I just returned home form a three-day camping and hiking trip in Virginia. I stayed at a campground about 15 miles from Skyline Drive. Skyline Drive is one of America’s most scenic byways and runs the entire length of Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains. With 75 overlooks through 105 miles of manicured, tree laced, winding roads; it could not have been more lovely—well, maybe if I had hit it at peak color <grin>. Maybe next time…
When we first arrived at Skyline Drive the colors were super saturated, heavy to orange and yellow. In the early mornings, the overlooks were filled with dense fog. Each stop was more beautiful than the other—it was a lot to take in. I love trees and could photograph them all day long but it was more of a camping trip than photo trip so I tried not to spend too much time on photography.
Our campground was clean and quiet. The only sounds we heard were from neighboring cows in the meadow. We stayed in Luray; there are famous caverns in that town but we did not check them out. We were busy doing a lot of forest bathing and exploring.
I decided to bring my Olympus gear on this trip because I knew I wanted to hike and it is incredibly lightweight. I also did not want the hassle of setting up a tripod over and over again; I I brought one just in case. I packed my Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II , Olympus ED 12-40mm f/2.8 and my Olympus 40-150mm lens. I also brought my MeFOTO GlobeTrotter Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod but never used it. For every photo here, I used the 40-150mm lens which is effectively an 80-300mm. The top photo was captured from a moving vehicle through the slightly dirty front windshield.
I got home late last night and am writing this just before heading to bed. I had so much fun on this trip—mostly because it wasn’t a well planned trip, we didn’t even know where we were going to stay when we left Jersey. A true adventure!
Topaz Glow and Impression applied to create a leaf abstract.