Autumn color from atop the Allegheny Front

[Mousetoescamper]

I took the photo in Bear Rocks Preserve which is adjacent to the Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. Takes my breath away

Gorgeous!

[Mousetoescamper]

5. Thanks, Diamond_Dog!

[judesedit]

2. Really awesome pic. Thanks. Beautiful. Makes me want to go there

[Mousetoescamper]

6. Thanks, judesedit!

[judesedit]

15. You're very welcome. It's the angle you caught it at.

Like you're looking over the beautiful kingdom

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. What a gorgeous photo! My eye moves into it and everywhere is beauty. Thank you! n/t

[Mousetoescamper]

8. Thanks and you're welcome, CaliforniaPeggy!

[sprinkleeninow]

4. Splendiferous❣Colors, components, ALL!

[Mousetoescamper]

9. Thanks, sprinkleeninow! Splendiferous is a splendid adjective!

[Deuxcents]

7. The blues are ..soft blue sky. So serene. So beautiful.

Was this part of the Blue Ridge Mountains?

[Mousetoescamper]

11. Thanks, Deuxcents! The Allegheny Mountains, west of the Blue Ridge.

[Staph]

13. Nope!

Despite the dubious geographical stylings of John Denver, the Blue Ridge Mountains are just barely in the easternmost county of West Virginia, many, many miles from Dolly Sods and Bear Rocks.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

10. Spectacular vista! Thank you.

Paz.

[Mousetoescamper]

12. Thanks and you're welcome, RestoreAmerica2020!

[Staph]

14. Beautiful! I haven't been to Bear Rocks in decades.

My sister and her husband spend their weekends working in Dolly Sods, helping the Forest Service provide assistance to the visitors out on the back roads and trails of the Monongahela National Forest. It's beautiful country up there, but, unfortunately, it's getting as crowded as Georgetown on a Friday night!

[Mousetoescamper]

18. Thanks, Staph! There are still places there where one can avoid the crowds, but not at Bear Rocks--

especially during fall foliage!

I was once there during the fall bear hunting season and the scene was surreal. There were tour buses--you don't want to encounter one on a narrow NFS forest road!--loaded with "leaf peepers," and pickup trucks mounted with hunting-dog boxes, or with rails to which dogs were tethered.

The hunters, some wearing sidearms, and their dogs, which were wearing radio collars used to track them as they sniff out bears, were walking along both sides of the ridge road, blending with the crowds of tourists. There was the distant baying of hounds and an occasional gunshot. This might have been shocking to the tourists, but hunting is permitted in the wilderness area along with the blueberry picking that is also popular with the locals.

Yes, unfortunately this national natural treasure is in danger of being loved to death.

[brer cat]

16. Beautiful, Mousetoes!

[Mousetoescamper]

19. Thanks, brer cat!

[niyad]

17. Just. . .WOW. Thank you so much.

[Mousetoescamper]

20. Thanks and you're welcome, niyad