The Epic Hike From High Shoals To Chestnut Knob...
Ever since I started visiting South Mountain State Park, I have fell in love with the rugged terrain and pristine wilderness that the park offers. It is the first place I tried my hand at shooting waterfalls, capturing the blurred water with slow shutter speeds that give it that 'silky' effect.
I am always drawn to High Shoals Falls and the moving water that flows there and there is something that I find pleasing about water in motion.
Since my Daughter had done so well on the previous trip to SMSP and easily hiked the High Shoals Fall Loop Trail, I asked her to if she wanted to hike with me one day to the Chestnut Knob Overlook. She replied with a, "I'd love to Daddy!".
I have also acquired a brand new Sony NEX-5 Micro 4/3rds Camera that mixes a little of the compactness of a point and shoot camera with a DSLR's sensor and interchangeable lenses. I wanted to test this camera and see if it could shoot waterfalls as well as my beloved Canon T1i. All the shots in this entry were taken with my NEX-5 and I begrudgingly left my DSLR at home to make sure that I gave my NEX-5 a decent workout. More on the camera later.
So, off we went to SMSP to hike to the base of High Shoals Falls and immediately backtrack to a few tenths of a mile shy of the parking area and begin the climb to Chestnut Knob.
The Weather was nice and cloudy which works great for shooting waterfalls and the temperature was in the low 60's which keep us cool.
The hike up to Chestnut Knob was pretty strenuous for the first 3/4 of a mile or so but it eventually becomes easier.
About 7/10ths of a mile up the Chestnut Knob Trail you can take a short hike to the Jacob Fork River Gorge Overlook. From the overlook you can peer down into the Gorge and see High Shoals Falls from a distance as well as hear the roar of the river!
During my entire trip, I only missed my DSLR once, and that was here. I would have liked to used my 18-250mm Sigma or 300mm Pentax to zoom in on the falls from this overlook. Everywhere else the 18-55mm Kit Lens and 16mm F 2.8 Pancake lens on the Sony NEX-5 worked great.
I also added to my Sony NEX-5 Gear a new lightweight Manfrotto pistol grip lightweight tripod with quick release plate/mount. It is always great for waterfalls and self portraits and this one weighs very little! Worth carrying in my humble opinion.
Here is a link to my video I took of the Gorge. 30 seconds of pure relaxation.
The Azaleas were in bloom and a joy to see. The last few times I visited SMSP it was before the vegetation had awoken from it's Winter slumber, so it was a joy to see nature smiling at me along the hike.
With Spring Weather snakes sometimes cross the paths that humans walk. I was worried that we might encounter such a creature but this Eastern Box Turtle was the only reptile we encountered. In fact after leaving High Shoals Loop, we never saw another person until we returned to the parking lot at the end of our hike.
We finally reached the top of Chestnut Knob and our steam power had just about ran out. About 100 yards before these signs we had spent about 20 minutes resting and eating granola bars.
The last 2/10ths of a mile to the overlook is actually downhill from these signs on a rock and root infested trail.
This is the view from the Chestnut Knob Overlook. What a beautiful view! Although it didn't show up in the video I shot or the photos, we could make out the skyscrapers of Charlotte on the horizon shrouded in the haze.
My Wonderful Daughter on the Chestnut Knob Overlook with the Jacobs Fork River Gorge in the background.
After admiring the view for some time, we headed back down the trail eventually made it back to the parking lot. We hiked 7 miles total, doing some side trail exploration and had a great time.
I wanted to cover a little on the Sony NEX-5. I found it to be a great compact camera to take with you on the trail. The interchangeable lenses are a neat feature and I really love the 16mm lens for shooting Panoramas and video. I like how I can add my beloved Neutral Density Filters to the lenses to shoot waterfalls as well as a polarizing filter to do the jobs I need it to. I find that with the 18-55 lens, I do a bunch of shooting wide angle and in that range but I will be adding that 18-200mm lens in the fututre to cover all my bases. I really love the panoramas I shot with the NEX-5 but I didn't include them on here as they are TOO WIDE for my website template. You can see those in my Flickr Photostream easily accessed by clicking on the slideshow on the right.
The menus in the NEX-5 are not laid out like on a digital SLR camera and sometimes it can take a little while to setup a shot. With shutter and aperture in one menu, white balance in another and various other settings spread through out the camera. I have a good handle on how to find what I am looking for now and the menus are not complicated, just laid out different than my Canon Cameras. Maybe someone who shoots with a Sony DSLR might think it is just fine.
I hope you enjoyed hiking along with me. Thanks for reading.
Mark