Hanging Rock, N. Carolina

Yesterday I posted a few pictures from our N. Carolina trip. Specifically, images I took while hiking out at Pilot Mountain. Taken in the same day - which was the second part of our single day exploration of the N. Carolina natural scenery - were images from Hanging Rock State Park. Located somewhere in N. Carolina (Don't ask. I had no clue where we were), Hanging Rock was a desolate place to be in winter. The park features all sorts of amenities for those visiting during the normal seasons in the year. From what my brother tells me, the large parking lot is filled to capacity in summer and fall. Most visitors come in the fall to enjoy the colors of the falling leaves and the brisk weather. For those that visit in the summertime, Hanging Rock features campsites for overnight camping and a manmade lake complete with floating decks for enjoying the water. I found it odd that a lake was "installed" in such a naturalesque park, but I guess it makes for enjoyable summers. I can imagine jumping right in after a long day's hike or maybe taking a swim just before sunset.

Our visit mainly consisted of a short and relatively tame hike. As you can imagine by my featured photo up top, the main attraction of this hike were two relatively small waterfalls. I had never photographed water in motion before but have seen many pictures of the subject. I did a lot of reading on capturing water so that it has that "flowy" look just in case I was ever face with an opportunity to photograph water in motion. Earlier in the day, which was spent 45 minutes away at Pilot Mountain, I had struggled with light balancing and exposure. Most of the day was overcast and contrasty because of the midday sun. Hiking to these streams later in the day proved to be a treat since the sun had already begun its descent for the day. The trail we were hiking on did not offer a great deal of variety in terms of photography subjects. There was the occasional rotting log, mold growth, or jagged stone jutting out of the ground. In Florida I am used to palmettos, wild birds, and colorful plants. My brother had to constantly remind me that there was a reason no one else was in the park. Not only was it numbing cold, but the plants, birds, and seasonal related features that give the park its "charm" were not going to be seen. I tried to keep a keen eye open for something unique. I was hoping for some type of northern squirrel or maybe even a robin or other northern native bird, but I would have no such luck on this hike.

The entrance to the park was quite a windy drive. My brother managed to make me extremely carsick from his Mario Andretti style of driving in the curving roads. Most of the drive to the park was hilly and windy as we made our way up to the park's interior. Once at the main parking area, instead of hopping right out, I decided to recline the front seat, try and regain my balance, and avoid possibly vomiting. Once I felt normal we headed off to one of several trails. One of the main trail heads would take hikers on a climbing 1 mile hike that would have easily taken us a little over 30 minutes. With the day coming to a close, we decided to take the relatively tame and shorter hike to the small waterfalls. Along the way we passed a cabin designed for group picnics. From a distance it very easily resembled some scary cabin in the woods where people walk in and find a witch or something from the movie "Blair Witch Project." With the gray sky overhead, empty park, wind, and chilly temperatures, there may as well have been a stalker looking to hack our limbs off and leave us for the bears. Ok, so that sounds a little extreme, but that's just the kind of news you might see here in Florida. To be perfectly honest, I was glad it wasn't the middle of summer or sometime in the fall. I get anxious around tourists and I don't think I would have quite enjoyed the hike with a bunch of people around us. Along the hike we saw plenty of decaying forestry. The fungus growing on tree stumps and stones made for interesting subject matter. I personally like how the park design people created walkways out of stone. It gave the park a more authentic feel. A recurring plant that I saw is pictured just below. This particular plant looked like something I would find in a Florida forest or perhaps in a tropical climate. I wouldn't think a plant or small shrub that produced a flower-like bud would grow someplace cold.

When we finally arrived at our first waterfall I was both excited and disappointed. I was excited because I knew I would have a chance to practice a new technique and possibly get some convincing shots. The disappointment was mostly because of the size of the falls. It was more like a creek that had found its way to some open rocks on the side of a mountain. It's not like some waterfalls that "power" their way through a mountain and really make thunderous noise. However, the water managed to spill over nicely and create a good distributed splash at the base. The accumulation of pebbles, dead tree limbs, and leaves offered a good variety of colors and textures. For the most part there was relatively little greenery, but this was North Carolina in the wintertime. We spent about 20 minutes at the first waterfall and then headed further down the trail to waterfall #2. The second waterfall was more impressive because it had a cavernous feature just underneath the falls. There were a lot more crooked stones, plants, and a nice pool of water collecting at the base of the falls. I snapped off a couple of shots with my Yashica TLR and am hoping for some positive results. Once I get the pictures back I'll scan and post them here. One of the more exciting features of the falls was the presence of icicles. The ice was far and few, but a surviving artifact of the winter that was falling on the area. The lack of snow made the scenery appear normal, but it was in fact cold. Just take my word for it. We spent a good 45 minutes independently wandering around taking snapshots of whatever caught our eyes. As dusk approached, as well as closing time for the park, we headed back to our car and drove back to Kernersville.

Although N. Carolina and the two parks we visited paled in comparison to three years in Alaska, I can definitely say hiking in the mountains was a refreshing change. I would like to make a return visit sometime in the summer to swim in the lakes. If you grew up in Florida like I did then you never had a chance to really enjoy swimming in the lakes all thanks to the native alligator. Heck, any other time outside of winter might have produced much more favorable landscape for photography and possibly some better opportunity for outdoor activities. I will take away with me these nice memories of spending time with Shanti and my brother whom I rarely get to see since he lives in N.C. Perhaps sometime down the road a permanent change of pace and scenery will be a possibility. Stay tuned...