Blue Smoke, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The essence of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park surely must be the fog and blue smoke that hangs over the Sugarloaf Mountains. This mountain range is typically immersed in blue smoke, but this past weekend there was an abundance of fog and blue smoke due to the rain showers that plagued the park. In spite of the weather, I did visit several sections of the park taking in the various wildlife including a few Black Bears in Cade's Cove. If you look at the very bottom of this image you will see bright pink blooms from the Mountain Rhododendrons. The Rhododendrons will be in full bloom in mid June. I just wished I could be there to see it. ENJOY!

Black Bears, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We are deep within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park today. What images come to mind when I say those words? Mountains, forests, rivers or perhaps fog, rain, smoke. Well, you would be right about all of those things. And then there is the wildlife. Elk, Deer, Fox and Black Bears just to name a few. On this particular trek the day my journey began, I was driving toward the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail when I spotted Black Bears alongside the road.

A female Black Bear, a mother no less, was feeding heartily next to the roadway while her two cubs were off in the brush a short distance away. This is almost the same place I had encountered a Black Bear off in the distance on another visit to the park a year or two before.

My camera was zipped safely away in my equipment bag. Darn! I reached back and unzipped the bag and pulled so as not to break anything on the camera. I got out of the car knowing the Bear was getting ready to head into the forest, but still kept the car between me and the Bears. You just never know. Keep in mind I have a 300mm lens on my camera so while it may seem I am right on top of the Bears, I am a safe enough distance away. If there is a safe enough distance away from such a powerful animal as the Black Bear. Keep in mind while photographing mother Bears that they will charge and fight should you get too close to their cubs. After a few minutes, the Bears had moved further into the forest and disappeared but I was glad to have seen them.

The following day having changed my plan of direction going into the park due to impending thunderstorms, I drove across the main road that eventually takes you to Cherokee, North Carolina. You pass Newfound Gap and the road to Clingman's Dome as you make your way up the side of the mountain and around the mountain and back down on the eastern side. As I reached the bottom of the mountain on the other side of the park, now in North Carolina, I encountered a group of cars. I knew full well it had to be a Bear sighting. This Bear was a large male Bear munching way off in the brush by himself. He spent some time in one area before moving away farther into the forest. You will notice as I cropped this image closely, this Bear is tagged. I hope it was not due to being a nuisance. If so, and he causes a nuisance by getting too close to humans, he could be put down. Let's hope the tag is for a study.

I enjoyed seeing the Black Bears and knew there were plentiful sightings from the alert posted on the park's website before I left home. Hope you are off to a good start to your weekend. Back soon. ENJOY!

Linking to Saturday's Critters

Black Bear, GSMNP!

A little something to tide you over til I'm back in the groove. No worries, just a virus from "(&$@&#" so to speak. Here's an image of a black bear I took last spring on a visit to the mountains. Hope your weekend is going great. ENJOY!

Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Cade's Cove is truly a gem basking in the midst of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cade's Cove features vast farmlands, historic buildings where the settlers of yesterday once thrived and various wildlife which you will encounter as you take the scenic motor tour through the valley. You can stop at any number of visitor stops and go inside many of the cabins and out buildings. You really get a feel for what the settlers lives were like when you venture out of your car.

Along this particular drive turkeys were grazing in various fields as I entered the cove. Just past the entrance, I spotted a black bear and her cubs making their way through a field to a nearby woods. Continuing on, I passed a huge valley floor with a large assortment of hay bales dotting the landscape. And then it happened, the unavoidable traffic jam. In the middle of Cade's Cove, there can only be one reason to encounter such a traffic jam, bears. I sat for probably 15 minutes and then finally decided to pull my car off to the shoulder, get out and walk up to the head of the traffic jam. Just as I walked closer to the head of the traffic, about six cars up what should come tromping across the road between two cars and disappearing into a field of tall grass, but quite a large black bear. WHOA! I'm pretty sure it was a Papa Bear too.

As the traffic jam dissipated, I get back in my vehicle to continue on the drive and what do I immediately encounter but a deer and her babies running at full romp across a pasture, hesitating at the fenceline, then jumping the fence, crossing the road, and disppearing into the adjacent woods. Something tells me a black bear just might have disrupted their leisurely afternoon. I hope you enjoy the picks as much as I enjoyed the drive through Cade's Cove. Needless to say, some of the animals were moving kind of fast that day while the vehicles were moving quite slow. Sounds about right to me.

Grotto Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A beautiful waterfall, Grotto Falls, is located off of the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and is a 2.4 mile hike roundtrip. It isn't a difficult hike, but you will gain 2100 feet in elevation in your hike to the falls. Little did I know on my hike that the bear droppings I discovered along the path were very, very fresh. The folks who arrived sometime after I reached the falls asked if I'd seen the bear and her cubs. I hadn't and apparently I had just passed right after the bears had. They watched the mother and her cubs for quite a while. Sorry I missed that.

In case you didn't know, this is the only waterfall in the park where visitors can walk "behind" the falls which I did and found it was pretty cool. Not one of my favorite photographs in my travels to the Smokies, but I did want to share it. Having taken many photographs over the years at the park, I will occasionally share them on my blog, if you'll forgive me for not being the best photographer in the world. I love to get comments on my posts. So feel free.

MY EQUIPMENT:
Pentax K1000 35mm camera (it is a strictly manual camera)
Fuji Film Velvia 100F slide film
Vivitar 200 telephoto lens and a Pentax 320 zoom
Bogen Manfrotto Tripod
Note: I seldom use filters and rarely retouch my photographs. I shoot the light.

MY BACKGROUND: I am self taught meaning I taught myself light and composition by studying James Archambeault, a Kentucky landscape photographer, and John Shaw, a well known American landscape photographer. And, of course, reading many, many books and manuals on photography.