Author’s Note: Way back in 2015 and 2016 I wrote a series of articles for Now Habersham titled Roads Less Traveled. As an avid hiker and landscape photographer, I used this column to provide hiking information and as an outlet to share my photography with the world. By mid-2016 I was so busy with work and forecasting, the column fell to the wayside. These days I don’t find myself any less busy. But now with a nearly 1-year old, I have had the joy of sharing the outdoors with him on a few hikes so far and find myself with perhaps a little more time to head outside. Over the coming months, as we head into spring and summer and our attention turns to outdoor living, I’ll be re-sharing some of those old adventures with you as well as some new ones.
Let’s start with a new one.
By all accounts, June 6, 2017, was a very uneventful day. It was a Tuesday, the last day of my three-day weekend from work. I left my house in search of the beautiful Catawba Rhododendron that adorn the higher elevations of western North Carolina from late May through early June. This was a particularly good year for them, with plentiful blooms on every bush. The problem with these flowers is their lifespan. The true peak of Catawba season lasts for at most a week, but most often just a few days. Wind and heavy rain from summer thunderstorms often cut this peak short.
I left Boone, North Carolina, early in the morning knowing full well I would likely wind up inside one of these storms by afternoon. The higher elevations around the Black Mountain range were my target. My first stop came at Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi where I made my way out the Black Mountain Crest Trail. This tough trail traverses the highest peaks on the east coast, on this occasion I would bag three of the top six: Mitchell, Craig and Big Tom. The trail runs through a classic spruce-fir forest, though the spruce trees have long succumbed to air pollution. In recent years this trail has been the victim of several mass blowdowns, strong winds that down hundreds or thousands of trees over a small area. The photo below was taken in one of these spots before this happened.
My favorite viewpoint from any trail I’ve ever been on sits off the side of this trail but it requires knowing its location to find. Regardless, the views are absolutely phenomenal from both Mt. Mitchell and nearby Mt. Craig. The thick “smoky” haze on this day added some character to the long-distance views. The view below is from the summit of Mt. Craig, the second highest peak on the east coast, looking north/northwest towards Virginia and Tennessee. You can certainly see why they call them the Blue Ridge Mountains.
After returning to the car I buzzed just a few miles down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Craggy Gardens. This spot is one of the most visited locations along the Blue Ridge Parkway, due partly to its proximity to Asheville and also because it is downright gorgeous. It is also one of the best places in the state to see the Catawba Rhododendron bloom. The shot below was taken roadside along the parkway in the Craggy Gardens area.
Shortly after this, it started to rain. Or more accurately: storm. I sat out the storm for around an hour while waiting for sunset that I hoped would turn out nicely. Landscape photography is always tricky, especially in the summertime when these pop-up storms can ruin an afternoon shoot. Fortunately for me, this storm rained itself out fairly quickly and skies began to clear a little as the sun began to go down.
I made my way to the actual “gardens”, a series of meadows completely covered in Catawba Rhododendron. From a distance, this peak looks pink due to the number of blooms for just those few precious days in June. When I arrived at my sunset spot I was actually fairly unimpressed. Plentiful cloud cover was still around and the wind was whipping behind the storm. Temperatures were quite cool, a perk of being over 6,000ft above sea level. I had almost given up on the sunset when something incredible happened. Sometimes a good picture comes from perfect planning, sometimes luck, but most often a bit of both. This time was both. In just a matter of moments, the sun began to shine through a small gap in the clouds near the horizon, bathing the ground in pale orange/pink light.
It would grow brighter as it sunk farther into the gap, shining through that thick haze I had been seeing all day long. 
As the minutes passed it would eventually light up the sky in a way I had never seen before, and haven’t been witness to since. In my experience, pink sunsets are pretty rare. Most wind up some mix of yellow, orange and red. This one started off that way, as seen below.
No pictures I took this night captured the beauty of this sunset. The sky was lit up all around and all the way up to straight overhead. The widest angle lens wouldn’t have captured the whole thing. The photo below is my favorite photo I’ve ever taken. It is the closest I came to capturing this sunset. It highlighted the pink fluff overhead and the beautiful meadows of rhododendron below.
This photo is the one I have hanging in my son’s room, to encourage him to always look up and see the beauty around.
Something that has stuck with me about this sunset is that I was the only person there that night. Normally these meadows have numerous people enjoying the sunset, but the earlier rain had run them off. Never underestimate nature, though. Often the best views come behind the storm, a lesson we could all stand to remember.
I’ll see you again next week on the Roads Less Traveled.
