Mark's Photo Travels

My goodness, another month has come and is almost gone! Time for a report on my hikes during January 2020. I went on five hikes this month. I had more planned, but rain forced some hikes to be canceled or rescheduled. Dupont State Forest - High Falls and Triple Falls The first Saturday of January I went with a great group up to Dupont State Forest. During the visit we visited High Falls and Triple Falls. High Falls was really throwing off some spray this day. High Falls was throwing off so much spray, I had trouble keeping my lens dry! The sun was at a perfect angle to backlight the waterfall. A few clouds would have been nice. Fortunately, I'd find better conditions at Triple Falls. The water here was also up, but the clouds moved in helping to even out the light. I'm not much on black and white photography, but I also liked how the black and white version turned out! We made it as far as High Falls Bridge... ...before turning around to hike back to t...

The first outing this week was a walk on the Swamp Rabbit Trail . In the second of three outings this week, I visited Dupont State Forest in Western North Carolina for the third time this year. The first two visits to Dupont State Forest were to visit Upper Grassy Falls, sometimes called Secret Falls. This visit was prompted by a 2007 article I came across (no telling how long ago) on BlueRidgeNow.com about some foundation ruins off Longside Trail near the Corn Mill Shoals Access Area  off Cascade Lake Road . I found the Corn Mill Shoals Access Area mostly empty. The directions in the article were a bit vague, but good enough as a starting point. Bear right onto Longside Trail and within minutes, what remains of a stone foundation becomes visible just off the trail. From the Corn Mill Shoals Parking Area, you bear left onto Longside Trail, not right. The author must have come in the other end from Pine Tree Trail then, placing the ruins much closer to the other en...