Well it was Friday about noon and I had all I could take from a stressful week at work so I headed out for some relief. Called a buddy and we were off to Craggy Gardens. It was heavy overcast as we drove from Johnson City over the mountain to Asheville then on to the Blue Ridge Parkway accessed by Hwy 40 on the northern end of Asheville. As we headed up the parkway I was explaining to my friend that it would be a 7 with the kind of light we had at the moment. I also said it would be an 8 if there was no wind. Then if we had some fog it would be a nine...! and If the Blooms were peak we would have a 10.! Well as we drove the 18 mile up everything was coming together..nice light, no wind and as we arrived at the Craggy Gardens Visitors center the fog rolled in on cue! WOW...
Well I wish I could say Blooms were in peak for a TEN..Not! Just past Peak. Well we made due and tried our best with the short time we had. My buddy got a call from his wife and she said there was a storm headed our way so we shot what we could on the trail to the shelter on the south side of the visitors center then headed over to the Pinnacle Trail ...1 mile further up the road. When we started shooting on the Pinnacle Trail it went from a light mist to a torrential down pour.30 -40 mph winds and sheets of rain. I think I got two trail shots and that was it.
Saturday June 2nd, my next adventure took me to Rough Ridge Trail at Grandfather Mountain. Not much to say here. Clear Morning with high winds. Rough Ridge was pretty much gone. I had never shot here and just wanted to check it out for future trips. Nice morning but rather chilly 40 degrees.
So off to roan Mountain to check out the Rhodies. I arrived at carvers Gap at 9am sharp. 30-40 mph winds and 42 degrees....Yikes All parking lots were full and there were lots of lookers totally caught off guard by the weather conditions. There was also the "Roan Groan" bicycle race going on and before I left there were over 200 cyclist from all across the region riding up the mountain.
As for the blooms. From my observation, Carvers gap area was at about 90%. Because of the current weather conditions I did some shooting from the cover of the growth around the first 300 yards of the trail. As the morning wore on the winds subsided to a more manageable 10-20 mph. Fog was flying across with some breaks in the heavy pockets. I was able to get a few nice shots shooting back towards the higher peaks where the Gardens are located. I did hike up to Round Bald and checked out the Flame Azaleas on the back side. They were at about 70% bloom stage. I did not go further to Jane or Grassy Ridge because of time constraints and weather.
Judging from all observations I would have to say that this coming weekend Roan will be showing her full Glory...
As a fellow photographer once said..."You never know unless you go"
Thanks so much for the reports. It's great to have some intel on what's happening up there for those of us too far away to just "ride up & check it out".
There should be a good crop of photogs on the mountain this weekend. I'm going to be there and I'm sure I'll have plenty of company. The colors should be fantastic!
Discussion
7 repliesWell I wish I could say Blooms were in peak for a TEN..Not! Just past Peak. Well we made due and tried our best with the short time we had. My buddy got a call from his wife and she said there was a storm headed our way so we shot what we could on the trail to the shelter on the south side of the visitors center then headed over to the Pinnacle Trail ...1 mile further up the road. When we started shooting on the Pinnacle Trail it went from a light mist to a torrential down pour.30 -40 mph winds and sheets of rain. I think I got two trail shots and that was it.
Saturday June 2nd, my next adventure took me to Rough Ridge Trail at Grandfather Mountain. Not much to say here. Clear Morning with high winds. Rough Ridge was pretty much gone. I had never shot here and just wanted to check it out for future trips. Nice morning but rather chilly 40 degrees.
So off to roan Mountain to check out the Rhodies. I arrived at carvers Gap at 9am sharp. 30-40 mph winds and 42 degrees....Yikes All parking lots were full and there were lots of lookers totally caught off guard by the weather conditions. There was also the "Roan Groan" bicycle race going on and before I left there were over 200 cyclist from all across the region riding up the mountain.
As for the blooms. From my observation, Carvers gap area was at about 90%. Because of the current weather conditions I did some shooting from the cover of the growth around the first 300 yards of the trail. As the morning wore on the winds subsided to a more manageable 10-20 mph. Fog was flying across with some breaks in the heavy pockets. I was able to get a few nice shots shooting back towards the higher peaks where the Gardens are located. I did hike up to Round Bald and checked out the Flame Azaleas on the back side. They were at about 70% bloom stage. I did not go further to Jane or Grassy Ridge because of time constraints and weather.
Judging from all observations I would have to say that this coming weekend Roan will be showing her full Glory...
As a fellow photographer once said..."You never know unless you go"
Good Shooting,
Harold
Thanks again!