Evening Descends Over Linville Gorge
It's easy to get big landscape vistas out west... here in North Carolina you have to work for it. I've wanted to get a sweeping panorama of Linville Gorge for some time... this one fits the bill for "sweeping" while keeping the perspective in check through the use of a 24mm tilt/shift lens. The image is an amalgam of 7 vertical images seamlessly stitched in Photoshop ACW... yet, it's still difficult to convey the immensity and wilderness that is Linville.
The photos were taken from a leveled tripod off the lower overlook at Wiseman's View, which is likely as good place as any for such a shot of the gorge. Another favorite destination, Hawksbill Mountain, is seen directly across from here. Imposing Table Rock, another well-known denizen of the gorge, is seen just to the right of Hawksbill... can you perhaps see how they got their names? Off in the distance between the two is the much lower stretch of Brown Mountain, famous for the mysterious Brown Mountain Lights, though the phenomenon is just as prevalent, if not more so, right here. Linville River divides the gorge some 1,400 feet (427 meters) below.
Night is drawing fast here, though the Sun seems to be getting in the last word. It bathes the rounded boundary of the approaching high storm in colorful light... and leaves enough light for some detail of the gorge. It's not quite peak of autumn where I'm standing here, though the scarlet of the black oaks and the brilliant red of the sumac would have you believe otherwise. Color is showing itself, though only on the high peaks, as is normal for the Blue Ridge... once it reaches peak color, it moves down at about 100 feet per day. Also as is normal for this region is that the wind is notorious for stripping the colorful leaves often before they reach peak season.
The gorge is a true wilderness... so few throughout history have bothered to homestead it, largely due to that fact. In some places, the only evidence that anyone ever lived here are daffodils that were first planted long ago. It is home, however, to squirrels, chipmunks, bats, fox, coyote, deer, bear, more than 250 species of native and migrating birds, lizards and snakes, including the most oft seen timber rattler… watch your step around here.
While this skyline is quite familiar to many who drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, I find so few who know how to get to this particular place. To find it, make your way to the little community of Linville Falls between highways 221 and 181... Highway 183 connects the two. There's a big sign at the back entrance to Linville Falls (the actual waterfall)... that's Old NC Highway 105, also known as County Line Road. Follow that for four miles until you reach the spur for Wiseman's View, which is marked. Be aware it's a dirt road, and often it's passable by only AWD or 4x4 vehicles with high clearance.
Evening Descends Over Linville Gorge
It's easy to get big landscape vistas out west... here in North Carolina you have to work for it. I've wanted to get a sweeping panorama of Linville Gorge for some time... this one fits the bill for "sweeping" while keeping the perspective in check through the use of a 24mm tilt/shift lens. The image is an amalgam of 7 vertical images seamlessly stitched in Photoshop ACW... yet, it's still difficult to convey the immensity and wilderness that is Linville.
The photos were taken from a leveled tripod off the lower overlook at Wiseman's View, which is likely as good place as any for such a shot of the gorge. Another favorite destination, Hawksbill Mountain, is seen directly across from here. Imposing Table Rock, another well-known denizen of the gorge, is seen just to the right of Hawksbill... can you perhaps see how they got their names? Off in the distance between the two is the much lower stretch of Brown Mountain, famous for the mysterious Brown Mountain Lights, though the phenomenon is just as prevalent, if not more so, right here. Linville River divides the gorge some 1,400 feet (427 meters) below.
Night is drawing fast here, though the Sun seems to be getting in the last word. It bathes the rounded boundary of the approaching high storm in colorful light... and leaves enough light for some detail of the gorge. It's not quite peak of autumn where I'm standing here, though the scarlet of the black oaks and the brilliant red of the sumac would have you believe otherwise. Color is showing itself, though only on the high peaks, as is normal for the Blue Ridge... once it reaches peak color, it moves down at about 100 feet per day. Also as is normal for this region is that the wind is notorious for stripping the colorful leaves often before they reach peak season.
The gorge is a true wilderness... so few throughout history have bothered to homestead it, largely due to that fact. In some places, the only evidence that anyone ever lived here are daffodils that were first planted long ago. It is home, however, to squirrels, chipmunks, bats, fox, coyote, deer, bear, more than 250 species of native and migrating birds, lizards and snakes, including the most oft seen timber rattler… watch your step around here.
While this skyline is quite familiar to many who drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, I find so few who know how to get to this particular place. To find it, make your way to the little community of Linville Falls between highways 221 and 181... Highway 183 connects the two. There's a big sign at the back entrance to Linville Falls (the actual waterfall)... that's Old NC Highway 105, also known as County Line Road. Follow that for four miles until you reach the spur for Wiseman's View, which is marked. Be aware it's a dirt road, and often it's passable by only AWD or 4x4 vehicles with high clearance.