Roan ascent
Yesterday Carolyn and I went back to the Roan for a bit of reprise from the heat, where it was probably about ten degrees cooler than in the valley. We paid out three bucks and went to the picnic area near the gardens. We sat around for a couple hours, then went back down the mountain and turned back on the road that goes to the Miller homestead. It is an old farmhouse with outbuildings that are being lived in, used, and preserved. You can descend to the house on a bunch of steps if you are physically able. It all belongs to the US government.
When we left there, we rode the short distance to the top of that mountain where the Miller family cemetery is located at the corner of an open field. Just below the graveyard is a wooden overlook platform that gives a good view of the Roan Highlands if the air is clear, which yesterday it wasn't.
We parked in the shade near the cemetery, and for more than an hour, we enjoyed the serene quietness of that beautiful place.
Carolyn did all the driving yesterday, and when we left the Roan area, she decided the day was still young enough for some more auto-mountaineering. She drove through the town of Roan Mountain and turned onto the road that goes to the Buck Mountain area. After several miles of ascent, she turned onto Walnut Mountain Road, which has three ways out that I know of. One is through Dennis Cove to Hampton, another outlets at Fish Springs community on Watauga Lake, and the third comes out at Elk Mills near the North Carolina border. She chose the latter because of a little church that sits on the mountainside. It has been abandoned for many years, but we found that someone had installed new doors and windows on the main floor, and was cleaning up the vandal damage in the basement. I took pictures there last fall, and a few more yesterday.
By the time we got off the hills, Carolyn was worn out and had a backache. She was glad to get home after a 10 hour day, a big part of which was spent driving crooked mountain roads.
I shot nearly 250 photos; digital film is cheap! Of that number, I may have ten percent that are suitable for sharing here or on Flickr.
----
My dear old friend Mouse has bestowed a new nickname on me which I like very much. From now on, y'all can call me "Precious"! Mouse tries to get under the skin whenever possible, but he knows I am immune to his needles!
5 comments:
Sounds like a good time. Don't you hate it when you take a whole bunch of pictures and then you do not like what you took.
Sometimes I think we are to hard on ourselves as photographers.
So true!
I have my camera set to bracket on most of my shots, so you can reduce the actual number by at least one-half.
And on top of that, I shoot everything in sight. My 8 gig card holds 480 RAW photos, so I have some leeway.
What road is the abandoned church on? I spend a lot of time riding around Elk River and Watauga Lake area for such picturesque scenes and haven't found this. Have you seen the little rock church on Elk River right behind Elk Mills store? Two weeks ago driving past on Sunday I saw the whole congregation out Baptising folks in the river. I regretted not having my camera.
Hi Doc,
The church is on Heaton Branch Rd and not far downhill from Walnut Mountain Rd.
We first came across it in 1991, and it had already been abandoned. There is a community cemetery beside it, and both the church grounds and the cemetery are very well kept. We went back there last October expecting it to be in ruins, at best. Although it had been badly vandalized, it was still standing, but all the pews were gone.
We were so tired both times we came out at Elk Mills, we didn't look around at all. We will head back that way before winter and see what we can find.
Here is a link to a photo I took of the cemetery last year:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/1580997476_eee5714f23_o.jpg
Here is a link to a pic of the church:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2094/1561995915_3915052d26_o.jpg
Yeah, I would like to get some shots of an old time baptism.
Post a Comment