Roaring Fork Loop through the Smokies

Today we drove on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail through the Smokies. This was the one section of the park I'd yet to visit (with the exception of driving through to the North Carolina entrance which my parents did before I arrived and didn't want to repeat). The loop actually starts in Gatlinburg, but winds beautifully through a chunk of the northern part of the National Park. There were several buildings, but the main focus of the day was on the scenery, unlike Cades Cove that really focused on the buildings. So the pictures below are mainly flowers and other scenery.

While we were hiking up to Grotto Falls I happened to look down and see this tiny evergreen branch laying next to a rock. It looked like an interesting tableau, so I grabbed a few shots from different angles. I think that this was the one that turned out the best. I wish that there had been a bit more color, or richer tones in the shot...but I think it still turned out well. The only thing that I moved was the angle of the camera.

I don't know what leaves made these shadows, but they were on the former lands of the Ogle farm, one of the first stops along the loop today. My dad and I hiked the entire loop through the farm, but my mom stayed back because the first part (actually the last since we accidentally went backwards) was pretty muddy. But this trail was a great place for photos, including some great flower shots.

My dad pointed out this flower, but I had fun with the angle. I think that the shadow and the green leaves lend some interesting points to the scene. I wish that the flower had been a bit more lively, but at least the color is still intact, ;-).






I have some more purple flowers, but for the sake of variety here is a white one. I have another version of this shot that focuses in on the fern you can seen in the background, but I don't think that it works as well as this one. I like the blurry background and how you can barely see the other green there, but at least it is there. I'm not sure if I took this horizontally or vertically...but I think that it could work as either. I'm leaning towards trying it as a background on my computer.







The last picture from our first stop is some fungi found on a log. I took several pictures after my dad pointed them out, but this was the first and honestly the best (unless I crop some of the others down). The lines are pretty cool, looking somewhat like tree rings. There were literally dozens upon dozens of these things growing on several different logs in the vicinity.



This shot was taken against the background of a crumbling stump, just visible as the red coloring behind the green plants. I don't know why, but again I like the first shot of this series over all of the other ones that I took in case this one didn't turn out. I find it slightly frustrating that a shot can look great on the tiny LCD screen and you don't realize the flaw until it is displayed on the computer. But, at least it is better than not even having a clue until you paid for the film to be developed!

We'll be at a state park campground tomorrow night, so I'm sure that I won't have internet access. I should remember to come back here once I get home, but that won't likely be until sometime Sunday. I'll be home on Saturday but will be busy that evening. I don't even know yet if I'm working on Sunday or not... As always, thanks for reading, and please leave a comment if you like what you read or the pictures that you see. Thanks!

~Matt