Blue Ridge Landscapes
Smoky Blues
The Smoky Mountains' namesake "smokiness" comes from all that evapotransporation-and-volatile-organic-compound release from so many wonderful trees. The Cherokee people originally called these mountains "Shaconage" (pronounced Sha-Kon-O-Hey) meaning "place of blue smoke."
Shenandoah Storm
Never stand outside during a storm, unless there's a chance you might get a photo of a quadruple-lightning strike. Just make sure you're not the tallest thing in the cowpasture.
Gorge Bridge
The New River Gorge is home to the longest single-span steel arch bridge, and third highest bridge, in the United States. It opened in 1977, and three years later, the annual tradition of "Bridge Day" began when parachutists from a plane onto the bridge, then more parachutists joined to jump from the bridge into the gorge (NPS)
Devil's Bathtub
Nestled in the valleys of Southwest Virginia is perhaps the best swimming hole in Appalachia. Rumor has it, there's still a giant crawdad who lives at the bottom of this pool.
Linville Gorge
Sunrise over the "Grand Canyon of the East." Linville Gorge is a treasure of western North Carolina, carved by whitewater and surrounded by several rocky mountaintops and ridges.
Reddish Knob Sunrise
as seen from the border of Virginia and West Virginia overlooking Rockingham County
Other Landscapes
Black and White
A dragonfly rests on a twig, illuminated by afternoon sun in Louisiiana swampland
Scattering starlings take flight
Abandoned house on a cotton farm in Calhoun County, Georgia
A lone, weathered sycamore stands over a hayfield in Elkton, Virginia
I Dolomiti
A dramatic panoramic view of Italy's Cadini di Misurina as light pokes through the clouds that hang on sharp mountaintops
Lone Bird on Ghost Tree
A Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) perched on a long-gone conifer in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains.
Flora
reptiles and amphibians
Fungi
insects and more
Birds
River Maps
Sinuous bends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River meandering through the Valley. LIDAR imagery reveals historic river channels and the shifting nature of a river.
South Fork of the Shenandoah River, from south of Elkton, VA to north of Shenandoah, VA.
Above maps are relative elevation models (REMs) created using USGS 3DEP Data available at https://apps.nationalmap.gov/lidar-explorer/#/