john_nichols3

<p>If your goal is good photos, then consider doing Table Mountain in late afternoon on a day with minimal storm risk. If hiked in the morning, the sun will backlight the major Teton Range peaks and create a lot of haze.</p>

<p>While summer is peak tourist time in GTNP, if you start early and are hiking more than a mile from the trailhead, you will see very few people. We just returned from a week near GTNP and a week near NE Yellowstone. </p>

<p>Hiked Hanging Canyon and Hermitage Point in GTNP and Alaska Basin on the Idaho side -- all great photography hikes. Cascade Canyon and Paintbrush Divide are other classics that are uncrowded if you start early.</p>

<p>NE Yellowstone (Lamar Valley area) is definitely better for wildlife -- mountains are nowhere near as dramatic as GTNP. We saw a ton of wildlife (grizzly, wolf, elk, pronghorn, bison, bighorn sheep) all from very good photo distances. The Beartooth Mountains (just outside NE YNP) offer very dramatic landscape potential. </p>

<p>If you want colorful aspens, visit the Kebler Pass area just west of Crested Butte. It won't be too far out of the way if you are driving down to the San Juans from the Denver area. That area has one of the largest aspen stands in the world. You won't be disappointed in late Sept. As an added bonus, Crested Butte is a pretty cool town too.</p>

A storm will be coming through Sunday-Monday and the high country will definitely get snow. Be prepared for snow, cold, and high winds. You'll be fine in a Liberty getting to Crystal Mill from the Marble side. The going gets much tougher from there if you wish to continue to Lead King Basin or Schofield -- wouldn't be recommended in a rented Liberty.

The situation up until a couple days ago was bad in Asheville and WNC. It is slowly getting better. The Asheville newspaper reported today that 67% of gas stations currently have gas.

I have more of a problem with gnats in the Smokies than mosquitos. The gnats will start swarming around your head and don't leave you alone. If there is any semblance of a breeze though, it's hard for them to fly and they become less annoying. Enjoy.

Wildflowers are strating to bloom below 3000 feet. Saw some trillium on south facing slopes this past weekend.

They just started to bloom in Atlanta this past Friday -- two days after I said they weren't blooming. They aren't fully opened, but pretty close as of today. The lower elevations of the Smokies are usually about 2 weeks behind Atlanta.

I was just in the NC side of the Smokies this past weekend and dogwoods are not close to blooming. Nothing was blooming yet - even at 1800 ft. Dogwoods are probably at least several weeks away from blooming in the Smokies as they haven't even started to bloom 100+ miles south in Atlanta.

I'm actually having the same exact issue. Just purchased a new 40D. Folders with old files can be opened fine. New files from the 40D cause the error message in DPP. I've tried uninstalling and re-installing DPP with no success.