A Magical October Afternoon at Blackwater Falls State Park

Blackwater Falls October10 - Images by Elijah Goodwin

These images are from a trip I took out to West Virginia on October 10th.  I spent the morning at Dolly Sods, which was incredibly beautiful, but very difficult to photograph due to high winds and persistent rain and mist.   I got a few successful images which I will upload soon, but eventually, as time wore into the afternoon, I decided to give it up and head down the mountain to Blackwater Falls State Park.  As you can see the fall foliage was just about at peak, and despite some overcast and occasional misting, the photography conditions were much better.  I almost left before sunset because of the persistent overcast, but I'm so glad I didn't.  After the sun set it was able to illuminate the underside of the bank of stratocumulus undulatus clouds.  Suddenly the whole sky lit up in a spectacular light display (it actually got brighter after the sunset than it was just before).  I don't know if my photographs have done it justice (I had limited time to get into position and the best location was already taken up by a small photography workshop group), but it certainly was a magical experience.  Once again proving that you should stick it out until the very last light of the day.  You never know how conditions are going to turn out, particularly when you are dealing with overcast skies.