People come to the mountain lake environment for the peace of nature’s shelter. Perched in a camping chair at Bass Lake, a man once told me, “I believe this is the most peaceful place on this earth, and I should know because I’ve traveled the world.” I’d have to agree.

Claude Monet might have painted here, where reflective light and color provide a lyrical richness to ever-changing leaves and lake subjects. Foliage marks the four seasons on the circumference pathway and its many trails where leaves turn crimson red, yellow and mountain orange before the winter snows appear and high winds scatter the clouds. Bass Lake is a retreat into color as border trees reflect Autumn and then become the barren branches of winter with frost on the water and snow on the ground.

But Bass Lake is only one of many reasons for loving the North Carolina mountains. Nearby, the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Thunder Hill Overlook is where we once lay on our backs to watch the night of a thousand shooting stars. Here mountains softened by age take their place across the horizon, stair-stepped into the clouds dressed in mist and the dark, smoky hues of blue that give them their perpetual name.

The radiant end of day traverses the horizon and silhouettes the crests of distant forest lands already in the shade of night. This human observer sighs in awe at the sacred scene unable to find adequate voice.

Monty Joynes, Boone, a member of Blue Ridge Energy