Three short outings in three days.
After spending a week in a photography workshop centered on the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and a weekend in Cherokee North Carolina – gateway to the Smoky Mountains – I had the opportunity to spend another weekend near the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina. Although our activities were focused on a family wedding – a Hallowedding hosted on Halloween on the shores of Lake Keowee, SC – I took the opportunity to visit some nearby summits and waterfalls.
Three days in Smoky Mountains National Park, and Cherokee NC.
After wrapping up a week-long photography workshop in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, I headed southwest for a solo weekend in the foothills of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Based in the town of Cherokee – in the heart of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation – I had more time to explore waterfalls, fall foliage, ridgetop overlooks, and beautiful hiking trails.
I have hundreds of photos to sift through; for now I’ll share just a few. Read on!
Continue reading “Smoky Mountains”A week in the Blue Ridge, photographing waterfalls at the peak of fall foliage.
I had the pleasure of spending a week in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, with five other aspiring photographers attending a Muench Photography Workshop led by the incomparable Talor Stone. We had gorgeous fall foliage, incredible waterfalls, and fantastic weather. It was pure joy to share a week with a group of other people thoroughly focused on photography, all happy to spend hours standing in the shallows below a waterfall exploring every angle, every exposure, refining our technique and learning new skills. Folks who are happy to rise every day before sunrise, driving up dark, windy roads and hiking to mountaintop outlooks to capture the special light at ‘blue hour’ before sunrise and ‘golden hour’ just after. My kind of people!
Back in New England, briefly.
Four weekend hikes in a row – what a treat! This morning I met two friends just before sunrise to climb the tiny-but-beautiful Gile Mountain, here in Norwich. No, that’s not Norwich, England… this pretty little peak is in Norwich, New England. I happen to be back at Dartmouth for a long weekend, and took the opportunity to visit this local favorite: a short hike to an otherwise unremarkable bump in the rolling hills of Vermont, with a firetower that allows one to climb above the trees and enjoy a spectacular 360º view across the Upper Valley, the Connecticut River, and the route of the Appalachian Trail as it passes through Norwich, Hanover, and along the ridges past mounts Moose, Smarts, Cube, Mist, and culminating on the twin peaks of Mount Moosilauke.
It was a beautiful fall season.
Autumn has ended, and we are now well into what locals call “stick season.” After summer comes the fall, when the hardwood trees turn various shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown, bringing new color to the hilly New Hampshire landscape just before it tucks in for a long winter’s nap. This year we have had a beautiful fall season, with sunny/warm weather and brilliant fall colors. In this quick blog post I want to share a few photos from three of my favorite aspects of autumn at Dartmouth and in New Hampshire: fall foliage, the homecoming bonfire, and Diwali. Read on!
Absolutely spectacular!
It was still dark as I drove north through the dense valley fog, confident I would encounter a brilliant sunny day once I turned east and climbed away from the Connecticut River Valley. My destination was Mount Crawford, a popular peak in the heart of the White Mountains. At 3,128′ it is not one of the 48 ‘high peaks’, the four-thousand-footers that inspire so many people to “bag them all” and earn the AMC’s Four-Thousand-Footer patch. (And for some, like me, to do them all more than once; I finished my second round in August.) But, frankly, Mount Crawford is far better than many of its higher cousins: it has a splendid view – earning it a spot on the list of 52 with a view. Today, in full fall foliage, the view was absolutely stupendous. Read on!
Back again, after 41.5 years.
The first (and last) time I climbed Mount Monadnock, in southern New Hampshire, was over four decades ago… as a senior in high school. Despite living in New Hampshire for nearly all the years since then, I have never returned. Why? my impression is that it is always crowded. It was true in May 1982, and it was true now in November 2023. (Some say it is the second most-climbed mountain in the world, behind Mount Fuji in Japan.) Read on for the story of my visit this weekend, and for the gallery of photos!
A ‘wanderful’ afternoon, not far from home.
It was a busy (and rainy!) weekend so I was looking for a short outing; some place nearby, perhaps with a waterfall and some colorful fall foliage – a great combination to photograph on a cloudy day. So I checked my friend Eli Burakian’s book Hiking New England Waterfalls for some ideas. Ahah! True’s Brook, just south of West Lebanon; amazingly, after 36 years living in the Upper Valley, I’d never visited True’s Ledges along True’s Brook. It was roaring with runoff from the weekend’s heavy rains, and not in great shape for photographs, so I snapped a few with my iPhone and decided to wander on up the road and over into Meriden. Come see what I found!
Hiking through the clouds at the peak of fall foliage.
Fall has finally arrived, with cooler weather and the hint of color in the leaves of hardwood trees around our home. Because we live at the bottom of the river valley, the advent of fall color at home means that the foliage is reaching its peak beauty at higher elevations, and further north. So, I was itching to get out, and selected a moderate hike in the White Mountains: up Mount Starr King and then across the Kilkenny ridge to Mount Waumbek. Beautiful! read on.
A beautiful new trail, close to home.
The Upper Valley Land Trust recently conserved a large area of forest on the slopes of Stonehouse Mountain in nearby Orford, NH. It’s not a well-known peak – indeed, its tree-covered summit doesn’t quite poke above 2,000′ and offers no views. But when I learned they had laid out a new hiking trail to its top, and realized it was a short drive from my home, I had the urge to investigate. The advent of fall leaf-season was the clincher. Read on.
David Kotz 