Crowders in Color

The fall color seems to just keep hanging around at Crowders Mountain, even when most of Gaston County has already dropped it's leaves. I was driving down Linwood Road on Wednesday between assignments and I had to pull over and take this picture. 

I keep wanting to get out and enjoy the picture possibilities while it lasts, but things keep coming up on my days off. Crossing my fingers for Thursday.

Fall Waterfalls

Linville Falls on October 23, 2012.

I've been suffering from a bit of nature deficit disorder as of late, so over the past few weeks I set out to remedy the situation with some hiking around the North Carolina mountains.

I re-connected with an old hobby of mine, namely photographing waterfalls and chasing fall foliage color. All the places I went to were favorite spots of mine, but it's been a while since I've payed them a visit. It was like meeting an old friend I hadn't seen in years. 

Incidentally, I also did in fact meet an old friend I hadn't seen in years. One of my roommates from Brevard College was out fly fishing below Tripple Falls and we met up afterwards in Brevard to catch up.  

Despite going to school in the area for four years, there are still a lot of trails I haven't ridden, falls I havent photographed and rocks I haven't climbed. 

My next trip will probably be with a bike rather than a camera, but I have some plans in the works to explore some of the more remote areas that aren't as over-loved as the falls pictured here. The next waterfall photos I post may be of Windy Falls on the Horsepasture. Stay tuned.

Hooker falls in DuPont State Forest on Monday October 29, 2012. 

Lower part of High Shoals Falls in South Mountains State Park on Thursday October 25, 2012. 

The middle drop of Triple Falls in DuPont State Forest, above and below, on Monday October 29, 2012. 

From the Archives

A small cascade at Mount Mitchell State Park. Taken summer of 2007. 

I decided this week, for the first time in years, to pull out my light box and rummage through all the slides I shot from the time I was a kid up through college.

I started doing photojournalism, even if I didn't realize at the time, in the 7th grade while shooting for the middle school newspaper, but for most of my life nature photography was my world.

I was struck by how lousy most of my work from college was. I think a pivotal moment in my development as a photographer was my senior year in college, in summer of 2007 to be exact.

I had been doing photography since childhood, and always thought I was good at it. But after largely ignoring my camera in favor of new pursuits like rock climbing, fencing and a social life, I picked the camera back up my senior year only to find that I wasn't as good as I thought I was.

And it made me mad, even embarrassed.

In my state of humility I decided to get serous about my passion and start honing my skills and learning how to see.

If I can look back 5-10 years ago and see such a huge difference, I wonder what I'll think five years down the line when I look back at the work I'm doing now?

I'm hoping the best is yet to come. =)

Sunset over Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains, summer of 2007. 

Exploring an abandoned mine shaft into the side of Crowders Mountain. 2008. 

Sunset at Jockey's Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks.

Red

Just a little fall color I found the other day.

Fall Colors

Fall color in it's peak at Crowders Mountain State Park on Monday November 15, 2010.

Lunar Halo

The steeples of the Belmont Abbey Basilica point towards the moon surrounded by a 22 degree halo, an optical phenomena caused when light from the sun or moon refracts through hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, the early hours of Sunday October 24, 2010.

Orchid Cactus

A flower of the 'Epiphyllum oxypetalum,' commonly known by names such as orchid cactus, dutchman's pipe, or Night Queen, at the home of Hilda Olive on Saturday October 16, 2010. The species of cactus native to Sri Lanka commonly grows in trees and rarely blooms, and only at night, with flowers wilting before dawn.

Catawba Falls

Catawba falls near Old Fort, NC has just recently become (legally) accessible to the public. It was only a few miles out of my way so I had to check it out. 

For some years, people have known about several scenic waterfalls located on the headwaters of the Catawba River in Pisgah National forest just outside the town of Old Fort.

The falls, including pictures, are featured in the popular waterfall hunter's bible North Carolina Waterfalls: A Hiking and Photography Guide by photographer Kevin Adams and people have been going there for years.

And why shouldn't they? The falls are on public National Forest land.

Unfortunately, while the falls are public, the trail crosses several dozen yards of private property between the parking area at the dead end of a road and the National Forest boundary. According to Adams' book, owners of the land haven't been friendly to visitors over the years.

Recent news articles have reported that public access to the area has been permanently secured, which is great news to hikers and waterfall lovers like me.

I read about the new access just a week before a trip to Brevard to visit some college friends -- a trip that takes me straight through Old Fort on I-40 -- so I didn't think twice about making the short detour.

I wasn't disappointed.

In fact, I think this area deserves a second visit (or third, fourth...) on my future trips to Western North Carolina. I only scratched the surface of the photographic possibilities of this area before it got dark on me.