It is just past the middle of November in North Carolina. The temperatures during the night have begun to drop just below freezing. The sky is blue. You would think that all the leaves of the trees have fallen to the ground, covering everything with a yellow and brown crispy blanket. You would be wrong. In that 2007 year, Nature is late. Every process is two weeks behind schedule, due to an exceptional drought in the south east of the United States.
The crest of the mountains, where the Blue Ridge Parkway is, has indeed lost all colors. The trees don’t have any leaves anymore and the landscapes look gray and dull. However, in the valleys and on the slopes of those mountains, the colors are just magnificent. It was very surprising to see so many leaves still up and so many deep colors as far as the eye can see.
With a small group of friends, I went to the northern mountains of North Carolina to hike between the valley and the Blue Ridge. The trail is in Doughton Park, very close to Stone Mountain Park. We were not expecting to have such a good time.
The hike is a loop. It is one of my favorites hikes as it is moderately long with 12 miles and quite challenging. 5 of those miles are on flat terrain, there is a 4 miles downhill stretch but also a 3 miles portion where the trail is going straight up to join the top and the Blue Ridge.
We started at the bottom, in the valley, just outside Stone Mountain Park. The trail follows a small creek for one mile. The creek was almost dry. Interestingly, there were no leaves on the trees there. Then the trail, the Bluff Ridge primitive trail, climbs straight up for 3 miles to a shelter on Bluff Mountain. When the climb is over, a sign shows the direction down with a warning about the trail.
During that climb the sun was still shining in a blue sky. The temperature was nice, the wind non existent. Very quickly the trees around were still having their leaves, and it was peak time. The drought had made the colors a little darker than usual. The yellows were more leaning towards the orange rather than the bright gold. The reds were very deep instead of being very brilliant. Some evergreens were dark green too. Once in a while a tree was completely bright orange or completely dark red. Some of them were having two colors at the same time, a bright yellow on one side changing to a deep orange at the other side, with all the combinations in the middle.
It was not very easy to enjoy the colors, as the climb was difficult. The sun was making deep shadows and bright highlights, a difficult combination for photography. A little further on the trail and close to the top, the leaves disappeared slowly and gradually. At the top, all the leaves were on the ground.
We then followed the Bluff Mountain trail to Brinegar Cabin. We hiked quickly there as the landscapes were not particularly beautiful. It was cold then and the wind had picked up a little. The sky was getting overcast slowly, hiding the sun more and more as time passed by.
We started going back down to the valley following the Cedar Ridge trail which has a gentler slope than the first climb. At first, the leaves were on the ground. We could see down, through the branches of the surrounding trees, some beautiful colors on the trees in the distance.
In the middle of the descent we were back under the canopy of multi colored leaves. Yellows, oranges, reds, greens, browns were everywhere around us. It was a feast for the eyes, the colors were around us, on the ground and above us, just in any direction you would look. On the side of trail, an opening in the tree cover, a sort of overlook, made it possible to enjoy the view to the west, on the ridge we took on the way up.
At that time the sky was overcast. The colors were not that bright because the sun was hidden. On the other hand, the light was quite uniform everywhere, with no bright highlights and no deep shadows, making it much easier for photography. The pictures came out much better than the ones taken on the way up.
It took us nearly 6 hours to hike the loop, spending a lot of time to enjoy the colors and take pictures. On the drive back the colors along the road were also very remarkable.
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