The Appalachian Mountains is the oldest mountain range in North America. Once as tall as the Alps, millions of years of ice and water wore down these mountains into the beautiful rolling hills and broad valleys that we see today. This particular view is from the Range View Overlook in Skyline Drive, in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. Skyline Drive is a small section of the greater Blue Ridge Parkway that winds into southwest Virginia and North Carolina into the Smokey Mountains.

During a two-day bicycle ride through the 105-mile scenic highway, I stopped at many of the overlooks I could find to enjoy the views (and to get much needed respite from the climbing!) This was my favorite view from the trip, with the many layers of the mountain range and a lone farm in the valley. I took a few pictures with my cell phone so I could find this place again to later create this image.

While not a direct easterly view, I knew this spot would boast a great sunrise in October with the fall foliage changing color. About a 1.5-hour drive from Washington, D.C., I left in the early morning hours to arrive by sunrise. Part of the beauty here is the remote location in itself. The downside to that was the incredible difficulty in finding this same spot, even with my bright headlights. I could barely see where the winding road led, and the GPS failed to find any signal. Fortunately, I found my way to this scenic overlook through memory as the sun began to rise and I waited until the sun provided the warmer golden glow on the range to capture this image with the purple hues in the sky and deep orange cast on the trees in the ridge this cool autumn morning.