Once upon a time in the Appalachian Mountains the bark of certain tree species, particularly hemlock and a couple of the oaks, was valued for the process of tanning leather. Such bark was frequently known colloquially as tanbark and mountainsides rich in these species were often called tanbark ridges.
High above Bull Valley on the slopes of the Elk Mountains in northern Buncombe County, North Carolina the Blue Ridge Parkway passes across a spur known for many, many years as Tanbark Ridge, for what are now obvious reasons.
Tanbark Ridge Overlook stares down across Bull Valley into the Swannanoa River Valley and eastward into the western-facing slopes of the eastern-most uplifts of the Blue Ridge escarpment. It is often an excellent vantage from which to inhale the Beauty of the rising sun.
A focal length of 250mm, moving toward the far reaches of medium telephoto, gave me the angle-of-view I wanted and quite a bit of compression as well. An aperture of f/11 – given the camera-to-subject distance – gave me adequate depth-of-field; and a shutter speed of 0.4 second at ISO 100 gave me an overall darker-than-medium exposure.
The Blue Ridge is a unique example of our public lands, never extremely wide, but 369 miles long, passing across the Southern and Middle Appalachians, and a pair states, in a serpentine ribbon that knits these old hills together in a mosaic of wonder, reminding us that in the final analysis all is one.
I wish for Everyone a New Year filled with good health, much happiness and always love. May we all walk in Beauty.
Wishing you and Bonnie a richness of health and happiness in 2022. May your explorations continue and bring you joy!
Hey Joani, I hope you and Mark had a wonderful Holiday Season and you are both well. Thanks for your very kind wishes. I am learning the ins-and-outs of being a nomad and making what arrangements I can for the book project and the journeys/adventures ahead I hope you’ll keep up with the YouTube vlog once it’s up and running Walk in Beauty.
Happy new year! It’s a perfect sunrise to start an awesome new year!
Hi Nancy T. There have been so many wonderful sunrises from Craven Gap. I had no idea they were so close all these years. I believe you are completely correct, it is going to be an awesome year. I’m looking forward to a bit of a moderation in the weather so that my camera doesn’t seem quite so chilly in the early morning. Let me know there you are and I give you a call. Take good care and be safe. I look forward to having you with me in spirit as I wander ’round this beautiful country of ours.
I’m guessing this stunning photo depicts a sunset rather than a sunrise, but I wouldn’t stake any $ on it.
A most Happy New Year to you & Bonnie. May 2022 bring much needed joy and comfort to us all.
Hello Dr. Southworth; it’s great to hear from you. I hope you are safe and well wherever you may be. Actually this is a sunrise from Tanbark Ridge Overlook on the BRP looking very much toward Swannanoa and Black Mountain across Bull Valley and the drainage of Bull Creek. Sometimes is impossible for me to know either, although there a few clues occasionally. We are looking forward to seeing you again whenever to pandemic slows down. Please take good care of yourself until then. Walk in Beauty.
Thank you all so very much for all of the wonderful support you have shown for my work over all the years that there has been an Image for the Asking. You and so many others like you have given me great motivation and encouragement to seek out the great natural Beauty of our world and to share it. I hope you will travel with me as I seek out the amazing common heritage with which we have been so richly blessed, but even more importantly that you will become engaged in the process of actively working to preserve and encouraging others to preserve that heritage for our children and their children’s children. Good planets are indeed hard to find.
Happy 2022 Everyone.Walk in Beauty.
Hi Don,
Thank you for the beautiful sunrise.
Please change my email to the one listed below so I can continue to see these wonderful image.
All of us here in Base Camp Photography are deeply grieving since we lost Judy Cummings on Thursday. She has been a remarkable woman and we miss her in so many ways. Introducing us to you was just one of the ways she enhanced our photography and our lives. We are truly bereft.