The Bright Colors of Autumn in the Smoky Mountains

My third visit to the highest peak of the Smoky Mountains, the Clingmans Dome, did not look very well. The day before, it had been raining, and I couldn’t take a single shot, but the weather report gave me a little bit of hope.

I started driving when it was still pretty dark, and it took me more than an hour and a half to go up from the cabin to my destination. It started to rain heavily, the fog was very dense, and I had to go very slowly.

I finally arrived, and I saw that it was literally impossible to do any kind of photography. It was almost like placing the camera against a dark gray wall. After a long time, I imagined that the sun had already risen from the horizon because it was clearer, but the rain and the fog did not give me much hope.

Almost an hour later, the clouds began to move rapidly, I quickly mounted my camera on the tripod, and I was able to make a time-lapse video that I will show you later because it is still in process. I took a little more than 300 photographs an intervals of 10 seconds for 50 minutes, which I will turn into a 20 seconds video.

When I finished, the light was beautiful, and I decided to climb to the summit, taking the very steep trail. Despite carrying my cameras and heavy equipment, I could do it without any problem.

I walked more than an hour uphill enjoying the beautiful nature; once I arrived at the top, I ascended to the tower, did a few shots, and began to go down through the Appalachian Trail.

This legendary path is completely covered with moss and with the vegetation typical of winter because autumn passes quickly in the highest peaks.

As I descended to the valley, the sun was shining shyly, and the colored leaves were in all their magnificence.

Autumn is almost impossible to imagine for me, who grew up surrounded by tropical trees with evergreen leaves. Even though I have lived for almost 20 years in the US, every fall is a surprise. 

Each curve of the road offered different colors and shades, and the cloudy sky was the perfect light to obtain more saturated and bright tones.

It was such a perfect day!