TIM McLENEGAN

North Carolina 2012

  1. Finishing up our short waterfall hike in Blowing Rock on the first day
  2. Driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Beacon Heights trail
  3. Looking out over the Blue Ridge Mountains from Beacon heights
  4. Walking along the Beacon Heights overlook
  5. Jonathan at Beacon Heights
  6. The mountains looked like they were evaporating that day
  7. Linville Falls main fall
  8. Linville Falls
  9. The Linville River below Linville Falls
  10. The upper portion of Linville falls
  11. Narrow section between the upper and lower sections of Linville Falls
  12. Part of Upper Linville Falls
  13. The river turns a tight bend through a deep narrow section of rock just before taking the big plunge
  14. The incredible view from Mount Mitchell
  15. At the top of Mount Mitchell_ I was coldest on the trip here
  16. So excited to take in the scenery!
  17. Wiseman’s View looks out at the Linville Gorge
  18. Brushy Ridge Trail, Pisgah National Forest
  19. Linville River
  20. A small stone marks the start of the trail
  21. Trailhead for the hike up Table Rock
  22. This rock outcrop looked extra mysterious in the fog
  23. Amazing view of the Linville Gorge from the top of Table Rock
  24. Rebecca and Allison kayaking
  25. Jonathan poses for his picture with Joel
  26. The whole family out on the pond
  27. Brisket tacos
  28. State #22- Virginia
  29. The colorful hills of the Grayson Highlands in southern Virginia
  30. The Grayson Highlands was one of the best spots of color that I saw on the trip
  31. The trail to Mount Rogers was very foggy and windy
  32. The trail went through this narrow rock formation
  33. One of the shelters along the Appalachian Trail
  34. Appalachian Trail blaze
  35. At the top of Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia
  36. Joel and the tip of the top of Mount Rogers
  37. This is a picture for Chris
  38. Blue sky!
  39. The state keeps wild ponies in Grayson Highlands to keep the ridges bald_ They are normally all over the place, but we only saw these two at the very end of the day
  40. State #20- North Carolina; text sign
  41. Older state line sign hypes up how awesome North Carolina is
  42. Joel and Rebecca at the Biltmore Estate, built by the Vanderbilts in the 1890s
  43. The Biltmore House
  44. Outside the grand staircase of Biltmore House
  45. The Walled Garden at Biltmore Estate had a bunch of shrubs that were all grown to have straight branches
  46. Another one of the straight-branched shrubs in the walled garden at Biltmore
  47. The pond at Biltmore Estate
  48. Biltmore's boathouse
  49. Boathouse at the Biltmore Estate
  50. Brick bridge at Biltmore
  51. The conservatory at Biltmore
  52. Walking through the walled garden
  53. Biltmore House and one of the statue garden
  54. The Biltmore House has a nice view over the nearby hills
  55. The Grotto Falls in the Smokies
  56. Grotto Falls
  57. Grotto Falls and the cascading creek below it
  58. Happy moss
  59. The Ephraim Bales place
  60. Ephraim Bales house pier
  61. Taking a peek
  62. The view at lunch in the Smokies
  63. One of the many cascading waterfalls on the way to the Chimney Tops
  64. The view from the Chimney Tops looking toward Tennessee
  65. Looking at the lower Chimney Tops
  66. You reach the top of the Chimney Tops by climning up the rock edges
  67. Sometimes the tree colors come in patches
  68. Looking up at the Chimney Tops from the base of the final climb
  69. Allison enjoys her leaf
  70. One of the larger cascades on the trail
  71. So much more water out here than in California
  72. These were very soft and would spit out a green cloud of dust (spores) when squeezed
  73. Cascade in the Smokies
  74. (Most of) the family enjoying the waterfall
  75. I missed this sign on the way out, so the climb surprised me, but it was fun to do
  76. Clingmans Dome, highest point in Tennessee
  77. Joel climbing the Chimney Tops
  78. View from the Chimney Tops
  79. Joel sets up the ropes for climbing at an abandoned-quarry-turned-park in Taylorsville
  80. Ropes set for first climb
  81. Joel belays Paul as we try the warm-up climb
  82. I'm almost to the top!
  83. Made it!
  84. Joel tries climbing it a different way
  85. Joel makes it to the top
  86. This was in the parking lot while we were climbing
  87. Front
  88. Hot-air balloon landing near I-40
  89. Chimney Rock
  90. We climbed many stairs to reach the top of Chimney Rock
  91. The top of Chimney Rock
  92. The top of Chimney Rock_ (1)
  93. Devil's Head at Chimney Rock State Park
  94. Devil's Head and the village of Chimney Rock
  95. Rebecca and Jonathan at Chimney Rock
  96. Hickory Nut Falls in Chimney Rock State Park
  97. The base of Hickory Nut Falls
  98. He looks suspicious to me
  99. Chimney Rock from the base
  100. MI$$ FIT