This is my best bud Carl (left) and me.  We recently visited the Highlands and Cashiers areas of North Carolina to shoot streams and autumn colors.  Highlands and Cashiers are about an hour south of Asheville.  The area is a stunningly beautiful part of the state, lined with rolling hills and mountains and a wonderful array of waterfalls.  Roads are narrow and winding with a small town feel, and the people are kind and warm.

Our weather was perfect.  Evenings dipped to around 40F, while the daytime temperatures hit 60-65F with sunny skies.  Each day was filled with tons of hiking and photographing.  Hiking was quite strenuous, not necessarily from length or elevation, but from venturing off trails and into remote areas.  The forest underbrush was about as thick as I have seen, filled with logs and rhododendrons.  And our stream adventures required scaling large boulders and slippery rocks.

This image was taken at Glen Falls.  I will be posting several landscape images from the trip over the next couple of weeks.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for a great time, Carl!  It was the perfect combination of friendship, hiking, and photography.  By the way – keep your boots on, would you!?

Carl and Mark @ Glen Falls; Highlands, NC