Rest, relaxation - and new Nantahala Mountains prints!

Oct 19, 2022

Autumn Flow

The fall foliage in the Nantahala Mountains was at peak when my wife and I arrived, so I just had to shoot a few photos. This was taken along the Nantahala River on our final day at the campground.

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North Carolina mountains were dressed in peak autumn colors

My wife has been demanding I take a vacation — a real vacation, during which I left my camera gear in the truck and just relaxed and recharged. It's been years since I've done that, and I made a promise that when we headed into the Nantahala Mountains last week I wouldn't worry with creating any new prints.

I almost kept that promise.

We drove out of Franklin, N.C., and headed up to Standing Indian Campground in the beautiful Nantahala National Forest to find the autumn colors were at absolute peak. The fall colors were the best I've ever seen in the Appalachians, with gold, orange and even red leaves everywhere we looked.

So I cheated a little.

While I didn't get out for a single sunrise or sunset during our four-day stay, I did shoulder my pack and create a few new prints around the campground — and when we drove to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a rainy final day I jumped at the chance to shoot photos of a bull elk bugling on the side of the road out of Cherokee, N.C.

I still have a couple of prints to work up, but you can see the newest additions to my gallery by clicking here!

However, I still spent most of my time relaxing around the campsite, hiking with my wife and just chilling out. It was one of the best week's I've had in a while.

I'm just thankful for a wife who will push me to relax.

Now I'm ready for the fall changeover in the swamps to begin!

Autumn Approach

One of our first stops was at the amazing Whitewater Falls, which featured the first hints of autumn colors around its 411-foot cascade. This was the first indication that we were in for a treat!

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