This morning I went right back to Tsali to ride another trail. Over night the clouds had disappeared and just a low morning fog hovered in the valleys. The sky was clear, the air was crisp and chilly, just slightly above freezing. Last night, the higher peaks in the distance had received their first dusting of snow of the season (see pictures below).

I picked the Right Loop of the Tsali Trail, because it winds along the eastern side of the knoll that juts out into Fontana Lake. So when the sun peeked over the mountains around 7:45 I was on the sunny side of the trail. As I wound my way out to Windy Point, I had a great view of the lake and I watched how the sun slowly burned of the morning fog that hung over the water. It was very quiet, just a few birds were chirping in the chilly morning air and occasionally a squirrel ran up a tree, chattering anxiously. I met no other bikes but a couple of times shots in the distance broke the peace. It was so quiet that the noises from my bike’s gears seemed loud and obnoxious. I had an awesome time – this is a gorgeous trail! When I returned to the parking lot at around 9:30, there was just one other car – a guy with a bow and arrow who was heading out into the woods for some hunting.

More pictures below the fold …

This is a view of Fontana Lake from the overlook on NC 28 near Tsali, just before sunrise.


Last night the higher peaks got their first dusting of snow this season.

Sunset last Sunday from Water Rock Knoll on the Blue Ridge Parkway.


[update: here’s a map – I rode the dotted trails. (source of the map)]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 26th, 2005 at 10:45 pm and is filed under biking, Cool places, photographs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.