Smoky Mountain National Park

We just got back from Smoky Mountain National Park. It was a great week. I did get some time with the camera - here are a few of the shots.

Nice little series there, especially like the long exposure water flow and mr grasshopper on the red leaves

Ryan, those look good, but are too small to fully appreciate. You can post 800 pixels wide.

The falls were fairly impressive. Unfortunately it has been pretty dry in that area of the country, so many of them did not have a great flow. A little color was starting (as shown in the grasshopper shot), it looks like it could be a good year for color.

We'll be there from 10/15 to 10/22.

Nice series of shots. Wish they were a little bigger, tho.

Question: I noticed you didn't post anything with fall colors in it. A little too early, I suppose. Did you see any colors when there, even if just spotty?

Not much in the way of color right now. It is still a little early for this part of the country. Sparker1 should hit it pretty good in mid Oct.

Here is a shot showing the extent of color.

Anybody going there should be sure to do a sunrise at Newfound Gap! On any given weekend morning, especially during the Fall, you can see 50 if not more photographers lined up, shoulder-to-shoulder on the edge of the parking lot, with tripods in the ready shooting the sunrise. It has got to be one of the most "shot" sunrise locations in America. It's almost funny to watch.

Edit: and for evening entertainment, sunset at Clingman's Dome. Perhaps even more people. (Within spitting distance of Newfound Gap).

Newfound gap is definitely a must - if for no other reason than to see the photographers. I actually did not setup there this trip. I did hand-hold a few shots, but most were off the road on hiking trails.

I did get quite a few from Clingmans Dome. I did a hand-held panorama from the top - not the best exposed (I did not take a reading on the right side), but not bad for hand-held.

rdricks wrote in post #6422205
Newfound gap is definitely a must - if for no other reason than to see the photographers. I actually did not setup there this trip. I did hand-hold a few shots, but most were off the road on hiking trails.

I did get quite a few from Clingmans Dome. I did a hand-held panorama from the top - not the best exposed (I did not take a reading on the right side), but not bad for hand-held.

(A little small) but no, definitely not bad for hand-held. Man, oh man, oh man. Look at all them dead trees! Hemlocks?

There is something in the park. There was a greater concentration of dead trees than I have ever seen there. Made for a few interesting shots, but I hated seeing that.

CannedHeat wrote in post #6417519
Edit: and for evening entertainment, sunset at Clingman's Dome. Perhaps even more people. (Within spitting distance of Newfound Gap).

An even better place for sunsets is a pull off just before you get to Newfound Gap called Morton Overlook. There's a sign for it on the north side of the overlook. It'll be harder for you to see if you heading south towards Newfound Gap, but if your coming from the Oconaluftee, its really easy to see. I believe it's the second to last overlook before you get to Newfound Gap (assuming your coming from Sugarlands or Gatlinburg). It actually should be pretty easy to find... there will be lots of people on tripods setting up starting about an hour before sunset.

What makes it such a good place and a popular place is that your composition can include the Chimney Tops and Balsam Point if you go wide or you can go telephoto on any of those landmarks. The valley between them can also be a good composition too.

CannedHeat wrote in post #6429123
(A little small) but no, definitely not bad for hand-held. Man, oh man, oh man. Look at all them dead trees! Hemlocks?

Actually most of Clingmans Dome is Fraser Fir. Many of them are dead because of the Balsam woolly adelgid.

rdricks wrote in post #6406351
We just got back from Smoky Mountain National Park. It was a great week. I did get some time with the camera - here are a few of the shots.

Guess I'll be waiting for a day after we get a good rain to head up to Mingo Falls then. I am wanting to go there when the fall colors are peak there, but would like to have the waterfall a little more fuller than that.

Mingo definitely could have used more water. My favorite shots of Mingo were the closeups, like the one below. It has just been too dry - most of the creeks were running pretty low, if not dry.

We've started getting some rain a few hours North, hopefully it will hit that area too.