For about a year now my buddy Toribio and I have been wanting to hike the Jump Off Trail. We had met Bob Carr after hiking out to Charlies Bunion, and he filled us in on the spot, we later saw his images and knew we needed to head out to this spot. We started our hike at 2:30 a.m. at Newfound Gap along the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As a big guy, I much prefer hiking early in the morning as the temperature is always much lower. This part o

One of the most rewarding hikes I have ever taken happened this past weekend. This hike had been planned for a couple of months with my friend Anthony Toribio. Originally we wanted to start our hike on Saturday, but due to the weather, we decided to do it at 2 a.m. Friday morning. I left my house at 11 p.m. on Thursday and arrived in the Newfound Gap parking lot at 1:30 a.m., Toribio was sleeping in his car until I arrived. Toribio noticed me when I pulled in and we got out o

Heavy rains have been hitting Western North Carolina fairly hard lately, so much so that Fontana Lake was 4 feet higher than it should of been. My buddy Nick sent me a video that Bryson City shared on there Instagram page and I knew I had to make it out there to see this first hand. I love Dams and Fontana Dam is one of my favorites. I travel all over the area visiting them and photographing them all of the time, eventually I want to do a small book about dams. I planned on l