The fall colors in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park seemed to peak a little late this year. Maybe it was caused by the wet spring and summer. Maybe it was caused by the idiotic shutdown of the National Parks due to our inept government. Who knows?

We were starting to wonder if we would get good colors. All of a sudden from October 29 to 31 the leaves became vivid and bright. Around the first of November a relatively strong storm swept through the mountains bringing high winds and most of the color was gone. If you blinked, you missed it. Lucky for me I was in the Smokies during that whole period and had a camera.

 

Our cabin sits on a ridge atop Hatcher Mountain above Wears Valley, TN. It’s only six miles from the National Park and about the same altitude as Cades Cove. The ridge across from us looked like a patchwork quilt.

 

 

What a place to just relax and soak in the beauty of nature. Don’t you really want to sit in one of those rocking chairs?

 

 

 

The little cabin and detention pond near the entrance to our subdivision was particularly colorful.

 

 

 

 

A long lost friend from high school, David Wallace, his wife, Bonnie, and dog, Rhys, paid us a delightful visit. This is David contemplating the possibility of human flight.

 

 

 

Little River. Just off Lamar Alexander Parkway near the Townsend entrance to the park.

 

 

 

 

Some reflections near the same location as above.

 

 

 

 

David and I decided to drive up Rich Mountain Road from Cades Cove to view the valley from above.

 

 

 

 

This is the old Methodist Church in Cades Cove as seen from partway up Rich Mountain.

 

 

 

 

We ended up parking the car at a pulloff and hiking up the Rich Mountain Loop Trail. The weather was perfect and the scenery was spectacular. Sometimes you just have to get out and put your feet on the ground to absorb the colors, smells and feel of fall.

 

Man, what a beautiful fall and great time in our new cabin. It’s good to be alive!