Over the past 20 years I have found a number of different places to hike and take photos, most of them in South Carolina. One of the last places I found was DuPont State Recreational Forest in North Carolina. I had heard of it for number of years but had never visited. It was a more than two-hour drive, a long way just to spend an hour or so in the woods, but the online information seemed interesting, and so on an early morning I set out in that direction.
I cannot recall the circumstances, but for some reason I thought I needed to drive all the way to Brevard, North Carolina in order to visit DuPont State Recreational Forest. But in fact, that meant I drove past the turnoff to the quickest route there and drove another 12 miles to Brevard. Perhaps I subconsciously just wanted to go there again. I had visited Brevard a few times as a kid just driving around with friends.
I got to Brevard and had no idea how to get to the park. I stopped at a fast food place outside of town, got some breakfast, and asked for directions. I did not have a map but I did have a cell phone with navigation, which I had never used. A very friendly server gave me instructions and I set out toward the park.
I knew I would need gas before I got back home, so I stopped at a gas station and filled up. Heading down the road, I looked at the gas gauge and it was only about half full, exactly where it was before I pulled in for gas. Having a propensity for anxiety, I began to think that something was wrong with my car; maybe it was leaking gas; never thought to stop and check.
I could not remember the directions I had been given. So I pulled out my cell phone and used the navigation on it to try to find the park.
About 20 minutes later, I was at the end of a narrow paved road, no evidence of the park in sight, just a fenced pasture, a dilapidated barn, and some single-wide mobile homes in pretty bad shape. It felt creepy. And I was totally lost. I had to back up for about ¼ of a mile. The road was barely wide enough for two cars to pass and there was nowhere to turn around. In my distracted state of mind, I almost swerved into the ditch a couple of times. My anxiety level was getting a lot higher. And that coffee was exciting my bladder in a way that made me feel like I needed to do something pretty quickly.
I finally got turned around. I drove back to the road I had just turned off of. I sat there in my car for a few moments trying to figure out which way to go. I saw a sign down the road a piece. So I pulled out in the direction of the sign. It was a sign directing me to DuPont State Recreational Forest.
Thank goodness.
In a few minutes I had found the visitor center and managed to make it to the restroom before my bladder exploded. I was beginning to feel better. I got back in my car and cranked it up. I looked at the gas gauge and it was still half full. And then I realized I wasn’t actually looking at the gas gauge. I was looking at the temperature gauge, which always reached about halfway after the car warmed up a little. The gas gauge, just opposite of the temperature gauge, indicated that my tank was full.
I felt like an idiot.
But at least I wasn’t a lost idiot who was about to pee on himself. I had found the park and everything was fine. I walked a number of trails, driving to different places to see what I could see. I noticed a spot called Hooker Falls and decided to go take a look. I parked in a gravel-covered parking area, grabbed my camera gear, and headed off down a dirt trail alongside the river. Pretty soon I could hear the falls. I followed the sound and then began to look for a way to get closer to the water, especially when I saw how interesting the falls looked.
I took a lot of photographs, most of them weren’t all that good. I decided to get as close to the water as I could, down below the falls. That proved to be the best location for taking a photograph. And I took a lot of them. I had to adjust the shutter speed to get that smooth look you see in some pictures of water flowing over falls. Eventually I got that looking pretty good. But the area was still mostly in shadow and the photographs just didn’t seem that interesting.
Then something happened that changed the scene completely. The sun had been moving slowly behind the trees as it rose higher. The warm air was causing mist to float up off of the pool of water under the falls. And suddenly a large beam of light from upriver lit up the water above the falls, a pool of water directly below the falls, and the mist that was rising up over the water. That’s what you see in today’s photograph.
I took that photograph about eight years ago. And when I look at it I can almost hear that water crashing over those falls down into the pool with the sun reflecting off of it. All in all, it was a good trip. And I have since then found a much better route to get there. But it still a long way to drive that early in the morning; problem being, when it’s all over with, you gotta drive all the way back home. I don’t know if I’ll be going back to that place again. I guess it depends a lot on how I feel about that long drive. But I’m glad I went. And I’m especially glad I took my camera with me.