Posts Tagged ‘Mountains’

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Scenic Sunday #133: Brush Mountain

February 6, 2011

Brush Mountain, Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. September 23, 2010.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

In September, while visiting Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Betsy and I toured the Hensley Settlement.  The Hensley Settlement was established in 1904 by Sherman Hensley and was occupied until the establishment of the park in 1951.  I took this photo while walking along a fence-lined lane on top of Brush Mountain.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 17 Comments »

Scenic Sunday #132: Looking Toward The Smokies

January 30, 2011

The view of the Smoky Mountains from the Foothills Parkway, Townsend, Tennessee. October 14, 2010.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

In mid-October of last year Betsy and I took a ride along the Foothills Parkway.  The Parkway is west of, and parallel to, the Smoky Mountains and provides some wonderful views of the mountains.  Since the Parkway is at a fairly low altitude, there wasn’t much color, but the scenery was beautiful nonetheless.

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Skywatch Friday: A Mountain Sky

December 3, 2010

The late afternoon sky at Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. November 22, 2010.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

I really like the mountains, which is probably a good thing since I live in eastern Tennessee.  To me the mountains seem to be living — different in different seasons and even at different parts of the day.

The sky is a part of the mountain landscape.  Clouds and sky also change with the seasons and with the time of day.  The picture above was taken at Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway late in the afternoon on a November day.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 21 Comments »

Watery Wednesday: Burnett Reservoir

December 1, 2010

Burnett Reservoir, Buncombe County, North Carolina. November 22, 2010.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

The lake in the picture above is Burnett Reservoir in Buncombe County, North Carolina.  The picture was taken from Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Burnett Reservoir is the source of water for Asheville, North Carolina.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 16 Comments »

Scenic Sunday # 124: On Top of the World

November 28, 2010

The view from Mount Mitchell, North Carolina. October 22, 2010.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

Last week Betsy and I made a quick trip to Asheville, North Carolina.  We went primarily to see the Christmas decorations in the Biltmore House, but we also took a ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We drove to Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi at 6,684 feet.

It was fairly late on a cloudy afternoon when we reached the observation deck at the peak.  The mountains seemed to be reaching up to the clouds for as far as we could see.

The interplay of sun and clouds made for some interesting patterns on the smaller mountains around Mount Mitchell.

Every once in a while the clouds parted enough to let some blue sky peek through.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 21 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: A Cabin in the Mountains

November 11, 2010

In May of last year our friends Judy and Charlie invited us to spend a couple of days with them at their cabin near Otto, North Carolina.  We’ve known Judy and Charlie for several years and enjoy their company.

Their cabin is a vacation hideaway in the mountains of western North Carolina.  The deck of the cabin is a perfect place for sitting and talking or just sitting and enjoying the mountain views.

One advantage of a May visit was that the mountain laurel was in bloom.  The cabin is one of only a few on the side of the mountain, so there are many mountain laurels along the road.  Walking along the road was a visual delight for more than the mountain views.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 13 Comments »

Scenic Sunday #121: Cataloochie Valley

November 7, 2010

Mist in the Cataloochee Valley, North Carolina. October 20, 2010.

 

 

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

I posted about the elk we saw in the Cataloochee Valley of the Smoky Mountains a couple of weeks ago.  But our visit to the valley was scenic for more reasons than the elk.  The morning of our visit was foggy and misty, which showed one explanation for the name of the mountains surrounding the valley.

The picture above was taken at the meadow along Ranger Station Road where we saw the largest herd of elk.  The picture is looking east past the meadow.

This second photo is taken from another meadow on the same road.  This meadow is past the Caldwell House and this photo looks northeast.

The southwest view from the same meadow gave this picture of the mountains amid mist and clouds .

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Skywatch Friday: Autumn Skies

November 5, 2010

The view from Balsam Mountain, North Carolina. October 19, 2010.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

Last month Betsy and I went to the mountains to see the autumn colors, but the autumn skies were also pretty impressive.  Autumn skies are often a beautiful blue, and that was the case during the three days we were gone.  The picture above was taken on Balsam Mountain; it was a clear day and the mountains seemed to go on forever.

The view from the Blue Ridge Parkway near Mt. Pisgah, North Carolina. October 20, 2010.

This picture was taken the next day on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Mt. Pisgah, North Carolina.

Morning in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. October 21, 2010.

We had an early breakfast on our third morning.  When we came out of the restaurant it was still in shadows, but sunlight was touching the top of the ridge on the other side of the gap.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 20 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: The Sequatchie Valley

October 29, 2010

The Cumberland Plateau enshrouded in clouds and the Sequatchie Valley. October 25, 2010.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

When Betsy and I went to Georgia this past Monday, we came off the Cumberland Plateau, drove through part of the Sequatichie Valley, and then drove over Signal Mountain to Chattanooga.  As we drove up the mountain I couldn’t resist the temptation to stop at an overlook and snap these pictures.

It was raining when we left home, although the weather started to clear as we drove along.  When we got to the overlook there was some blue in the sky, although the Plateau was still covered by clouds.

The clouds had lifted enough that we had a wonderful view of the valley.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 22 Comments »

My World: Hensley Settlement

September 28, 2010

Sign at the entrance to Hensley Settlement on Brush Mountain, Cumberland Gap Historical National Park. September 23, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Last week Betsy and I went to Kentucky to visit some places we’ve long talked about.  On Thursday we went to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in the mountains where Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee come together.

The first thing we did was take a tour of Hensley Settlement, a community that existed from 1903 – 1951 atop Brush Mountain.  We were driven to the settlement in a Park Service van along some ‘interesting’ mountain roads.  Once we got to the settlement, we had a walking tour through the community and into some of the buildings.

Our guide through Hensley Settlement, Ronny Oplinger, the grandson of one of the founders of the settlement. September 23, 2010.

The guide on the day we were there was the grandson of one of the founders of the community.  It was definitely interesting to hear his family stories as we walked through the community.

The Lige Gibbons Farm, Hensley Settlement. September 23, 2010.

The Lige Gibbons Farm is one of the preserved homesteads on the mountain.  This farm is in a pretty little hollow on the mountain top.

Ruins of the Willie Gibbons House, Hensley Settlement. September 23, 2010.

Unfortunately, preserved doesn’t always mean protected.  This is the ruins of the Willie Gibbons house.  It was built in 1904 and was the most unique cabin on the mountaintop.  It was larger than most and had a double fireplace.  Sadly, it was destroyed by fire in 2000 and there are no longer any American Chestnut logs big enough to rebuild it as it was.

There are many more things to see in Hensley Settlement and I will post more after I get through some of the pictures we took.  The map above of our visit to Hensley Settlement was created on Google Earth using data from our geotagger.  The yellow line is our track, and I’ve noted some of the main features of the settlement.  If you ever get the chance to visit this site, I urge you to do so.  I think you will enjoy it.

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Posted in My World | 13 Comments »

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