Our Favorite Facebook Photos: 11/11/16

A frosty morning at a beaver pond in the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, WV.

Quietly reflecting...Sharp Top, Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway, Va...Fall 2016

A View from the Top of Red Fork Falls..This image reveals a beautiful view from the top of the falls all the way down to the splash pool at the bottom and with some fall colors and leaves this made for a beautiful scene.This stunning prize awaits the truly adventurous hiker who makes the trek to one of Unicoi County’s majestic waterfalls. The glorious view of these cascading natural wonders is well worth the trip for the careful and conscientious hiker. It is a short hike from the road, but the walk is not for everyone. Approaching the falls entails navigating a VERY steep path that has jagged rocks, roots, wet leaves and is generally considered a bit dangerous. Located in the Limestone Cove Community, Red Fork Falls is approximately 80 feet in height and is one of the most scenic falls in the area.Red Fork Falls is located in the Cherokee National Forest, Unicoi, TN.For more of our work check out and like our photo page at https://www.facebook.com/JandGPhotosLikes, comments and shares are welcomed, but please do not alter the photos (crop the border and our copyright) and use it as your own.

Rock Lake in West Virginia!! Hoping you all enjoy it

Cataloochee, North Carolina - 9/4/16

A West Virginian OnionMountains and valleys interweave to create the stacked layers of the Allegheny Mountains, nestled here lies Germany Valley as viewed from North Fork Mountain in West Virginia. Pendleton County. — at North Fork Mountain Trail.

"24 Karate Gold" - Balsam Mountains - Great Smoky Mountains National Parkby~ Bk Photographywww.facebook.com/photographybybk

Good Friday Morning!We've had a few discussions about how "we don't win them all" over the last few weeks. Our ethic has always been "the prettiest thing we see today" - but we go on plenty of trips and hikes and bushwhacks that don't end up where we thought they would, or the conditions are bad, or the hike never-quite-pays-off, or the terrain and typically rhodo generally beat us back.Today I'll tell the story of how we "won", and next week I'll tell the story of how we didn't. :)On this particular day, we had already put in work. 8+ miles of dead-reckoning hiking through some pretty rough terrain on the backside of Dolly Sods. We got back to base, looked at the clock, and thought about a hike we had looked at but never done - the trail description says 2 miles, strenuous. We said, "two miles, psshhh, we got this!" and took off. This trail was *straight-up*. Steep, muddy, slick. I knew I was pushing Carmen hard - she mentioned that I was "chasing light" up this mountain, and I was trying to talk her into eating the "emergency biscuit" that she had in the top of her pack all day to give her the fuel she needed to finish. Upward, upward, upward, to the point that we started joking that the person who measured the distance had to be wrong - and then I could see the plateau starting to open up. A short scramble up a small rock face, and we broke onto the top of the mountain, and could see this little feature of rocks at the "peak". We pushed through the blueberry-mountain-laurel thicket, and climbed up - and this was the payoff. We arrived at the peak at -exactly- the right moment, and were able to bask in this glory until the sun dropped behind the ridge.Then we hauled tail off the top to get back to a real trail before the pitch-black dark set in (the top of Dolly Sods by headlamp is a very disorienting place).We are always looking for chances to say "yes". To try just a little harder, to do something we haven't done. My dad told me once that his goal for most of his days was to do something he loved, and go to bed tired. We definitely did that this day.Sunset on the Allegheny Front (The Day We Won) - West Virginia(C)2016 Samuel Taylor Photography, All Rights Reserved

Pulled on the bank of the road to capture my favorite barn and the barely visible surrounding mountains in the Chattahoochee National Forest getting drenched with smoke from the wild fires - 11-6-2016.