When people think of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, chances are Cades Cove is one of the first things that comes to mind.  Admittedly, the Cove makes up a relatively small part of the park itself, but the area is just iconic.  Even with all the frustrations of bear jams, deer jams, racoon jams… and just traffic jams in general, there’s is just something special about this little corner of the earth.  As I’ve mentioned multiple times that I’ve spent more time in Cades Cove after dark than I have during daylight hours, but this is of course not to say there isn’t anything worth seeing or photographing during the day.  That couldn’t be further from the truth actually, and on this particular evening I was reminded of that fact. 

My wife and I had driven in to the Cove not long before the road was set to close (the road closes at sunset) and I stopped by Sparks Lane to have a look.  The setting sun was nice already, with lots of warm light hitting the mountains that surround the Cove, and wouldn’t you know it, just as the color was really starting to pop, the ranger showed up and told us we had to leave because he was locking up.  I sent Holly on out without me, telling her I’d just walk out once the show was over – and what a show it was!  The setting sun cast some awesome colors across the sky that were definitely worth the walk out! 🙂

Different topic, and if you follow me on social media you’ve seen this already, but this week I had a nice little surprise.  Flickr, which is a photo sharing community I’ve participated in for a long time, had interviewed me about my Star Voyager image and it posted this week to their blog!  Pretty fun stuff!  If you haven’t seen it, check it out when you have a minute.

More next week!

–Dan Thompson