Day three of our adventures begins with a drive to the top of the mountains.  For the Smoky Mountains, that would be Clingman’s Dome.  The drive was uneventful, but once we got there we realized that we should have gotten up earlier because the sunlight was very harsh and the colors were all washed out for photos.  And on top of that, it seems that the peek colors were already gone from the upper elevations and most of the leaves have left for the season.  But even at that, the magnificence of the mountains can still be seen as the appear to stretch on forever in the distance.

On our way down from the dome, we stopped at the Newfound Gap overlook to see if maybe the sun was at a better position on this spot.  It was a little better, but still not great.  Nothing like shooting landscapes with the sun directly in front of you.

With our summit pictures blown, we decided to stop at the Laruel Falls on the LIttle River Road.  A relatively short hike at 2.5 miles round trip, but it’s never the distance that kills you around here, it’s the elevations.  Also, I think they measure these trails as a straight line, but in reality, they twist and turn more than a bowl full of spaghetti!

That said, the trail was beautiful and presented many opportunities for enjoying the colors here at the lower elevation.  Down a couple of thousand feet from the summit, the colors are still flourishing.

 

 

Finally arriving at the falls, it’s time for the typical long-shutter-blur-the-water picture that everyone has come to expect.  Little does the viewer know just how difficult it is to get a shot like then when there are dozens of people walking around getting in your shot every 5 seconds.  It takes a lot of patience when at a public waterfall, especially when the trail leading to it is listed as “easy”.

 

With that done, it’s time to head back to town, stop at Pizza Hut and head back to the cabin to download the pictures and recharge for tomorrow.  Cade’s Cove in on the agenda so it will be an early morning!

For day 2, it is up and across the border into North Carolina and the Cataloochee Valley.  There is a herd of elk over there and we’ve been wanting to see elk since our trip last year to Wyoming.  This visit did not disappoint.  We had a few more photo opportunities on this day than our previous.

First stop of the day was the visitors center soon after we cross the border.  They have done a very good job at making their state feel welcoming with a nice splash of autumn colors in their park.

Next stop was an overlook on the road leading into the Cataloochee Valley.  Again, another nice opportunity for viewing the beautiful colors of the season.

Once down the twisty road (do they have any other kind in this part of the country?) we get into the heart of the Cataloochee Valley.  We come across the Chapel that had been used by the early settlers in this area for their worshiping of God.

Once in the valley, we realized it was too late for the morning exercises of the elk, so we spent the early afternoon simply taking pictures of the mountains and a short walk into the woods where we found this small brook.

 

Finally, like clockwork, the elk reappeared in the early evening and began frolicking around the fields.  Karen had wanted to hear an elk bugling badly ever since we didn’t get to see any in Wyoming.  This trip satisfied this hunger as we heard the elk sounding off numerous times.  This picture was taken shortly after he had sounded and was chasing one of the “ladies” around the field.

  

Our next stop was the Blue Mountain Parkway to get some sunset shots over the Smoky Mountains.  The overcast day began to break apart in time for sunset, and the clouds made for a magnificent pallet of colors to be displayed!

 

As the time progressed, the sky seemed to come alive with fire as the mountains grew dark.

 

It was about this time that Karen and I realized that it was now dark, and we were on the wrong side of the mountain!  I now had to drive back across the mountain, about 80 miles in the dark on 25mph roads.  Needless to say, it took about 2 and a half hours of very tense driving but we made it back safely by the grace of God.  And as a bonus, we actually did get to see our first bear on our way home.  In fact, he was almost a hood ornament.  🙂  As we were coming through the park, I rounded a curve and my headlights shone on something dark, moving quickly to the side of the road.  As I stopped quickly, we could see this little black bear scurrying up the hill to the side of the road!  Of course, with his sudden appearance and disappearance, and of course the darkness, we have no photographic evidence to support this story, but that’s what happened and I’m sticking to that!  🙂

After two days traveling to get here, we take it easy and do some driving around and a short hike to Grotto Falls off of the Roaring Fork Motor Trail.  It’s only 2.7mile hike, but I thought it was going to kill me.  I’ve really got to get in shape before we do another one of these trips.

We head out and see that there is definitely some color here.

We get to the falls and take a few requisite shots with slow shutter to stream the water…

 

And as we are hiking back out of the woods, we stop to behold the wonder of the changing colors of the season. 

 

Then it’s off to Pizza Hut in Townsend for pizza to go back to the cabin!  The first of many pizzas to come on this trip.  🙂