Great Smokey National Park

Buried at the bottom under cover of forest, there was this calm. It was as if you lived undercover of this great canopy of color. Water at your feet. The sound deadening softness of mushrooms. The insulation between your tread and the forest floor, by what seemed to be centuries of leaves underfoot. The light subtle, only penetrating briefly in spots to highlight the undergrowth.

In the morning, the mist and fog surrounds the wet branches. Then we find the path that slowly allowed you to see, first the sides of the hillsides bursting with fall colors and the moon still rising above the tops. No longer singular as a tree, but finally to see the forest. In one place the paths lead to the Appalachian trail cutting through the ridge to stop at shelters for the traveler. And then there is the reward of finally breaking through to the top to see the entire landscape and panorama of the Great Smokey Mountains.