Alright, I’ve got some good news and I’ve got some bad news.  The good news is that this week was going to be the end of my fall color series, but after looking through my images and seeing how many weeks are left in the year (I can’t believe it… it’s the end of the year!), I decided to keep going!  Everyone in my social channels seem to be enjoying it, and there’s plenty of time to share the other things I have planned.  Now, on to the bad news…. actually there is no bad news.  Only good news. 🙂

A couple years ago I started trying to find nice trail scenes to photograph, because a lot of people experience the Smokies by hiking (while I’m on the topic, there are more trails in the Smokies than Laurel Falls, the Chimneys, and Mt Leconte via Alum Cave Bluff – there, I said it), and I thought it would be fun to capture that.  I revisited that this year after the Appalachian Trail sign featured below caught my eye one morning while driving up to Clingmans Dome.  I really love the scene above because its more so the suggestion of fall, than in-your-face fall colors.  I also just love the moodiness of that particular part of the forest (its very dense through there).  Such a nice spot.

Below in the Alternative Perspectives section, another trail I photographed happened to have this bunch of aster flowers that had fallen over into the trail.  I had actually been looking for some of these wild flowers to photograph, so it lent itself well to both the idea of the flowers (which bloom here in the fall) and a trail scene!

More next week!

–Dan Thompson