MY VISIT IN APRIL 2024

Where to begin?  This is the question of planning any long-term trip. I had two waypoints, Vancouver Island for my artist residency, and McCarthy, AK for two months working at The Wrangell Mountain Center. But how to get there? Given the temperatures and weather of the spring, it made sense to spend some time “south” while the northern regions started to warm up. Shenandoah was a place that I had always heard great things about and after some time on Google, I found the images and articles at the Nature Conservancy talking about conservation efforts, biodiversity, and migration. Since this was the first stop in the trip, and feeling the need to make it farther west before an extended stop, I settled on Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Cumberland Gap.

Much of the day was spent marveling at the beauty of the landscape. After a full winter of planning, I was finally on my journey. I found an overlook for sunset where I set up my camera and waited.

The next day I headed for the Cumberland Gap, a notch in the nearly 100-mile-long Cumberland Mountain where three states meet: the southwestern tip of Virginia, the southeastern corner of Kentucky, and the northeastern corner of Tennessee. I arrived before sunrise, and upon getting to the top of Pinnacle Overlook it became clear that there was going to be a narrow window to capture any usable imagery. A band of clear sky above the horizon led to full cloud cover. I set up my camera again and waited for the sun.

With this region being so close to my home I plan on returning to document more of the landscape and migration in the years to come.