sunset and sunrise in north carolina

entrance to chimney rock state park

good whitewater

Walters Power Project on the Pigeon River

if walking in the woods

Appalachian Trail Crossing

Where Route 32 (see previous post) becomes a dirt road, the Appalachian Trail crosses it.

a joke on the tourists, I think

Mountain Refreshment

There is a little road—Route 32—that goes from the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park east to the Pigeon River, which forms part of the boundary between North Carolina and Tennessee. Route 32 is 16 miles of constant right-left-right-left curves, first going up, then going down the mountain. The last mile is dirt. It comes to an end here, across the Pigeon River from Mt. Sterling, North Carolina.

I was here on a Sunday.

climbed a mountain in the rain

View from the Top of Devil's Courthouse

View of Devil's Courthouse from the Bottom

over 80 inches of precipitation annually

Why the Appalachians in the South are called The Great Smoky Mountains

Looking southwest at sunset on a very humid evening, it is apparent why the southern Appalachians are considered a temperate rainforest. Humidity can be 100%, the sun will be out, the temperatures in the 90s F, and it won't be raining.

closer to home

Crossing the Ohio River is the point at which I know that I am out of the South. West Virginia is a sort of transition zone; because of its very concentrated forest-and-mountain landscape, it is hard to see what is going on there while just passing through. Then the land drops to the river and the sky opens up and I'm crossing another scary bridge into rolling hills and farm fields. And I'm free of the claustrophobia that comes over me in those mountains, in any mountains.

bikes and books

Melissa Holbrook Pierson, the author of The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles, gave a reading at the BMW Motorcycle Owners Rally in Johnson City, Tennessee. She then sold and signed copies of said book. Johnson City is on my way north and I am in a 4-wheeled vehicle, so through a connection or two, I was designated as the deliverer of two boxes of books. And then I hung out at the Rally with her and a couple of mutual friends, and had a delightful time.

The headlight at the far left and closest to the viewer belongs to Melissa's bike. Whoever guesses make, model, and year of the bike wins . . . recognition as a true BMW junkie.

leaving the mountains

Interstate 26 cuts through the Appalachian Mountains in Western North Carolina and into Eastern Tennessee. Quite a drive.

appropriate place name

The Blue Ridge Mountains, here seen from Jump Off Mountain in Laurel Park, North Carolina, are part of the Appalachian Mountains, rising up from the Piedmont to the east, to a high of over 6,000 feet, with an average of 4,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level. Here is the watershed boundary: waters flowing down the east side go to the Atlantic, while those on the west, go to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River drainage. Lovely country.

south of confluence

The Madison River Valley is here below the Madison Mountains. Ranching in the lowland, mining in the highland. This was a hot day—temperatures in the 90sF, low humidity—but a good one to go looking at one of the rivers that becomes part of the Missouri River.

portal

Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri River open and close and open and close as a boat moves upstream and side to side on the river. At first, it just looks like the river ends in a rock wall. Then one gate opens and the view upriver opens further. Then that gate obscures the opening, but just about right away, the other side opens and the upstream portion is visible once more. But the canyon never opens completely until the end and only then can the river's course be seen as coming through this narrow portal.

This place is beautiful, but full of motorboats and fishermen and tourboats, which, of course, is how I saw the place. Sigh. My little boat would have been quieter (assuming no other traffic).

clark fork river valley

The settlement called Deerlodge, off I-90, is the home of the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, a working cattle ranch which is also part of the National Park System. The mountains in the beyond are the Flint Creek Range. This is a dry land, about 10 inches of precipitation a year. The snowmelt on the highest mountains is watched carefully, hoping that there is still snow on the 4th of July. That usually means that there will be enough water in the streams for the rest of the year.

The Clark Fork Valley is a Superfund site, however, because of the mining residue from Butte and neighboring mining towns. Nothing is as it seems.

Basin, Montana

Between Butte and Helena off I-15, Jefferson County.
Elevation 5355 feet.
Population 255.
I'm here for a month-long residency at the Montana Artists Refuge to work on my fiber art.

And, of course, on geography.

wyoming into montana

The mountains appeared faintly along the horizon, at first. Then they became this overwhelming presence. Later, they receded, but only, I think, because I started to drive into them.

adirondacks

Last weekend, looking across Schroon Lake to the Dix Range. The sun came and went, and came and went. As did the rain.

the big one

The mountain top, from the air. 20,320 feet high, the highest peak in North America.


The bottom of the mountain is somewhere in the clouds, here in the Alaska Range. Treeline is at about 2000 feet elevation.