Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, USA - October 2023
Fall has always been a season I love. The air cools while the days remain sunny, the mind is rejuvenated by vitamin D and summer's accumulated energy, and the flavors and colors become warmer.
I was in North Carolina, and I had decided to observe the tracks of the new season in the mountains. And not at random. Every year, from late September to early November, the colors of autumn transform the landscape into a kind of painting. The valleys are painted orange, red, and yellow, and there are these scenic roads with gentle curves that make driving the real pleasure of the journey.
With my friends Junkai and Michael, we drove about 4.5 hours (the average to get anywhere "close" in the United States) to reach our accommodations. Mine required climbing hairpin bends, in fog and almost total darkness, in the company of...deer and fawns posing on the side of the road (at least that's what I liked to think as I climbed slowly, enraptured by the scene).
Early the next day we hiked the Grandfather Trail, a 2.4-mile trail in Grandfather Mountain State Park, including suspension bridges, wooden ladders, rocks to climb and really quite a lot of wind, which made it even more fun. The view though-that was really priceless. And to think that the park covers 2600 acres: immense.
In the afternoon we arrived at the viewpoints on Blue Ridge Parkway, a road very famous for its views, and we were graced with a few rays of sunshine for the occasion. The sky was tinged with blue, and it seemed that suddenly a painter had touched up the saturation of all the trees and leaves around us. We sat on a knoll admiring that view, and thoughts stopped. In front of that wonder, only the smiles on our faces. It was a truly beautiful weekend.
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