Chimney Rock, North Carolina

In order to ease my transition from France to Texas, I headed to the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. Now, certainly not as culturally rich as France…… well, lets be honest!

I was excited to see that we had some fall colors left here and since I’m testing out a new lens this weekend, the 2 hour drive from Charlotte, seemed extra long. However, it wasn’t long before I was hiking and shooting!

Chimney Rock is a cool rock outcropping right at the entrance of the Smokey Mountains.

A pretty cool rock face and we were on a trail headed for the top. If you look super carefully, there is a climber hanging off the ledge center image. Think tiny dot! By the way, these are the first few images of this lens test drive so I have a bit of a learning curve. For you uber photo geeks, its a Sigma Optics 14mm f1/8 dg hsm art fixed length lens. Yes, more wide angle photography but most importantly, a super fast and large aperture which should take my low light and astronomical photography and kick it up a notch!

Here is a blowup of the climber for those visually challenged like myself.

Chimney Rock! Yes, that is a flag. I think peak bagging in the Smokey Mountains is going to be different than the Rockies and France!

These handy dandy rails make it super nice for Dave to get close to the edge! Also notice with this wide angle lens, edge distortion is more reduced. Something some of my frequent blog readers can’t seem to embrace! Remember, this is art damnit!

Also notice the convenient trail construction which virtually eliminates your class IV sections. Also nice for Dave!

Now, this is Nicole, my sweet daughter who is enjoying this summit rock. One can’t help but notice the irony in the warning sign….. Perhaps its because she doesn’t have a can of green beans.

Its been almost a month since I’ve enjoyed a good game of Name That Peak. This convenient fact checking panel would be nice to have in the Idaho mountains when hiking with John in order to confirm the bullshit not just suspect it.