SkyWatch Friday: Watching the Sky in the NC Mountains

I have returned from a vacation in Blowing Rock, NC with a zillion photos.

I live in central NC and we are slowly beginning to have fall foliage but the mountains north west of me are in the full fall swing.

We hopped in the car Sunday with beautiful blue skies for the drive all the way there.

The sunset behind the mountains was very beautiful that night.

It was fun watching the slow changes while the sun was going down for the night.

I love the way the mountains get darker and the sky more colorful at the end of the sunset.

Monday was gorgeous with blue skies and wispy clouds.

We headed out to Julian Price Memorial Park at the foot of Grandfather mountain which has 4,200 acres and the trail we walked on is part of the NC mountain to sea trail.

The NC mountain to sea trail will be 1,000 miles when completed so I won't be hiking from the mountains to the coast. North Carolina is only 560 miles long but the hiking trails don't go in a straight line.

At the higher elevations a lot of the leaves have already dropped but it was still very beautiful.

I like the way you can watch the progression of fall when driving west from where I live.

Our Monday hike was very tiring so it was great to have a reason to stop and take pictures.

There were quite a few trees that looked like they were dead.

There were also healthy trees that had already dropped their leaves.

Tuesday was just as beautiful as Monday.

The next shot was one I took at Bass Lake on Tuesday looking up at the Cone Manor house.

The reflections in the lake were so much fun to photograph.

I love the way the colorful leaves look against a blue sky.

Wispy clouds started streaming out across the sky.

By nightfall on Tuesday large clouds were moving in.

Wednesday was foggy and raining the whole way home but that kind of weather has its own beauty.

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