Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Monday, November 5, 2012

Hike to Look Rock Observation Tower (Smokies-10/23/12)

Look Rock Observation Tower
George and I spent a day in the beautiful SMOKY MOUNTAINS in Tennessee on 10/23/12  visiting the Foothills Parkway near Townsend, Tennessee... If you missed my first post showing all of the gorgeous colors up there,  click HERE.

Today I will share another post from that day.  We hiked up to the Look Rock Observation Tower on top of the mountain.... It's not a hard hike (only about a mile round-trip) and on a clear day,  you can really see a long distance from up there.  If you are ever in the Smokies,  we recommend this hike.

The picture above was taken on the Foothills Parkway---looking up at the tower....  Below are more.   Be sure to click on the pictures in order to see them larger.




Now we are on the TRAIL leading up to the tower... George took this picture of me. The Fall colors were still gorgeous here.  You can see that I am wearing my Camera Vest --with water on my right hip and my long lens on my left hip!!!!!!  I'm ready to go!!!! ha




Here is more of the pretty Fall colors on our walk!!!!  Isn't that blue sky just great as a backdrop?




We are almost at the TOP.....  Here is a picture I took of George on the ramp up to the tower... We both took lots of pictures while hiking up to the tower.




I snapped this picture of the Look Rock Observation Tower --up close and personal!!!




I took this picture from the top ---looking down at the Foothills Parkway.   That is where I took the first picture at the top of this page.




Here's George at the top of the tower.  I'd love to be up here either at sunrise or at sunset.  Wouldn't that be tremendous????




Here's another picture taken from the top of the tower.  You can see the beautiful Smoky Mountains in this picture... We were there in the middle of the afternoon ---so the sun wasn't always in the 'correct' place for some good photos... Like I said above,  we need to come really early in the morning sometime--or stay until sunset.




George took this picture of me ---on the top of the tower.  As you know,  I love being on top of a mountain.. This one is awesome!!!!




Here's a neat picture of the sun shining on some yellow leaves  we saw on our way back down the mountain...




I'm going to finish with two more pictures taken while we were on the top of the tower.  I used my long lens to get a good picture of a farm in the valley below the mountain....




And finally,  here's one more ---showing a lake in the valley below.  The last time we came to this observation tower,  it was in September of 2010 I think.... It was nice --but the Fall colors weren't nearly as pretty as they were this year...

Hope you have a good week.   As you probably know,  this is a busy time of the year for us... We are taking the week off ---so our next blog posts will be on Monday,  Nov. 12. 

Hugs,
Betsy