The Blue Ridge Parkway

Amy and I just returned from a week long vacation that involved a drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way to our ultimate destination of Andersonville, Georgia to visit Amy’s parents.  This week’s blog will cover the 2 days of traveling spent on the parkway.  Day one was Saturday October 18 and we spent that day traversing the northernmost part of the blue ridge known as the Skyline Drive which is entirely enclosed in the Shenandoah National Park.  We spent the night in Front Royal, Va. just outside of the north entrance to the park. 

We began the trip in the dark with hopes of catching sunrise at one of the numerous overlooks along the drive.  I’ve played around with the image chosen to represent the many I took of the sunrise and decided to go ahead and use an HDR version of the image.  I tend to shy away from HDR because it tends to make images too surreal and this particular image is on the borderline of being too much, but I’ll let you decide.  I also couldn’t decide whether or not to make this the featured image or not.

As we continued our drive the sky was a mix of clouds and sun and the clouds gradually took over more of the sky as the day progressed.  This did, however, lend itself to some rather dramatic skies but did not give the foliage that extra pop that only bright sun can do.  If one were to stop and spend just 5 minutes at each overlook, the drive would end up taking all week so we chose to “over look some of the overlooks”.  Also, as you can imagine, the views from these overlooks were spectacular and the foliage along most of the drive was at or near peak.  Picking and choosing when to stop and get out to take pictures was often driven by the number of people already at a given overlook.

We stopped to take a hike at milepost 50 that encompassed a 4.5-mile looping hike.  We started at the trailhead for Dark Hollow Falls and continued beyond the falls to the Rose River Loop Trail that includes Rose River falls.  This hike along the forest streams lent itself to numerous opportunities to photograph moving water.   I enjoy this type of photography and am always looking for the perfect composition of the surrounding forest and the river or stream.  None of my shots really left me with the feeling that I had something special but I’ve including a couple in this posting for you to enjoy. 

During this part of our hike I did have a chance to experience the goodness in people.  I use a camera strap from BlackRapid that is very comfortable for walking around with camera ready.  One of the unique features of this camera strap is that it attaches to the bottom of the camera in the tripod mount hole.  This means, however, that you must remove the strap in order to mount the camera on the tripod.  When we began the looping part of the trail I decided to leave the camera on the tripod and carry it down stream, as I knew I would make several stops along the way to attempt to get that forest stream shot I was after.  About a third of the way around the loop I realized I had left my strap behind.  We decided to keep going and hope to find it when we completed the loop.  As we approached the spot where I was certain I had left the strap, it was hanging from a trail

sign waiting for my return.

After our hike we had lunch at the Byrd Visitor Center and then resumed our drive to Charlottesville.  The late afternoon skies were mostly overcast and only occasionally did the sun peek through the clouds and brighten up the foliage.  We continued to make stops along the way and enjoy the scenery.  Once in Charlottesville we checked into our hotel and walked across the street to a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Before resuming our drive down the parkway on Sunday, we spent the morning touring Monticello (see last week’s blog).  During our afternoon drive from Charlottesville to the Meadows of Dan, where we would spend two nights enjoying the area, the sun was bright and the skies were clear.  This made for much more vibrant colors in the photographs and gave us the opportunity to take in many spectacular views from the numerous overlooks along the way.  

As we approached our destination for the day the sun began to set and, like the sunrise picture from the first day, it was only appropriate to capture sunset on the second day. 

We arrived at the Woodberry Inn shortly after sunset to check in.  Once we settled into our room we walked back to the main building of the Inn for a late dinner and some relaxation. 

To see more pictures from the trip you can visit this album on flickr.