Thursday, Nov 3

Last night was my first back in the eastern time zone but, after watching the long finale to the World Series, I pretended I was still on central time and slept in. Once I did leave Knoxville I took the scenic route to Bristol, Virginia via Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a short section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Since I had driven this route in the spring I only stopped at one viewpoint as I was in search of great fall foliage. According to online reports, areas below 2,000 feet were in full color while those above 4,000 were virtually bare.

Although much of the Great Smoky Park is well above 2,000 feet I knew that the approaches were lower and expected good color. There were some stretches of fall colors as I approached the park so I stopped at the visitor center to walk the trail to Cataract Falls hoping to capture some good photos of golden leaves and a waterfall. Although the walk was very pleasant neither goal worked out too well; the trees along the trail were either green or largely bare and the waterfall was just a trickle.

Undeterred, I left the park to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) which terminates right there – but the road was unexpectedly closed. I therefore had to follow my GPS until I found another entrance some 20 miles further east. Now the southern terminus of the BRP where I had planned to get on is at low elevation but, at the point I was actually able to get on, it is rising to its highest elevation. Although there were a few good stretches of color I’m sure I missed the best displays. I did, however, stop at one overlook to remind myself of how great the views are.
The best continuous section of color I found was on the tiny, twisting road that I used to descend from the BRP as I turned to head for Bristol. There was no way to stop for photos but the video captures the scene well and, together with the map, can be found here.

I was planning to stay in Charlottesville, Virginia tomorrow night as it has been two decades since I last visited that beautiful area. However, I just checked hotels and there is no room available for less than $180 (which must mean that the University of Virginia has a home football game on Saturday) so I will head home instead. It’s such a shame that I will not be able to visit Trump Winery 🙁