We escaped to the cloudy, foggy, misty, rainy, sunny, warm, and cool North Carolina mountains this weekend with friends.
On Saturday it was one of those days where if you didn’t like the current weather you need only wait a while or drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway a few miles for it to change, often drastically. The day began early with a mountain vigil for a sunrise which never broke through the clouds…still some nice blue mountain peaks and low cloud photos were to be had, which I may post a sample of sometime later.
Between the fog, where you could barely see beyond the front of you car, and the poring rain, which made any speed seem too fast, there were some beautiful broken clouded skies and bright sunshine.
The autumn colors were nice but patchy. In some spots they seemed to be just a few days from peak while at others still wore their coats of solid green of summer. Each turn in the road made for a surprise what might lie beyond.
Perhaps it was the altitude, certain facing locations or ridge lines but I couldn’t put together any particular pattern for why one area was dressed in yellow, orange and red and a few miles down the road it was still a deep solid green. The rain did make what foliage colors there were seem darker and more vibrant.
Even with the weather factor…and perhaps in part because of it, if you prescribe to the “glass half full” view of life, a nice time was had. Saturday evening was filled with great food and good conversation — what’s a little weather. :-)
Looking good, Earl. I’ll be heading up that way in about 2 weeks, when Debra gets into town. I’m hoping that the color will still be there or will be at its peak!
Thanks, Paul. I hope you hit the peak colors. It was nice this weekend but still lots of green. One good thing about the weather and earlier visit was there wasn’t a lot of traffic and sightseers…which is the way I like it! :-)
A fine series. That first “road” shot is gorgeous for its colors and very strong appeal. I like all the shots that look very good despite the varied weather. Nice post.
Hi Don, thanks! The rain provided a natural bump in the color saturation and on a couple of them I gave a slight saturation and contrast nudge as well.
Even with the rain and clouds, the colors are still great!
Steve, thanks. With the leaves being wet when the sun did make an appearance it made a big difference in how bright they looked. k
I like the patchy nature of the colors this time of year, it seems to give a good contrast and a reminder of what’s to come next. Looks like a great road trip.
Ken, I like it patchy as well…with some shades of green among the orange/red/yellow of autumn.
Thanks, it was!
Sounds like a wonderful weekend, Earl. We can’t take those for granted, gotta appreciate them. Sounds like your fall is off to a nice start!
Hi Eric, It was a nice autumn mountain weekend…perhaps the only one we’ll get this fall season. Our first grandchild is due in a few weeks so we’ll be staying close to home in October. :-)
Nice collection Earl, all things considered. You got your camera out a little more than I did, I think! :)
Thanks, Tom. Perhaps, but I felt if I didn’t get some mountain autumn color photographs on this trip there wouldn’t be another chance in 2012 — since we’re now on “baby watch.” :-)
Based on these images, I think you had nearly perfect weather, Earl. Nothing like clouds and atmospheric disarray to spice up a photograph! I especially like the second to last one with the ominous cloud deck.
With any luck at all I’ll be coming through that area in about a week. We were coming home on a more northern route but switched to I-40 instead (and then up I-81). I’ll probably head up onto the Parkway near Roanoke. If I’m lucky, maybe there’ll be even more color.
Hi Paul, thanks. I hope you find some good autumn colors when you come through Roanoke.
Hopefully you won’t be on the Parkway during a weekend — leaf spotters are already getting pretty crazy on the BRP and it will probably be worst in a week’s time.
Can’t get any better than time in the mountains and with friends. My favorites and 5 and 1. I spent some time looking back over images I took at Blendon Woods Metro Park while living in Ohio. I was missing the variety of fall colors from those forests and then you post these images. Thanks!
Monte, your right, it’s aways good when you can share times like this. Thanks!
I am actually a little surprised to see that much color down there by now. Nice shots – I particularly like the one with the rock face. Color here is really kicking in now, and with freezing temps coming this weekend, it is bound to really kick into high gear.
The rain was a natural color saturation enhancer and as I say the amount of color was very spotty…some areas were still totally green, but of course they didn’t rate a photograph. :-) Thanks, Mark.