Who went camping? I went camping. (Photo-laden thread)

[shock6906]

I went camping this past weekend. First, I met up with my friend, Mike, in Walhalla, SC. We stayed the first night at his place drinking some home-brewed beer and admiring the night sky. Up here, there isn't nearly as much light pollution, so the Milky Way can be captured in a photo.

The next morning, it was time to hit the road and find a place to camp. There were a couple stops along the way.

Stumphouse Tunnel was the first stop.

The Stumphouse Tunnel is home to at least a few bats. This one tolerated my presence long enough for me to get a half-assed photo of him. I didn't want to bother him too much by getting closer, and I didn't bring my longer lens inside as I figured there wouldn't be much use for it.

Closer crop of the bat

The Issaqueena Falls are at the Stumphouse Tunnel grounds.

The sun was very bright, so it wasn't that good for taking proper waterfall photos.

From there, it was upward through the mountains. This is somewhere in the Bad Creek area.

 

[shock6906]

This dragonfly decided to sneak into the frame just as I was clicking the shutter button.

These are the lower Whitewater Falls viewed from a distance.

Upper Whitewater Falls from a little bit closer.

We stopped off at Silver Run Falls after checking out Whitewater. This is where we ended up camping. Of course, there was more running around in the meantime as it was nowhere near time to set up the tent.

After surveying the Silver Run Falls area, it was time to run to Clingman's Dome.

Many of the trees looked like these. I heard it was from acid rain. I haven't taken the time to confirm whether or not that's true.

There's an observation tower at the top of the dome.

The tower affords some nice views.

 

[shock6906]

Did I hike the Appalachian Trail or not? You decide.

Unfortunately, it was a bit hazy in some directions.

More dead trees.

Now it was time to start heading back to set up camp. Along the way, I had to get some photos of one of the mountain streams.

There were some fallen trees and debris along the stream that formed a natural dam. It was quite beautiful.

 

[shock6906]

Then it was time to set up camp. Here was the plot for the night.

Taking advantage of the dark night sky, I went to the falls to capture some starry photos.

This is the Milky Way above Silver Run Falls. I used a flashlight to paint the scenery while the camera exposed the night sky above.

I just wanted the stars in this one with the trees silhouetted.

The next morning, after crawling out of the sleeping bag and into the 40 degree morning, it was time to get some shots from the top of the falls. The campsite was back in the woods at the top of the photo.

Livin' on the edge.

After some breakfast, it was time to see a few more sights. We met up with another friend and headed up Whitesides Mountain in Highlands, NC.

Some of those white sides that earned the mountain its name.

 

[shock6906]

These flowers were growing right out of the post. I tugged on 'em to see. (Too bad I missed the focus by a little bit...)

Don's actually afraid of heights. Here he is conquering his fear.

If you leapt over the edge, it'd take a little while to hit the bottom.

Somebody left their hat. We figure he jumped. Hehe...

I wandered out onto a rocky outcrop to get this uninhibited view of the surroundings.

The final stop before heading back to Charleston was Dry Falls. These were gorgeous falls.

It's pretty cool that you can walk behind the freefalling portion of the falls.

That was it. From there, it was a twisty venture through the mountains back to Walhalla. Mike and I shot a couple of guns (SKS and 12 ga. shotgun) and parted ways. Now I'm back to the flat lowcountry. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

 

[Knowdafish]

Awesome pics of some very pretty countryside!

 

[Clay]

Great pics! It makes me want to go camping now.

 

[Conner]

Gorgeous! I've been wanting to go camping before it gets too cold, this makes me want to go even more.

 

[ceeej31]

looks like it was a great trip, I'm actually going camping this weekend near the canadian border. can't wait

 

[kevinfleming21]

did you go to Bald Rock in highland, NC? I used to land survey all over these mountains and did the subdivision for Bald Rock Myself.