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Karla and I are in Atlanta visiting family. On the way down we stopped off at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to enjoy some mountain terrain and arrived in the nick of time. It had snowed just hours before we got to Gatlinburg. In the evening the road to the top of the mountain was closed due to ice and snow but reopened the next morning.

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As we climbed to the top of Newfound Gap, we encountered some of the best scenery the mountains had to offer.

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Even though the temps were still in the 20’s, the sunshine melted the snow as we watched.

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A short two-hour delay in arrival would have meant missing the fleeting spectacle.

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The increased moisture in the valleys seemed to enhance the beauty of the hills. Karla wondered why the mountains seemed so blue. Our research showed that the blue haze is mainly caused by VOCs (volatile organic compounds). The process is similar to bringing a fresh cut Christmas tree into a house--the room takes on a nice smell. Those same compounds that fill the house are released into the valleys from the thousands of trees below and the blue rays of sunlight are transmitted.

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We returned to watch the sunset later. It was a cloudless sky but it took on a beautiful orange glow.

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We also saw six elk and thirty wild turkeys before we left the park.

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The next morning we went over the mountain on the way to Atlanta. As we drove down the south side, we came to an opening along the top of a draw and found three beautiful what we thought might be red wolves. They didn’t stay long and moved back into a ravine just after I took these photos. Two wildlife officials looked at the photos and believed they were red wolves. Red wolves are very rarely seen in North Carolina. There are only a little over a hundred in the state. We felt very fortunate to come across three of them if that is what they were. Just today I found out through USFWS red wolf recovery specialist in North Carolina that he thinks they are coyotes. Either way it was a great experience.

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Early morning light.

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