Virginia Countryside 4-12-12

 After work this afternoon I decided to hop in the car and take a cruise through a small part of southwest Virginia.  I head from Galax, where I live, to Comers Rock.  It's located out by Elk Creek.  Along the way I snapped some shots with a 50mm f2 manual focus lens mounted to my Pentax k20d.  I finished up the day on top of Comers Rock, and shot the last image with a 135mm f2.8 manual focus lens mounted to the same camera.  Thanks for looking.

Weeds on the roadside 

The crop factor on this camera leaves everything smashed into the frame when I can't back up too far:)

Tree farm

I like the soft look this lens provides

Some phlox growing around a mailbox 

A common view of the Blue Ridge Mountains

A Few Days in the Smokies

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

     A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Smoky Mountains with my girlfriend Ashley and some friends of ours. I had a totally awesome time even though we got rained on a little bit (just kidding, we got drenched to the point where I thought my rental lens was going to be ruined). I rented a Canon 24-105mm f4 L for this trip. The lens was mounted to a 5d Mark II. The following are images taken with this kit on my journey in the Smokies.

A joyful view of Happy Valley from that Look Rock thing. 

The Smokies from a lookout on the way to Look Rock.

 On the way back to camp, I had the driver drop me off about a mile from our cabin so I could shoot this creek. We stayed in a really nice cabin courtesy of Westley Woods Church Camp.

This tree is located right next to the creek pictured above.

 Still on day one, we started hiking to view the phlox. It was a six mile hike into White Oaks Sinks (I think that's what it's called).

Some private property on the way into the Sinks.

Some vegetation above a bat infested cave!

Phlox:what we came here for.

My beautiful girlfriend.

Bob Hayes, one of the coolest dudes you'll ever meet.

Shooting Stars, Falling Stars, I'm not sure.

My girlfriend and and her good friend.

Curly ferns!

An atypical tree growth among the phlox (my girlfriend thinks it looks like a swan).

I had a difficult time framing the Phlox as I do any time I try to shoot in a new environment.

Bob, Ashley and Jessica.  Michael(Snow) is also in this photo, can you find him?

With lightening and thunder nearby(not to mention pouring rain), I had but one opportunity to set up this shot before having to bail.

Some deer bask in the Jesus light on the Cade's Cove bike trail.

This is an operational mill in Cade's Cove.

Inside the mill, the 24-105 image stabilization came in handy for this longer exposure of the gears.

Pennies dropped into the mill.

      On the final day of our trip, I took a stroll through the woods and took advantage of some nice light. Thanks for reading!

Grayson Highlands State Park 3-22-112

Grayson Highlands State Park, located near Mouth of Wilson, VA.

The 'Spring' mentality has hit me.  I'm ready to start getting out into nature again and breathe that fresh mountain air, if you consider a 5,000 ft high hill to be a mountain:)

The winter here was mild and boring, it just wasn't enticing for me to go outside.  I'm not sure why, but I'm glad it's over. 

This park takes me about an hour to get to, it is home to wild ponies(not photographed on this trip), many cool trails and streams, and a trailhead to the highest point in VA, Mount Rogers.  This day I concentrated on hiking the southern park of the park, including Cabin Creek, Big Pinnacle, and Listening Rock trails.  About 7 Miles total, and all accessible from one parking spot.  

I got to the park just before sunrise.  Sunrises over the Blue Ridge Mountains are beautiful to say the least.  Fog fills the valleys and the warm sun slowly rises to give us awesome scenes.  They are nice to just sit and watch:)

First shots of the day(HDR)

Sunrise over the Blue Ridge

After watching the sunrise, I hiked down the Cabin Creek Trail.  It has this name for an old hunting cabin that is along its bank.  Today I was focused mostly on the falls.

I enjoy the lines on the rocks at Cabin Creek Falls

A 'weeping' wall(sort of)

Cabin Creek runs through...

A tighter comp on Cabin Creek

After hiking Cabin Creek and having two very wet feet, I drank a slimfast shake and rang out my socks.  I then set off to hike Big Pinacle, the highest point in the park.  This trail ends at the start of Listening rock, so no driving needed:)

The view from the highest point in the park, Big Pinnacle(looking South)

Looking North from Big Pinnacle

Weathered Trees on the trail

There is a smaller 'Pinnacle', with views that are just as nice.

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From here, I went to the trail called Listening Rock, I didn't take as many photos on this part of the hike.  And when you hike it, you will know why.  It's a very quiet hike, the only sounds are from birds.  You're walking through a forest that seems to go forever.  With the sun high in the sky, circling turkey vultures' shadows were dancing across the forest floor. I did shoot a photo of some small flowers starting to bloom, and a small overlook.  Thanks for reading:)

Flowers about 1cm in diameter are starting to come out.

A small opening to the horizon.

Trail Markers make it easy to get around.