GREAT BALSAMS
LOCATIONS
I am madly in love with these mountains, which are part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. I feel both tiny and huge while I’m here. Tiny because I am a speck of a being, merely wandering the same places as indigenous Cherokee, and as individually unimportant as any other living thing that’s here or been here or will be here. Huge because I am at one with the fabric of this entire place, this rotating earth, this moment in time.
With each step I take, I am fully alive and aware of my temporary aliveness.
NOTE:
This area was ravaged by Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024. Last I had the opportunity to look in late October, while walking a favorite section of the (closed) Blue Ridge Parkway, the trails were unpassable. Yet, I was relieved to see the vast majority of the natural beauty that I could see came through unscathed.
The impact on humanity, on the other hand, especially in some remote communities, has been catastrophic. Some people whose homes were destroyed continue to live in tents on their land (in the freezing cold) because of a rumor that FEMA will confiscate their land if they’re not present.
**Below, I mention that I like the small risk of weather that can turn in an instant. Helene wasn’t that. I’m curious to see how I react to a regular storm rolling in the next time I’m on the mountain.**
cover image: Art Loeb Trail
black and white set of diptych pairs:
– Sam Knob Meadow and Graveyard Fields Lower Falls
– Shining Rock Wilderness Loop and Black Balsam Knob
static black and white: Upper Falls Trail
color triptych: Graveyard Fields Loop Trail
spring-fall swipe: East Fork Overlook
video 1: Graveyard Fields Loop Trail
video 2: Blue Ridge Parkway
black and white diptych: Blue Ridge Parkway
black and white mosaic: various locations throughout the Great Balsams
black and white panorama: Tennent Mountain
color panorama: Shining Creek Trail
static color: Art Loeb Trail
color mosaic: Mountain to Sea Trial, Black Balsam Knob, Black Balsam Summit Trail, Art Loeb Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, Waterrock Knob
video 3: Art Loeb Trail
color diptychs:
– Cold Mountain foothills and Art Loeb Trail
– waterfall off of 215 and Cold Mountain foothills
– Blue Ridge Parkway and Cold Mountain foothills
final image: Flat Laurel Creek
I have thousands of images from these mountains, particularly the Shining Rock Wilderness Area. The trails are varied and sometimes rugged, or muddy, or overgrown, or confusing, but always a thrill and always changing. A few places feel almost magical — my favorite is off-trail (shhh).
I like to hike late in the day, so all I hear is the wind, hidden creatures rustling, and my boots doing their thing. I also like the small risk that comes from weather that can become extreme in an instant. Mother Nature showing off. She leaves me in awe.
When I take my family or friends, I beam like a proud mama.
Fun fact: The Great Balsams are more than a billion years old and were once among the world’s tallest. The mountaintops we see now are metamorphic rocks and they used to be the valleys — erosion wore away the taller limestone rock.