Gabi and I planned an almost two week long Florida road trip for early November, but decided to turn back from North Carolina when we learned about a hurricane that was visiting Florida the same time. Instead of driving straight back home, we made a little detour and visited the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia (map). Shenandoah is part of the huge Appalachian Mountains just like the Smokies, the Green Mountains, the White Mountains and the Baxter State Park. It was already past peak for fall colors, but we still had a beautiful warm autumn day without the crowds. We drove the scenic Skyline Drive and stopped at a few overlooks to enjoy the sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I also found a few trees that still had some leaves on. Fortunately, they were in backlight so I could find a few compositions with my big lens that looked fine. Even though late fall is not the ideal time for photographing this park, we enjoyed our day here.

Gear: Canon EOS 5Ds camera, Canon 500mm f/4 lens, Gitzo tripod, RRS head