It's been some years, but we stayed in Townsend a couple summer in a row.
It's been some years, but we stayed in Townsend a couple summer in a row.
That's great news.Originally Posted by cdholden
I've been going to the Smokies since 1971 and I still have not seen it all. The photographic possibilities are endless and you can become overwelmed. I try to pick a subject as my main theme and adjust according to circumstances that arise. Townsend is the "Quiet side of the Smokies" and gives quicker access to Cades Cove and the Little River Road area along with the Tremont area. To me the only reason to go the Gatlinburg is to access the Roaring Fork Motor Nature trail, beautiful in the fall but full of utterly stupid tourists. Yes, check out Bill Lea, but he leads the Spring workshop at GSMIT, the fall workshop is led by Will Clay, and both workshops are now mostly about digital photography, but still a well worth it. Cades Cove is great for landscapes but in October it can be bumper to bumper for the entire 11 mile loop, remember those utterly stupid tourists, they are now in the Cove. The middle of the week is the best time for the Cove, be there at dawn and remember Townsend is at least a 30 minute drive to the Cove, late afternoons are also magic. The Tremont road and the Little River Road are great for water, rocks, etc. If it turns clear and sunny, you are screwed, the contrast will kill any shot, when that happens I play tourist and go shopping till late in the day. Don't forget Clingmans Dome, worth the hassle of the crowds just for the view. There are many more areas to explore, Greenbriar, Cosby, plus the NC side. Nye Simmons has a great book on photographing in the Smokies. Google any name I've said for more info. I may see you there, I usually go up sometime in the last 2 weeks of Oct. Good luck, RandyB
Randy,
Lots of great info, thank you. The tourists are why I'm only including one weekend in my travels. Hopefully I can get away from them occasionally. If the weather gets sunnt, it's a good reason to visit the Deardorff factory. It owuld be nice to meet up if chance allows it.
Two things changed for my trip. My wife decided she wanted to come which now makes it a vacation/photography trip which is good as we needed some time away together. I'll still get 3-4 days of pure photography in as my wife says she'll be fine painting or napping or reading a book for a few days. Second change is that to accomodate my wife better I've moved up the date by a couple of days and the trip will go weekend to weekend (or rather, Sunday to Sunday).
I'll be leaving next Sunday on the 14th. I've been looking at fall color reports and even though I picked earlier than average dates, I may miss the peak of the color change at it's already in progress. Ain't that the way it works! Looks like more water and rock shots and some grand landscapes hopefully with a little fog thrown in. I'll take whatever I can get and I just hope I can find my mojo again.
I'm planning to take the side trip to see the Deardorff offices, so that will be fun and maybe poke into the Cherokee National Forest while in that area.
Anyway, I'm really looking foward to the trip and I'll post some shots after I return.
Thanks to everyone who provided suggestions and I have notes to take with me.
I look forward to a report (on this site) of your trip. Hope that it's a great one.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
hey bill i will be heading upthe parkway in about a week
"WOW! Now thats a big camera. By the way, how many megapixels is that thing?"
Thanks, Bill.
Just back from my work/vacation trip to the GSMNP. We stayed 7 nights at the Highland Manor Inn and had a great time. The room was clean, larger than I expected and the staff was very friendly. The space was important, because along with my photo gear (which mostly stayed in the trunk of the car) we also had my wife's watercolor supplies and a large painting she was working on and a telescope, mount and accessories whose cases took up a corner of the room. Unfortunately, we didn't get a single night of clear weather for the astronomy portion of the trip even though we had found a really nice clearing to set up on the Tremont Institute property.
Weather was only partially cooperative. I was looking forward to fog to shoot in, but the only two times it appeared was on the first morning when I wasn't ready and then the morning we had to leave. We also had cloudless blue skies for all but two days and smoke from an Oklahoma fire which hazed up the scenery on Friday (I think). The one early morning I drove to Newfound Gap for sunrise, it was less than hoped for, but film was burned anyway.
The trees were colorful, but in that pallid way that happens a lot lately because of drought, and what peak there was had mostly happened before we arrived. There was still lots of color, but the leaves were dry looking and many had fallen before we had arrived and during a hell of a blow that occurred mid-week. Not complaining, not saying how it was. It's always a crap shoot when you plan a trip during fall.
I have to say that this park is not one of my favorite National Parks. It's large and there is a lot of time (miles and miles) spent driving in the trees with almost no vantage points until you get to Newfound Gap, or on the loop at Cades Cove. We only went to Cades Cove once early on Monday morning as by 11am it had turned into a parking lot. I had expected lots of people, but there were far more than I had anticipated. Once on that 11 mile one-way loop, you're stuck. I did get some first morning scenics and a few shots of Crystal Mill.
Two good areas were along the first few miles (from Townsend) of the Little River Road and my favorite, where I spent most of my time, was along the ~4.5 mile Tremont road that goes to the Institute at Tremont and beyond which had only a few cars divided between fly-fishermen, photographers and hikers on their way to a trail head at the end of the dirt road. It was easy to park at most of the small pull-outs.
I shot about 20 sheets of E6 and about the same of B&W. Not as productive as I had hoped, but it WAS a vacation as well and my wife and I had some nice hikes.
All of the most popular trails were out of the question because of the sheer number of people which kinda hinders the feeling of a "nice hike in the woods". So we stuck to less traveled paths and didn't visit any of the waterfalls. We did visit the viewpoint at Clingman's Dome. I was hoping to visit the Deardorff factory, but after spending soooo much time in the car, the 4-hour round trip quickly fell off the list.
The first batch of E6 is heading off to Dodge-Chrome this morning and then I'll start tackling the B&W. I'll post some photos (if any are worthy) in the image sharing forum.
All in all we had a great time and I thank everyone again who provided tips for the trip.
We probably crossed paths more than once this past week. I was there Wed-Fri. The only clouds I had was on Thur morn when I drove to Clingmans Dome. Took a few rolls of "moody" foggy scenes. Fridays trip to the Cove was a joke, after 1 &1/2 hours I cut thru Spence Lane and it still took almost 4 more hours to get back to Townsend. Maybe next year will be better. RandyB
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