Dogtown

A few weeks back, some massive storms brought some heavy rains to the state. In between the rounds of storms, I managed to find time to head out and try to take a few pictures. I drove over to North Little Rock, and went through Burns Park. The first stop was the old pioneer cabin, which was built before the Civil War.



Across the street from the cabin is a concrete path that heads up a hill to a small cemetery.



A little bit of fog began to develop, slightly obscuring the vibrant green of the tree's new Spring leaves.



And then I headed down to the old covered bridge:





I grew up in North Little Rock, so I felt it was my civic duty to make a visit to The Old Mill. I arrived and was a little surprised to see that there wasn't anyone else there. I guess the heavy storms kept everyone else away, but it was a little strange to have the entire place to myself. The only other creatures there were some ducks, who lazily drifted about in the water.



My grandparents used to live in Lakewood, just a few blocks away from the Old Mill. So I've made tons of trips to the Old Mill over the years, and I don't think I've ever seen this much water flowing over the waterfall here.





And from there I headed to the edge of North Little Rock, where the city meets the flat lands of the Arkansas Delta. Sitting in a field is an old house, slowly collapsing away.





A guard dog approached and barked a few times and then headed over to the field and posed for a few pictures by the old house.

The Pyramid

The next day we started the drive home, leaving Gatlinburg in the morning and heading from the Smokies towards the flat lands of eastern Tennessee. As always when driving with two kids, it was a bit slow going. But we made it to Memphis in the evening, and exited the freeway to made a quick visit to the Pyramid.

When we drove through here before, Jonah was intrigued by the Pyramid and wanted to see it up close. So we took a chance to get out of the car and stretch our legs for a bit. I had also never been inside the Pyramid, which was built in 1991 and is the tenth tallest pyramid in the world. It was originally built as an arena and concert venue, but the building ended up being vacant and unused for several years in the early 2000s. In 2015 the Pyramid underwent a massive renovation and reopened as the new home for a Bass Pro Shops. We headed in and it was a little odd at first to see an outdoors supply store sitting inside the massive interior of the Pyramid.



There is an elevator that stands in the middle, offering rides to an observation deck at the top of the Pyramid. We headed up, and took in the view of the Mississippi River and downtown Memphis.





And one last shot from the road trip, of the sun setting over the Mississippi River. After this we crossed over this bridge into Arkansas and made it back home.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Tremont

There were a few places in the park that were closed while we were there. The Roaring Fork road and Kuwohi (Clingmans Dome) were still closed for the season. Some places were closed due to damage from the hurricane last year, or for renovation (like Mingus Mill or the trail to Abrams Falls). But on our last day in the park, we were able to visit an absolutely beautiful area - Tremont.

The road to Tremont follows the Middle Prong of the Little River, which is filled with all sorts of little cascades and waterfalls. It was really scenic, but it was a bright and sunny day so I didn't bother to stop and take pictures. We finally arrived at Tremont, got our National Parks passport stamped at the Visitor Center, and then drove further down the road to do a hike on the Middle Prong trail with the kids.

The trail starts out by crossing a bridge over the Lynn Camp Prong, which provides a great view of the creek on one side of the bridge and a really great view of a waterfall on the other side. The only problem, of course, was that it was still bright and sunny (the worst conditions for doing any sort of waterfall photography). But there were a few skinny white clouds drifting across the sky. So I ran and grabbed the camera and tripod, thinking there might be a slim chance that a cloud might pass in front of the sun long enough to get at least one picture. I stood there for awhile, staring at the slow-moving clouds as they meandered across the sky. Of course, none of them bothered to go by the sun.

I admitted defeat, but was luckily able to return to Tremont later that day when the light would be more favorable for photography. It was late in the afternoon, when the sun finally went below the mountains enough for the river and creeks to be cast in shadow.









I made a lot of stops along that road...



At one stop, golden sunlight percolated through the trees and was reflected in the water.







And then further down the road:







The first permanent settlers in this area arrived in 1860. But they would soon be replaced by logging companies, who began to buy up the lands in the Smoky Mountains in the early 1900s. The vast swaths of virgin timber here were logged in the 1920s, and a small town was established as the base of operations that was called Tremont. Soon the town would encompass a "post office, hotel, maintenance sheds, a general store, and a community center that served as a church, school, and movie theater." By the time the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in the 1930s, much of the area had been deforested. Luckily the trees have regrown and it's hard to tell that there had been logging here.





The name "Tremont" is a combination of the words tree and mountain, which is really fitting when you drive past the rivers, creeks, trees and mountains here.







After making so many stops, it was starting to get dark when I arrived at the start of the Middle Prong trail again. I was now finally able to get a few pictures of the waterfall from the bridge, after having spent so much time waiting earlier that day.



And the view of the river from the other side of the bridge:



There wasn't much light left, but I hurried to get a few pictures of the Lynn Camp Prong Cascades:



And then I headed over to the Thunderhead Prong, and got a few pictures of this small waterfall.





I started to head back to our place in Gatlinburg, since it was nearly dark. But I made one last stop, and got a few pictures of this little waterfall along the road in the last bit of light.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Little River Again

Later one afternoon, I was able to return to the Park and get a few more pictures along the Little River Gorge Road. And I know there is already a whole other post here with photos of this river. But these are different!! See, those other ones were taken on a rainy morning. These ones were taken on a sunny day. So totally different and totally worth a whole other post with more pictures, right?

The weather during most of our stay in the Smokies was bright and sunny. Which is nice if you want to have a pleasant vacation with your family, but not so great for taking landscape photos. But in the evening, the sun drops below the mountains and most of the river is left in the shade. Which is really helpful for someone wanting to run around taking pictures.

I drove down the Little River Gorge Road and made a stop just upriver from The Sinks. Here the river crashed and thrashed around several large boulders.



And in the background, the distant trees were bathed in amber light from the evening sun.



And then looking the other direction. The river passes below the bridge and then barrels into The Sinks.





I had parked at The Sinks, and as I was walking back to the car I saw that the changing light was illuminating different parts of the mountain. Some of the trees were brightly lit, while others were left in shadow. Someone walked up to me and asked "what are you taking pictures of? Is there a bear?" He looked disappointed when I told him it was just the trees.



I got back in the car, but soon stopped at another pull-off for this view of the river:



And then the view at another pull-off:





I spent a lot of time at this next pull-off, both taking pictures and just sitting and watching the river as it rushed by.









By now it was almost sunset, and the light was starting to slowly fade out.



It was getting dark when I made one last stop along the river.





And one final bonus picture, if you weren't tired of looking at pictures of the Little River already. This was taken on a different day, after we had spent a few hours in the park. We were heading back to Gatlinburg but I had to pull over again, and ran out to get one more picture of river reflecting back some of that sweet golden evening light.