This year has been the worst when it comes to traffic. Visitors traveling up and down the road in search of bears, and when they happen to see one, they stop in the middle of the road to take pictures on their cell phones despite the 50 plus vehicles behind them trying to enter the park. It isn’t that I mind them seeking out nature and taking pictures of them, it is that they are causing congestion in these areas and preventing other visitors from enjoying the park.

For this shot, I waited over an hour behind bear watchers just to get this far. It was too late to get into Roaring Fork by this time so I settled on this cabin; one that I have shot several times before. I walked around and found this perspective. This was taken on the first evening there, 10/21/20. I placed some battery powered lanterns inside and waited until almost dark to get this shot.

Given how crowded the park had become, I decided to go to some lesser traveled areas. Greenbrier was just down the road from my campground. They had some trails there and some beautiful creeks and streams.

I drove down a little road in an area that they call Greenbrier. There are creeks and streams that run all through this area, many come here for fly-fishing. No, not fishing for flies, but for trout. Fly-fishing is the name of the method they use to catch the fish. It reminds me of a kind of dance as they throw the end of the line into the water. Something that requires some skill. I saw this part of the creek and couldn’t help but to see the stillness of the water and the autumn reflections.

I drove down a long narrow rough gravel road to get to an area of the park called Cataloochee in North Carolina. This area of the park is much less visited mostly due to the poor roads leading up to the area. At times, the road is barely wide enough for one vehicle, and naturally I would have to come up upon a motor home heading in the opposite direction. Boy that was fun trying to get around him.

There are several historical buildings in Cataloochee, many is only accessible by hiking a trail. One that is visible by the road is this little church called Palmer’s Chapel. The autumn color here was a little past peak, but still holding on to some its leaves.

I am not into photographing wildlife, but sometimes when the opportunity presents itself I can’t resist. This was a bull elk that came out of the woods with his harem. Kind of a handsome dude isn’t he?

I had finally managed to get to this cabin on Roaring Fork. It was raining on the morning I got here so I waited until the rain stopped. This historic cabin is known as the Alfred Reagan Place which is the last building along the one-way traveled Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

Sometimes no matter how you try to get the best image you can, you will overlook something that will ruin your image….. Here, I wasn’t diligent enough to keep my lens clean, as water spots appeared in all the images that I had taken. I was very disappointed in myself….

I only spent 4 days here since I hadn’t made reservations early enough due to concerns around Covid-19. Maybe next year will be a little brighter…..

Below is a link to a highlighted video I captured on this trip. It is a bit boring, but at least you can see some of the area in which I was at.

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