Some trips you plan. Some trips plan you.
This one started as a five-day photography road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway with my daughter — and turned into one of the most memorable adventures I've taken with my camera. Waterfalls, mountain trails, an abandoned crash site hidden in the trees, live music by a lake, and Asheville in full creative bloom. Here's how it went.
Day 1: Soco Falls & Cherokee, NC
We left Tega Cay early and drove straight to Soco Falls — our first waterfall of the trip and a good sign of what was ahead. The cascading tiers gave me exactly the kind of long-exposure opportunity I live for.
From there we rolled into Cherokee, NC and hit the Oconaluftee River Trail. Mountain laurel in full bloom, river light filtering through the trees, the kind of quiet that makes you slow down and actually look at things. I came away with some of my favorite shots of the whole trip.
We ended the night at Harrah's Cherokee Casino — dinner, a little downtime, and early to bed. Day two was waiting.
Day 2: Sylva, Woodfin Cascade Falls & Mingo Falls
Breakfast at City Lights Café in Sylva — a bookstore café with a resident cat named Cedric who looked like he'd read everything on the shelves twice. We lingered longer than planned.
Then Woodfin Cascade Falls, tucked away and worth every step of the trail to reach it. And after that, Mingo Falls — one of the tallest waterfalls in the southern Appalachians. Standing at the base with the camera, watching that volume of water come down — it's one of those moments where you just stand there for a minute before you even think about shooting.
Day 3: Waterrock Knob, Skinny Dip Falls & Asheville
I'd done my research before this one. I knew there was a plane crash on Waterrock Knob in 1983 and that the wreckage was still there — buried in the mountains, nowhere near any official trail. After reading several articles online I learned the only way to reach it was to go off-trail entirely, through dense woods with no marked path. Some hikers had started leaving informal markers along the way because getting lost out there was a real possibility.
When we reached the point on the trail where you veer off into the woods, I made a decision I wasn't entirely comfortable with — I had Leilani wait at the trail junction while I went in alone.
She was thirteen. Standing at the edge of the woods. And from the moment I stepped off the trail she was in the back of my mind for every single step.
The "path" was not a path. I was following other people's markers through dense forest with no clear sense of how far I had to go. It felt like I'd been gone too long. I kept thinking about Leilani standing there alone, and I started moving faster — which is not how you want to be moving when you're off-trail in the mountains. I was close to turning back when I finally saw it through the trees.
De plane! De plane!
I took as many shots as I could, as fast as I could, and turned around immediately. Hurrying back through the woods, no stopping, Leilani on my mind the whole way. As I got closer to the main trail I saw her — coming toward me through the trees. She'd waited as long as she could and had started coming in after me.
I got there just in time to stop her from going any further into the woods.
She looked at me and said: "Wow mommy, you look like you just got out the shower! Was the trail that hard?!"
We laughed and walked back to the main trail. Sometimes the best photography stories are the ones that almost didn't happen.
From there, Skinny Dip Falls — where we ran into park volunteers working to restore the trail. I spent time on the abstract details here. The textures around a waterfall, the patterns in the rocks, the way water moves around an obstacle — that's where the intimate nature work happens.
We ended the day in Asheville. Broadway Street buzzing with art and music and every kind of creative energy. After three days in the wilderness, the city felt electric. I photographed until dark.
Day 4: Chimney Rock State Park & Lake Lure
Chimney Rock delivered everything I came for — dramatic landscapes, hidden waterfalls, the mysterious bat cave entrance, and delicate goatsbeard flowers blooming against rugged rock faces. The contrast between the delicate and the dramatic is what makes Chimney Rock so endlessly photogenic.
Lunch at Old Rock Café by the Broad River — outdoor patio, forest views, river sounds. The kind of meal that earns its place in the trip journal.
In the afternoon we went to Lake Lure, where I set up by the water and played some classical guitar — Gaspar Sanz's "Canarios." There's something about music outdoors, by a lake, in the middle of a photography trip, that feels exactly right. Nature and art in the same breath.
Day 5: Rutherfordton & Home
The final day took us to Rutherfordton, NC for a performance by the Rutherfordton Chamber Consort. Live chamber music to close out five days of waterfalls and wilderness — it was the right ending. Music, like photography, is just another way of saying: this moment matters.
We drove home to Tega Cay full of images and grateful for every one of them.
Several images from this trip are available as fine art prints — including Mingo Falls, Woodfin Cascade Falls, and scenes from Chimney Rock. Browse the Waterfalls & Moving Water and Doors, Archways & Hidden Places collections, or get in touch if something specific catches your eye.
