Four Seasons of the Craggy Gardens Birch Tree is Complete!

Hey fans, guess what?

I got the Autumn Birch shot!
 

Ever since I first captured the Twisted Birch at Craggy Gardens with the Rhododendron in Bloom, I have fell in love with the mystic nature of this tree. 

Here is the story of each image and how I finally captured all four seasons!
A few weeks ago I shared the story of the spring shot of this beautiful old birch tree on the Craggy Pinnacle Trail in Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I won't re-tell the entire story, but I will recap a little. 
In June of 2017, I went to Craggy to shoot sunset, but the mountain was fogged in and it was pouring rain. I changed plans and went to shoot some trail shots on the Pinnacle and captured this. The fog and rain made a mystical scene and the blooming rhododendron added the pop of color that I wanted. 
It has since become one of my best selling photos and I found out how many people love and recognize the tree. 
I was not really attempting to do all four seasons at first, but one afternoon in December of 2018, my family and I went to lunch in East Asheville and I was able to see that Craggy Gardens was covered with frozen fog, or Rime Ice. I assumed that the Parkway would be closed, but once I pulled up the National Park Service "real time road closures," I saw that it was open. We finished our lunch, went home to get warmer clothes and headed up to shoot. I was able to shoot for about 30 to 45 minutes before a Park Ranger came around and told us that they were closing the road. But I had my winter shot the "Frozen Birch." 
Once I had the winter shot, I knew that the hardest part of four seasons was done. I went up in the summer several times, but other that the blooming rhododendron in spring, not a lot else blooms near the tree. Then one late summer day in the fog and rain we went up and found jewelweed, snakeroot and what appears to be some small asters blooming on the trail. It seemed to be a perfect summer addition to the series. 
Once the summer shot was complete, I knew that I only needed one more to have the complete set. Starting at the beginning of October, I went to Craggy eight times to keep checking on the color around the tree. This past week, my perseverance paid off. In a matter of three days, I was able to shoot with color on the leaves twice. I went up before sunrise on the final day with heavy rain and extremely thick fog to capture the mood to match the other three seasons. The yellow birch leaves were so beautiful, one of the days, I literally was holding an umbrella above the camera due to how hard it was raining just to keep my lens dry. But I am so happy to share it with you and now have the complete four seasons set. 
Would you like to have a set of the Four Seasons of the Craggy Gardens Birch for your home or office? Whether you want to arrange all four in a grouping, place them in different locations in your home, or rotate them out with the seasons, they will make an excellent addition to your decor! Each image is available in a 2:3 size format on my website HERE If you want it in any custom size not offered on the website please feel free to email me at SpecialOrder@RedRockPhotoNC.com
24x36 and 32x48 are the most popular sizes. A 32x48 is a the perfect size above a dresser or behind a sofa.