Near Walker Falls  

A friend and I headed out to see Walker Falls yesterday which is located about 10 miles outside of Barnardsville, NC.  Due to very heavy overnight rains, we found many normally dry runoff streams which had become beautiful cascades of flowing water.  As we drove along FR474, they were everywhere offering us numerous photo opportunities.  Here is another one.  One missed photo opportunity was when a small black bear ran across the road as we approached.  

Near Walker Falls II

Unless it continues to rain, these streams won't be running this hard for much longer.  If you want to have a great time shooting in this area, I wouldn't wait too long.  As for Walker Falls itself, we didn't have much luck. While its a beautiful waterfall I don't think its a wonderful photo opportunity unless you have perfect conditions.  Since there was a breeze the tree limbs in front of the falls had leaves that would be blowing.  I didn't see a way of using Photoshop layer masks to blend two exposures so we let this time pass.  We had fun just shooting all the wonderful cascades in the area.

Craggy Garden Report (May 25, 2017)

After leaving Barnardsville, we headed up to Mt. Mitchell and Craggy Gardens to see how the rhododendron blooms were progressing.  We saw full blooms in the lower elevations north of Mt. Mitchell.  But we gained in elevation the blooms were still in their buds.  Between Mt. Mitchell and Craggy there were some buds that were just beginning to break out but nothing major.  I plan to revisit the area late next week to check on the bloom progress and will report what I find.  Have a great weekend.