I fried my camera on our canyoneering trip to Utah in October 2017, so I bought me a fancy new Sony A7Rii. I had been fiddling with it for a month, so I decided I wanted to take off a week from work and hike around the Appalachians for some fall colors and to play with my new camera.
It got a little chilly, and I saw some light snow in the mountains, but the colors were pretty nice. I planned to drive up towards Virginia and hike around Roan Mountain. But I decided against driving so far, and ended up hiking in Citico Creek and Panthertown Valley. I hiked to Stratton Bald from the trailhead on the Cherohala Skyway…this was the first time I had hiked to Stratton Bald from this trail in decades…since they gated the trail back at the Skyway. I also hiked the Bald River Trail. And then I headed over to North Carolina and spent a few days in Panthertown Valley. I saw a sow bear and three cubs, but I wasn’t able to get a good photo of them with my wide angle lens. I had planned to backpack all weekend, but the weather was so cold that I ended up just day hiking and car camping every night.
After a couple of days in Panthertown, Jessica came down from Ohio for a visit, and Tracy came over for the weekend, and the three of us just hiked around Panthertown and Siler Bald for a couple of days.
I really miss the Rockies, but in the Fall it’s easy to be happy in the Appalachians.
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