Tough times behind, Tough times ahead

A few weeks ago i got news that my fathers health was on the decline, He was in his 90's and had severe dementia, A week or so passed and then the sad news that he passed, I took a few days off of work and my wife and i along with our dog Alfie made our way up to the Great Smoky Mountains for a few days so i could get my head together, Its never a good time but with the Base camp trip looming it was the worst possible time, My passport was away for its visa so i was not sure if i could make it back for the funeral, The funeral has now been postponed until the 29th and i will be in Nepal, In 2014 i walked the Camino De Santiago to honor my lost brothers and it seems fitting that i will walk to Base camp to Honor my father
We pitched camp at the base of Mount Mitchell, The tallest mountain east of the Mississippi, I looked massive as we drove towards it, I had decided that i would hike to the summit to prove my fitness, It stands at 6684 feet, Our camp was at 3000 feet, The trail extending from the camp to the summit was 5.6 miles long, The first day there we walked one of the lower trails for a distance of 6.4 miles, The area is remote and beautiful and the facilities are immaculate, The best campsite i have ever stayed at, In the afternoon we drove to the summit and eat in the restaurant and then walked to the peak which was very busy with people as the weather was nice, We left there and cruised the Blue ridge parkway, stopping and taking pictures along the way, The Mountain ash trees are numerous and full of bright red berries making for great foregrounds with the mountains in the distance, The 5 mile dirt track down to the campsite had a river running along one side and small waterfalls feeding it to the other, A few were a little on the dry side and would be work revisiting later in the year but a couple were very picturesque and i spend some time shooting them
I had some new kit i wanted to test, The Nikon 18-35 stayed on my D800e, I had the Kirk Enterprises L bracket attached to the camera and the peak design 'Clip' attached to the L bracket, Not pretty but it means i can leave the L bracket attached to the camera and still clip it to my backpack, It worked great, The lens is way lighter than my 24-70 and i never noticed it whilst hiking, Should be great for the base camp trek, I love the new Osprey water bladder, Very clever design means you can unclip the water pipe that you drink from leaving it in place whilst removing the bladder to fill, It simply just clips back on when you have the bladder refitted in the backpack
There were lots of cars at the trail base and we talked to a few people, I wanted to know how long i should expect to take getting to the top, General concencus was around 5-6 hours up and half that down, I left at 7.40am and after 2 tough hours went past the campsite on the only flat area on the hike, I was surprised at getting there so fast, I had only stopped twice for about 5 minutes each time, there was a sign saying 1.6 miles to the summit and to expect around 1 hr 40mins, I was at the summit an hour later with a total time of 3 hours, I could not believe it and double checked my time, I was amazed and pleased at the same time, I celebrated with a large hot chocolate from the kiosk at the top and sat around talking to others there about what a difference a day makes, The day before was sunshine and puffy clouds, This day was heavy fog and windy, the fog would burn off an hour later, I felt so good i decided to walk down giving me a total of 11.2 miles, my wife surprised me by walking up to meet me, I slept very well that night after a celebration glass of vino,

Click on the images to make them larger

Beauty around the Craggy Garden area of the Blue ridge

The woodland and trails around the campsite were beautiful

I wish i had a macro lens as there were many variety's of fungi

The restaurant at the top had a great views and peach cobbler with ice cream that was huge and delicious

Mountain weather can be very unpredictable with low clouds looming but the breeze quickly moving them on

What with the restaurant and the viewing platform at the top it may not look like a real mountain but the trek up is very real indeed

The trail, Steep and mainly roots, rocks and huge steps

The plant life and trees changed as you went up, Heavy mist greeted me at the top

One of the waterfalls as you head down to the campsite, Such as beautiful area

I think the Nikon 18-55 did a great job, All the images above were taken with it, The top image now printed out to 18x12 and looks great, Sharpness wise i would say it bests the 16-35 F4 VR, Doesnt have VR and has a variable aperture which is not a problem as it will probably be used at F8 just about everywhere, Great value for money
I will always remember my trek to the top of Mount Mitchell and it will always remind me of my Dad
9 days before i fly, I now have everything i need, The shopping list has been quite extensive and when you see it all laid out you wonder how it will all get up there

Dave