Smoky Mountains - Spring Trip Report

White Trilliums, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

View additional images from this trip at www.blackburnimages.com

I went on a 3-day trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on April 16-19, 2010. While this was mainly a R&R trip with my wife, Jamie, she graciously understands my photography “need” and is very understanding and patient when I spend 30-45 minutes photographing a single clump of flowers or why I don’t leave after a sunset when everyone else does (10 minutes after the sun goes down) in hopes of getting that great color that looms in the twilight sky (and is sometimes hidden from our naked eye).

Here’s a brief recap:

Day 1 (Friday, April 16). Nice to wake up at 6:30a and still have it pitch dark outside (official sunrise was 7:06a EDT). I hadn’t planned on going anywhere for sunrise, but instead just enjoyed the view from our condo (Highlands on Campbell Lead in Gatlinburg). We hiked Porters Creek trail in mid-morning and found a good amount of trillium and spring beauty. The crested dwarf iris were just starting to bloom and we were fortunate (based on advice from another photographer working the same trail) to find two blooming plants of showy orchis. Most of the flowers were from the trailhead to the first stream crossing and at Fern Branch Falls. Fern Branch Falls don’t offer much in photo opportunities thanks to the footbridge that is place right across the middle of the falls. The first mile of the trail also would have some great fall/winter shots with the stream and color/snow on the trees.

We drove Newfound Gap Road looking for good places for sunset and decided that Morton Overlook provided the best vantage. I’ve become cognizant if having my landscape images have foreground, middle ground, and background elements (thank you John Shaw) and had difficulty finding anything to include as good foreground. I ended up shooting the sunset mostly with my 70-200mm and used a 2-stop graduated ND filter to help balance the sky. I tried to keep the exposure to capture the different tones of the mountain “folds”. Sunset here is “late” – after 8:00p EDT.

Day 2 (Saturday, April 17). Got up to shoot sunrise and saw that there was going to be heavy cloud cover. I set up to shoot from outside our condo, but got nothing but dull gray light. We drove to Elkmont campground and hiked the Little River Trail. There were a lot of flowers along the stretch up to the junction with Cucumber Gap trail. I got good shots of trillium, squirrel corn, wild phlox, wild ginger, and celandine poppy. The river is wide in this section and would also make some nice fall/winter shots with flowing water and snow/color in the trees. Next time it would be good to do the loop with Cucumber Gap and Jacks Creek trails back to Elkmont.

Driving back to Gatlinburg we stopped at one of the “Quiet Trails” on Little River Road and discovered a large number of wild phlox blooming along Fighting Creek. I spent time with a wide angle (12-24mm) trying to capture the vastness of the flowers as well as doing close ups with my 70-200mm lens.

We drove thru Gatlinburg proper and went to Bud Ogle’s cabin. Roaring Fork Motor Trail starts here, but the road is closed due to maintenance until late May 2010. Not many flowers here, but it is interesting to walk the short loop trail and think about how difficult it would have been trying to farm 400 acres here.

Day 3 (Sunday, April 18). No sunrise attempt this day as I enjoyed a leisurely morning with Jamie. We drove to Metcalf Bottom picnic area and hiked the trail to the Greenbrier Schoolhouse. From there we hiked to the Walker Sisters homeplace and this section of trail had lots of blooming crested dwarf iris. I spent time shooting the iris along steep banks and put the diffuser to good use once again.

We drove onto Miegs Falls and this would be a very nice fall/winter shot, but you really need a nice overcast day. There could be some shot opportunities closer to the falls if you could find a way to boulder hop across the Little River. Perhaps it would be feasible in fall when water level is lower.

We drove onto the Townsend “Y” and was greeted by great numbers of white trilliums and wild geraniums at the Chestnut Top trailhead right across the road from the parking area. This is a popular spot as folks can walk 10 yards from their car and take a quick snapshot.

Overall comments:

• Be flexible, just cause books or web sites report good flower sightings at one place doesn’t mean they’ll be there when you’re there. Go searching for yourself.
• Look around! It was amazing the number of times I stopped to look at a something and started noticing a lot of other things that I could have easily overlooked.
• Carry a guide field guide for flowers and trees. Luckily I had wireless connectivity at the condo and could confirm plant names when I was downloading my images each night into Lightroom.
• A macro lens would be a “nice to have” as well as a tripod with a post that can angle away from vertical for low to the ground shots. Also a macro focusing rail would be good to have for critical focusing.
• A LCD loop (hoodman) would also be a good tool for viewing the LCD in bright sunshine.
• I’m glad I brought the 24” 5-in-1 reflector/diffuser. I used it on about 90% of my shots.
• Newfound Gap and pullouts just into North Carolina could provide the best options for sunrise shots.
• Be nice to include moonrise or moonset in some of the shots.
• Take notes as you go… it’s hard to remember the details even if it is just the evening of the same day.
• Spend time thinking about how to get shots that are different from just another “postcard” shot. For me, that is getting away from the macro closeup shot and trying to incorporate the unusual setting or surroundings of the subject.
• Bring a point and shoot camera to record more of the activities, etc.
• A GPS is helpful, but doesn’t work too well with dense trees. I would like to start geo-tagging some of my photos.