{"id":8332,"date":"2017-09-03T17:45:29","date_gmt":"2017-09-03T21:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jfowlerphotography.com\/?p=8332"},"modified":"2017-09-03T17:45:29","modified_gmt":"2017-09-03T21:45:29","slug":"the-blue-ridge-parkway-part-1-of-2-late-summer-color-2017-09-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jfowlerphotography.net\/?p=8332","title":{"rendered":"The Blue Ridge Parkway &#8211; Part 1 of 2 &#8211; Late Summer color &#8212; 2017-09-02"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is the time of year when we are all getting ready for fall. But in the meanwhile, we should not ignore the late summer color that is quite amazing. My good buddy, Alan Cressler, resident of Atlanta, Georgia called a few days ago and asked if I would show him the location of a particular <strong>Clubmoss<\/strong>, <em>Dendrolycopodium hickeyi<\/em> or <strong>Hickey&#8217;s tree-clubmoss<\/strong>. He has been wanting to photograph that species for years, and had not had the opportunity to locate it. I knew of a sure location for it, so I said, &#8220;Yes!&#8221;. Of course, I would never turn down a trip to one of my favorite places, The Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>For the time being, I am going to put off our search for the elusive clubmoss and point my attention to the other things we saw on that day-long trip &#8211; ones that add that late summer splash of color to the scenery. The <strong>Clubmoss<\/strong> search will be detailed in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jfowlerphotography.net\/?p=8360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Part 2 of 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We began our trip by driving from my house in Greenville, South Carolina through northern Greenville County on our way to the Parkway. My preferred way of getting there is to pick up Hwy. 276 and head to Brevard, North Carolina &#8211; gateway to the Pisgah National Forest. Driving Hwy. 276 would take us by a roadside waterfall called Wildcat Wayside Falls. It is directly next to the highway and is a favorite of locals, and it is one of the very few waterfalls that is wheelchair accessible. We stopped in front of the falls and took a few shots of the cascades. The amount of water running over the falls varies considerably depending upon the rainfall in the preceding week. We had experienced a thunder-storm the day before our visit, so at least the falls were not as dry as they sometimes are. Here is my shot from in front of the falls: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jfowlerphotography.net\/?p=8332\/\"><img title=\"Wildcat Wayside Falls\" src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4358\/36174137154_c7debf5468_c.jpg\" alt=\"Wildcat Wayside Falls\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><\/a> <strong>Wildcat Wayside Falls<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>We did not linger long, because we had a drive of 2 hours ahead of us with a few planned stops before we reached our final destination. Although the drive up the Blue Ridge Escarpment was rather uneventful providing very few opportunities for photography of rare wildflowers, we both enjoyed the drive since it took us through a part of the Carolinas that is one of the most beautiful &#8212; winding mountain roads covered with a canopy of green leaves.<\/p>\n<p>In no time (it seems) we reached Brevard, North Carolina and the gateway into the Pisgah National Forest. I had told Alan about last year&#8217;s find of <em>Spiranthes ovalis<\/em> var. <em>erostellata<\/em> or <strong>October Ladies&#8217;-tresses orchid<\/strong> along the Davidson River. The location had been provided to me by friend who lives in the area. So we parked the truck on a pull-off by Hwy. 276, gathered our camera gear and made our way to the path by the river. I was able to go directly to the spot where I had photographed the orchid last year &#8211; it was not far from the highway. However, there were no <strong>October Ladies&#8217;-tresses orchids<\/strong> to be found on this trip! We searched and searched, but still could not find them. But, all was not lost. While looking for the orchids, we found a downed <em>Liriodendron tulipifera<\/em> or <strong>Yellow Poplar<\/strong> aka <strong>Tulip Poplar<\/strong> which had been infected by a strange-looking fungus, <em>Chlorociboria aeruginascens<\/em> or <strong>Blue Stain Fungus<\/strong>. I am given to understand that it is not rare, but the presence of its fruiting bodies is rather rare. I&#8217;ve seen the &#8220;blue stain&#8221; in some wooden bowls that have been fashioned from the infected wood. I always believed that the wood had been dyed in some fashion after turning, but now I realize that it was all just a natural effect. Here is a shot of the half-inch (~10 mm) fruiting bodies of this <strong>Blue Stain Fungus<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4347\/36612799740_06d699a95a_z.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Stain Fungus on downed Yellow Poplar\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>I also had another surprise for Alan. On last year&#8217;s visit, I had located several sites along the river for <em>Corallorhiza odontorhiza<\/em> or <strong>Autumn Coralroot orchid<\/strong>. The odd thing about these particular plants (for me, anyway) is that many of the plants produce open flowers. Generally speaking, those <strong>Autumn Coralroot orchids<\/strong> in our region do not produce open flowers. The flowers never open (they are <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cleistogamy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cleistogamous<\/a>) and are self-pollinating, requiring no pollinator to produce seeds. There is a variety of this species that always produces open flowers, and it is called, <em>Corallorhiza odontorhiza<\/em> var. <em>pringlei<\/em> or <strong>Pringle&#8217;s Coralroot orchid<\/strong>, but it does not make it down into our area. I&#8217;m not quite sure if these open flowers on &#8220;our&#8221; orchids actually invite pollinators or if this is some rather odd mutation of an otherwise closed flower system. I saw no pollinators on this visit, but that is not unusual. In any case, here are some images of these orchids:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4406\/36612797360_65d6d046da_c.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Coralroot orchid\" \/><\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4438\/36838754222_50a9d4b593_z.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Coralroot orchid\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4378\/36838753762_8f38e74ef1_z.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Coralroot orchid\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4341\/36869129051_831e6f0488_c.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Coralroot orchid\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4376\/36612793820_474a3a23a5_c.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Coralroot orchid\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There was also a small population of plants with reddish stems and some red in the expanding seed capsules. Note that these plants produced only closed flowers:<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4422\/36838753232_0720d4914a_z.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Coralroot orchid\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4384\/36612792700_bdbe398c39_z.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Coralroot orchid\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>While we searched for additional orchid plants, we saw a number of strange-looking, leafless plants that turned out to be <em>Epifagus virginiana<\/em> or <strong>Beech Drops<\/strong>. These wiry plants are actually parasites which grow on the roots of <em>Fagus grandifolia<\/em> or <strong>American Beech<\/strong>. There were many American Beech growing along the river bank, so I should not have been surprised to find this beautiful parasitic plant. Most of the plants had not begun to bloom, but we did manage to find a couple of plants with open flowers:<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4358\/36612783860_e93daa83ef_z.jpg\" alt=\"Beech Drops\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4362\/36612784830_10276788eb_z.jpg\" alt=\"Beech Drops\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>We finished photographing the orchids and made our way back to the truck. I had two other places I wanted to stop before reaching the Parkway. The first one was just up the road a bit, so we reached it quickly. I wanted Alan to see the tiny <em>Geranium thunbergii<\/em> or <strong>Thunberg&#8217;s Geranium<\/strong>. From a distance of 6 feet (~2 meters) they merely look like simple white flowers, but up close, they are quite lovely with their pink stigmas and blue stamens. The veins in the petals are a shade of lilac. Here are a couple of shots of these beauties:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4422\/36838746422_ec2f110210_c.jpg\" alt=\"Thunberg's Geranium\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4366\/36612773480_15f1a0bcb7_c.jpg\" alt=\"Thunberg's Geranium\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The second spot was where I had photographed some rather robust <strong>Autumn Coralroot orchids<\/strong> last year. We made it to the area and parked in a pull-off a short distance from the orchids. Upon reaching the roadside site, we found that there were only a handful of plants, and those were rather puny. I did photograph one, though, which was growing just next to a couple of <em>Triphora trianthophorus<\/em> or <strong>Three-birds orchids<\/strong>, one of which was sporting a seed capsule:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4431\/36201530353_ea051af2d8_c.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn Coralroot orchid and Three-birds orchids\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So, we got back into the truck and headed up Hwy. 276 to where it connects with the Blue Ridge Parkway. From that point, it&#8217;s a wonderful drive, any time of the year in any direction. We turned south, heading toward the area where the <strong>Clubmoss<\/strong> was growing. Since I&#8217;ll be covering this part of the trip in the next blog entry, I&#8217;ll move on to the next stop along the way &#8212; a few miles farther along the Parkway. But before I do so, I will show a couple of early blooming <em>Gentianella quinquefolia<\/em> or <strong>Stiff Gentian<\/strong>. As expected, we found many plants that were still in tight bud, but we did find two plants that were in full bloom, showing off their rich, purple flowers:<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4390\/36838746902_4f80dabd4a_z.jpg\" alt=\"Stiff Gentian\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4380\/36612774870_622504724c_z.jpg\" alt=\"Stiff Gentian\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>From there we drove directly to what was to be our final stop. The Wolf Mountain Overlook provides habitat for several rare species. It is a tall, vertical cliff face that is constantly dripping wet from seepage runoff. Here is a shot of a portion of the wet cliff face I took several years ago:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c2.staticflickr.com\/4\/3851\/15092638290_6eb3d34baa_c.jpg\" alt=\"Vertical wet cliff at Wolf Mountain Overlook\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Many of the plant species somehow manage to find a tenuous foothold in the cracks in the rock face. Those that cannot do so, grow in the shallow ditch at the foot of the cliff face. Here is where we find the endemic, <em>Gentiana latidens<\/em> or <strong>Balsam Mountain Gentian<\/strong>. The large majority of the plants were in tight bud, so we were fortunate to find one group of plants in full bloom. The color of these 1.5-inch (3.75 cm) flowers is difficult to describe in words. So, I will introduce you to them with some images:<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4337\/36838747882_24edb062d3_z.jpg\" alt=\"Balsam Mountain Gentian\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4364\/36838748842_cf87cc9f14_z.jpg\" alt=\"Balsam Mountain Gentian\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4411\/36612781700_c8a8c77fae_z.jpg\" alt=\"Balsam Mountain Gentian\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4372\/36612779960_cda6194e67_z.jpg\" alt=\"Balsam Mountain Gentian\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Another beautiful wildflower species which grows in the shallow ditch is <em>Chelone obliqua<\/em> or <strong>Red Turtlehead<\/strong>. Its flowers resemble the head of a turtle, so&#8230;.. This is not an uncommon plant species, but its presence at the foot of the cliff certainly adds a welcome splash of color to the dark rock. We were fortunate to find some plants in bloom because we were just a bit early for peak bloom. Here are a few images of the flowers:<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4362\/36838755392_d5454870ca_z.jpg\" alt=\"Red Turtlehead\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4399\/36612801790_253e3d14d5_z.jpg\" alt=\"Red Turtlehead\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>A few months ago, I photographed a very rare species for the area at this location: <em>Triantha glutinosa<\/em> or <strong>Sticky Tofieldia<\/strong>. It is found in only a couple of counties in the mountains of North Carolina. It is more commonly found in the states surrounding the Great Lakes. On this visit, all of the plants were forming seed capsules &#8212; all but one plant which obviously had not gotten the message. It was in perfect bloom. We didn&#8217;t find it until Alan had photographed the plants that were in seed. How lucky for him! Here is that plant:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4340\/36838743422_237bff5db2_c.jpg\" alt=\"Sticky Tofieldia\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While we were photographing some of the plants in the shallow ditch, Alan found some carnivorous plants growing on the cliff face: <em>Drosera rotundifolia<\/em> or <strong>Round-leaf Sun Dew<\/strong>. How this plant manages to hold on to the wet, vertical rock is beyond my imagination. Yet, there they are. Here are some images of a few of those plants:<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4394\/36612790190_0e9884bc69_z.jpg\" alt=\"Round-leaf Sun Dew\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4425\/36869128721_562fd9e626_z.jpg\" alt=\"Round-leaf Sun Dew\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4384\/36821571566_2fcc28464f_c.jpg\" alt=\"Round-leaf Sun Dew\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We were just about ready to leave, when we saw a bright orange critter attempting to crawl up the wet, rocky, cliff face. Alan knew exactly what we were looking at: <em>Notophthalmus viridescens<\/em> or <strong>Red-spotted Newt<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4384\/36201532023_4f28912abe_c.jpg\" alt=\"Red-spotted Newt\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was getting late, and Alan had a couple of hours to drive even after we returned to my house. So we turned the truck around and headed north where we would eventually pick up Hwy. 276. But as fate would have it, Alan spotted a streak of blue as we passed it at the posted speed of 45 mph (72 kph). So, I turned around at the next overlook, which was around the next curve. I drove back to the spot, which was another wet cliff face, although much smaller than the one at Wolf Mountain Overlook. What he had briefly seen was a very dense growth of <strong>Balsam Mountain Gentian<\/strong> growing in and among a thick growth of <strong>Red Turtlehead<\/strong>! It was getting late, and light was fading fast, so we rushed to get our camera equipment out of the truck and across the road to the cliff face. We both used hand-held flash for fill light; otherwise, we would not have been able to take suitable images. Here are some of the images of this spectacular group of plants:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4411\/36612777820_94641969d3_b.jpg\" alt=\"Balsam Mountain Gentian and Red Turtlehead\" \/><\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4416\/36612783030_fbda672cbe_z.jpg\" alt=\"Balsam Mountain Gentian\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4350\/36612803250_1cba060cb9_z.jpg\" alt=\"Red Turtlehead\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>As you can see in that shot on the upper right, there is a caterpillar munching on the <strong>Red Turtlehead<\/strong> flowers. If you, dear reader, know the identification of the caterpillar, please leave a comment with the answer.<\/p>\n<p><u>Update, (2017-09-04)<\/u>: One of my astute readers reports, &#8220;the caterpillar is actually a <strong>Sawfly<\/strong>, a Hymenopteran rather than a butterfly or moth. Check out <em>Tenthredo grandis<\/em>. <strong>Sawfly<\/strong> larvae can be recognized by having 6 or more pairs of abdominal prolegs (the fleshy-looking legs). Caterpillars never have more than 5 pairs.<\/p>\n<p>However, what excited me the most, was a strange swarm of plants that had flowers of an unknown color form. I am used to seeing <em>Impatiens<\/em> species as shown below:<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c2.staticflickr.com\/6\/5635\/21333295616_a1c6e02fe8_z.jpg\" alt=\"Impatiens capensis\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4422\/35546092673_f98f42fcc8_z.jpg\" alt=\"Impatiens pallida\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/1\/683\/21367836151_11945ed4d9_z.jpg\" alt=\"Impatiens pallida forma speciosa\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The identification from left to right is <em>Impatiens capensis<\/em>, <em>Impatiens pallida<\/em>, and <em>Impatiens pallida<\/em> forma <em>speciosa<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>However, what we were seeing could only be explained by hybridization between the species. I have not heard of this happening&#8230; Here are some shots of these strangely colored flowers:<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4374\/36838745962_e2e0162888_z.jpg\" alt=\"Impatiens color form\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4345\/36612771730_417e65bda7_z.jpg\" alt=\"Impatiens color form\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table style=\"border: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4425\/36612770240_69976b59b5_z.jpg\" alt=\"Impatiens color form\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: none; padding: 0px;\"><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4441\/36201533353_8b244e4dbf_z.jpg\" alt=\"Impatiens color form\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4332\/36612768870_d724e5bc7a_b.jpg\" alt=\"Impatiens color forms\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This last image was posed by me. I had taken one of the plants and draped it over another so that the flowers would be next to each other.<\/p>\n<p>What a day! By the time we got home it was way past dark, and I felt bad that Alan wouldn&#8217;t be getting home until around midnight. But we were both glad we had stopped at that last place. I was pleased that Alan had happened to see the blue flowers as we passed by the wet cliff face. I&#8217;m still quite puzzled at the wild color forms of a rather common wildflower. Maybe one of my knowledgeable readers will have the answer&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Until next time when I will reveal Part 2 of this adventure,<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Jim    \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the time of year when we are all getting ready for fall. But in the meanwhile, we should not ignore the late summer color that is quite amazing. My good buddy, Alan Cressler, resident of Atlanta, Georgia called a few days ago and asked if I would show him the location of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Blue Ridge Parkway - Part 1 of 2 - Late Summer color - 2017-09-02 - Jim Fowler Photography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jfowlerphotography.net\/?p=8332\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Blue Ridge Parkway - Part 1 of 2 - Late Summer color - 2017-09-02 - Jim Fowler Photography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the time of year when we are all getting ready for fall. But in the meanwhile, we should not ignore the late summer color that is quite amazing. 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