- [Announcer] Funding for "View Finders" is provided by Troncalli Subaru, located on Highway 9 in Cumming.

Visit Troncalli Subaru or find out more online TroncalliSubaru.com.

- [Announcer] Here at United Community Bank, we are committed to doing the little things to earn customer trust, one customer at a time.

United Community Bank is a proud sponsor of "View Finders."

- [Announcer] Take your career to the next level.

With online courses and flexible class schedules, the Graduate School at Georgia College and State University is an affordable way to earn the degree that will accelerate your career.

Learn more at GCSU.edu/Graduate.

(pensive music) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) - [Chris] One of the most famous roads in the entire world, the Blue Ridge Parkway gives unparalleled access to mountains and wilderness throughout Virginia and North Carolina.

Episode One highlighted some truly stunning locations that provided us with the chance to capture some memorable photographs.

But we weren't done.

From a cascading waterfall to a hike we will never forget, Episode Two showcases even more of what makes this storied road so special.

Welcome back to "The Blue Ridge Parkway."

(pensive music continues) - Stretching 469 miles through two states.

- Home to more plant species than any other park in the US.

- Home to the highest peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

- This is the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I'm Chris.

- I'm Paul.

- [Both] And we're the View Finders.

(upbeat Appalachian music) (upbeat Appalachian music) (reflective piano music) - The Parkway is a 469-mile designed landscape.

It's a two-lane road that goes through beautiful mountainous areas, beautiful pastoral areas, elevations from about 400 feet at James River in Virginia, all the way to over 4,000 feet just south of where we are now at the southern end of the Parkway near Richland Balsam.

- So the parkway goes up to Mount Mitchell, for example, and it's the highest peak east of the Mississippi.

Very, very scenic ride up to Mount Mitchell.

Along the way, there's Craggy Gardens.

The rhododendrons and mountain laurel that are blooming this time of year, it's just spectacular to see.

South of here towards the Smokies all the way it's gorgeous.

The Parkway goes up over 6,000 feet just south of here and it's just spectacular.

People from, we love to look at the license plates of the cars from all over the country, really, that come here to enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway.

- As someone who grew up on or near, very near the Blue Ridge Parkway, I do have fond memories as a child of spending a lot of time on the Parkway.

One of the features of the Parkway at regular intervals is we have picnic areas and I remember traveling up on Sunday afternoons for picnics with grandparents.

I think there's even a photograph of my brother and I at this overlook as children, so those memories do last a lifetime and they're here now for a new generation of visitors to this park and we couldn't be happier about that.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) ♪ Green light glimmer on the city streets ♪ ♪ I look at you and you look back at me ♪ ♪ No words are spoken in the space between ♪ ♪ We're moving forwards towards eternity ♪ ♪ The engines running, I can feel it breathe ♪ ♪ It blurs from view and now my vision's clear ♪ - It has been recommended to us by multiple sources, many people, the internet and also actual live human beings, and it's pretty.

- Judging from the traffic that's out here, I can see why.

- The word is out.

We do not have this to ourselves.

This is not like some of the other spots that we found along the Parkway, but it is really pretty.

I like how you can go to either side, so obviously we're gonna be shooting the sunset.

- West and east, yeah.

- Yeah, but like when we got here, the storms were going, there's lightning and rain in the distance and everything, so that was kind of cool, and literally all you had to do is walk across the parking lot to see it, so very cool place.

The weather is changing like by the minute.

- Constantly, yeah.

- What do you think?

- It looked good about an hour or so ago.

It turned bad, but then it turned good again.

(Chris laughing) - So it's like- - Now it's in between stages.

It doesn't know what it wants to do.

It doesn't know if it wants to clear up or it wants to cast white shadows or whatever that is all over the mountains.

- I know, I don't know.

- I'm just gonna sit back and wait and play around with it.

- We got about almost exactly to the minute one hour until it sets and I have no idea what's gonna happen.

It could be a total bust or it could be beautiful or it could be obviously anything in between.

- Let's keep our fingers crossed on this one because- - I know.

- It came highly recommended by a lot of people.

- And we had a bit of a drive to get here.

We're not gonna be able to get back here again, so this is it, like it's gotta happen tonight or we're not gonna come away with anything at Waterrock and I hope, hopefully, hopefully we do because it is a storied place here on the Parkway.

♪ Doctor, doctor, bring me to my feet ♪ ♪ And see there's nothing left but the machine ♪ ♪ Destroyed my heart and filled me up with greed ♪ ♪ I'll stop for no one at all ♪ ♪ At all ♪ ♪ At all ♪ ♪ At all ♪ ♪ And all this time ♪ - So like has happened so many times on this trip so far, it just went off unexpectedly and there's color everywhere.

We've been walking back and forth to either side.

Paul, what do you think?

- Yeah, this is good.

- This is good.

I mean, there's color, there's layers.

We got different compositions.

We've been kind of walking around.

We're sharing it with a lot of people, but it's been manageable and I'm gonna go run around and take some more pictures before this color fade.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) ♪ All this time ♪ ♪ I've been rushing backwards towards the starting line ♪ ♪ And my head is spinning ♪ (pensive music) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) - Oh, well, it's nature, man.

All the research says we're happier when we're out in nature and when you're hiking with other people, being with people is also, you know good for the soul, good for the body.

So I've been coming to these mountains since I was two and started summer camp here when I was eight, so I grew up in the woods and the outdoors.

I've lived in cities around the world, but I keep coming back here.

- You know, more of a tomboy as a little kid and being outdoors all the time and I just can't imagine myself being inside all the time, so it just gets me out and it gets me to see nature and all kinds of weather we come out and it could be raining and snowing, sleeting, and even though we repeat some trails every day, every time we do a trail, it's different, it's a different adventure, and being, the weather could be different, the trails could be different.

Meeting people along the way or just being all by yourself, it's a way to get out even by yourself with one with nature and just seeing the beauty that God has given us and I just love it, I just love it the way I feel when I'm finished on a hike, I just feel like top of the world.

- Some people wonder my age.

We get on a trail and other people ask, "How old do you think this guy is?"

And we do that with my friends when we hike in Europe, and hardly anybody believes it, but I am 93 years old.

I'll turn 94 in December and I've hiked quite a bit when I started hiking with the Carolina Mountain Club, which is a great club, and my first year over in Europe was in 2007 when I was 77 years old, and I've hiked over there about 13 different times.

I love the mountains and I love hiking and it's been, I think I've been fortunate to have excellent health over the years and I think what has helped that, and I know what has helped that, I don't have to think about it, is hiking.

Hiking is, I think, one of the most beneficial, not only for physical health, but for your mental health and it's just fantastic being out.

You get out sometimes and you just hate to go back.

You wish you could just stay forever.

(pensive music) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (camera shutter clicking) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) - I think the Blue Ridge Mountains in particular, some of the oldest mountains in the world, have a really diverse flora and fauna.

There's different types of plant species, different types of animal species, and you can really encounter all of it on the Blue Ridge Parkway in a up close and personal way that you might not be afforded in some other areas.

The geography definitely sets itself apart from other regions of the United States and it's a pretty special place.

- Whether they're green, I mean, I was just out West recently, which is beautiful and dry and here it's green, it's lush.

These are old mountains.

They're some of the oldest mountains in the world, some of the oldest water in the world, so the ecosystem's extremely diverse so you got a wide variety of wildlife, plant, and just the scenery, man.

I mean, it's amazing.

Also, it's close to major cities like Atlanta and Charlotte and Knoxville so people who live in those cities can come here.

It's an easy drive and you step out here and you're in wilderness and so it's cool, it's good.

- Well, the Appalachian Mountains are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world and if you read about the geology of North Carolina, it's just fascinating to walk along these trails and see some of these multimillion year old rocks that make up these mountains.

They're theoretically used to be higher than the Himalayas and worn down, so there's a lot of history here in the Appalachian Mountains.

- I think the mountains here are different.

And any place you hike where there's mountains, they're always different, but there's so much variety here in the mountains and you can be hiking five different trails in a matter of a couple several days or something and each one is different.

(water rushing) (gentle acoustic guitar music) (gentle music continues) ♪ You don't know ♪ ♪ How famous you are in Georgia ♪ ♪ How lucky we were to know ya ♪ ♪ And we can't say what for ♪ - [Chris] Paul, I'm so glad we did this hike.

- Yeah, wasn't hard, weather's good.

- It's so pretty up here.

- Yeah, it is.

- I mean, 360 degree panorama, 6,000 feet.

It's like 90 something degrees where I live and it's like 70 degrees up here.

- [Paul] Nature's air conditioning.

- [Chris] Oh, God, the breeze, it feels so good.

There's some people are set up camping and it gets me thinking about that.

This would be a really special place to spend the night.

I bet the stars are just phenomenal.

- I bet.

What I like here though too is not only do we have a good view, but I mean, it's not just here.

We've got a good view all around and everyone that's up here has their own little spot kind of broken off and I like it.

- Yeah, I like it.

So I hadn't really heard about Balsam before and then a couple different people just mentioned it in conversation.

We did a little research and we're like, "Hey, you know, sunrise, sunset, let's do a sunset."

And here we are.

- They were right.

- Yeah, they were right, plenty of time, and there's no telling yet what the sun's gonna do.

It might block.

- Looks promising right now.

- It does look very promising.

There's a lot of clouds.

But honestly right now I just feel so peaceful.

I'm just kind of soaking it in.

I'm just enjoying the moment and I feel like it's one of those moments that you'll just remember for a really long time 'cause it's just such a special place.

(pensive music) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (camera shutter clicking) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) I love the mountains, man.

- I can tell.

- It's like home to me.

I mean, it's beautiful, it feels good.

It just smells good.

There's just something about the mountains - Peaceful, minus the bees.

- And the Parkway is just such a really cool way to see lots of beautiful mountains.

Just hop on that road, it's relaxed.

We didn't have a whole lot of traffic to deal with while we were here.

- No.

- We're fortunate.

And it just took us from one overlook to another overlook to another- - And every single one of 'em had a pretty good view.

- Oh, yeah.

- Every single one.

- I mean, you just feel like you're on the the top of the world sometimes and we were treated to just gorgeous light at sunrise and at sunset - I'll be honest with you, that sunrise, I'm not sure of the last time I've seen or I saw a light like that.

- Yeah.

- I can't remember.

- It was phenomenal.

- I really can't remember.

- The rays raking across that valley, fog and the trees and there was some color and it just, it was like shooting- - It came together.

- Yeah.

- It came together and it didn't looked like it was gonna be like that when we were heading out there, so that was extra special for me.

- In fact, that was almost like the mantra of this trip.

Sometimes you're surprised.

You think it's gonna be a certain thing and you just get surprised.

That happened then, like on Waterrock it was looking rough.

It was dark clouds.

I was like, "There might be nothing."

And then it just popped and we had color everywhere.

It was so cool.

- When you think about it, the sky that night was sort of like good one minute, bad the next, good one minute, bad the next, and then all of a sudden it just, it came together.

- It can change so fast, especially in the mountains.

But just, I feel like almost every single place we went, I got a pretty good image and we learned about it.

We drove a fair amount.

I mean, but still at the same time, we've barely scratched the surface.

- Exactly.

- It's almost 470 miles long.

It would take us forever to explore those overlooks- - To do every single view.

- And those trails.

- Yeah.

- Blue Ridge Parkway is just a different kind of park as a designed landscape.

You forget the intention with which the original designers gave to every curve, every view, every overlook, every tunnel.

Some previous landscape architects on the Blue Ridge Parkway have called it a cinematic experience.

There's crescendos, there's times of kind of low elevation and calm, and then you get these high elevation and grand views and it does really create a beautiful rhythm if you take the time and just really enjoy the view.

- It was a great experience and I can't wait to see my images.

I have a feeling we'll be editing- - You know what, it's gonna be overwhelming.

- Yeah.

- Because right now I think I took at least 300 images, so now I gotta sift through that and then see what was good, what was eh, but man, it's gonna be fun.

- And I think even some of the ehs are pretty good.

- Yeah, yeah, but just because the other ones were so good, it puts the pressure on the ones that weren't so good.

It's like, you know.

- Yeah, I mean, we just were, it was like an embarrassment of riches with the photography, so super rewarding days up here.

Really enjoyed exploring it, learn about it.

I wanna see more of it now.

I wanna go further north and I think that'll happen.

Maybe we'll do it sometime.

I mean, that'd be super cool.

- That would be nice.

- But I guess in the meantime, we do need to go and offload these pictures, take a look at 'em, start editing, see what our favorites are.

- After we get some rest.

- After we get some rest.

Yeah, there've been some early alarms.

- And long nights.

- Anytime I put four something into my alarm, I'm like, this is not my thing, but it has to be if you want good light, especially in the summertime.

- Yeah, that's right.

- So, all right, well, you about ready to roll?

- Yeah, let's get outta here, man.

- We'll hit the Parkway one last time on the way, what do you think?

- Here we go.

- Let's do it.

- All right, Chris.

♪ Hollows in the woods call out ♪ ♪ Trails up mountains climb ♪ ♪ Waves and sand keep beat and time ♪ ♪ Mossy blankets, swirling streams ♪ ♪ Over rocks and dirt ♪ ♪ Run at pace with all the earth ♪ ♪ Could we capture nature's wonder ♪ ♪ Find our way to getting lost ♪ ♪ Freeze a frame to save forever ♪ ♪ Adventure worth the cost ♪ ♪ Bees and dandelion grain ♪ ♪ Dance in sun-soaked fields ♪ ♪ Wind and gleam together yield ♪ ♪ Pocket worries fade to dim ♪ ♪ Wait on focus new ♪ ♪ Wild is coming into view ♪ (upbeat Appalachian music continues) (upbeat Appalachian music crescendos) ♪ Hues on fire in the clouds ♪ ♪ Perfectly exposed ♪ ♪ A song first played, and then composed ♪ ♪ Day is dying, dark will come ♪ ♪ Still we look for sight ♪ ♪ So we wander, chasing light ♪ ♪ Could we capture nature's wonder ♪ - [Announcer] Funding for "View Finders" is provided by Troncalli Subaru, located on Highway 9 in Cumming.

Visit Troncalli Subaru or find out more online TroncalliSubaru.com.

- [Announcer] Here at United Community Bank, we are committed to doing the little things to earn customer trust, one customer at a time.

United Community Bank is a proud sponsor of "View Finders."

- [Announcer] Take your career to the next level.

With online courses and flexible class schedules, the Graduate School at Georgia College and State University is an affordable way to earn the degree that will accelerate your career.

Learn more at GCSU.edu/Graduate.