemetary

Why is it that cemetery pictures look best in black and white. This picture of these civil war era headstones was taken in the Sinking Springs Cemetery in downtown Abingdon.

It's a 3-exposure bracket (-2, 0, +2), processed in Lightroom, HDR Efex Pro, and CS5. A bit of extra de-saturation gives it that cemetery 'feel'.

This one intrigued me because it is the marker for Daniel Trigg who was in the Confederate States Navy.