Favorite fog stories

Posted: June 17, 2009

Carl Sandburg wrote that fog came in on little cat's feet. He must have written that before retiring to the North Carolina mountains at Flat Rock near Hendersonville.

I am working on a music project this week in the mountains near Roaring Gap and the fog here came in on big bear claws. It is hugging the hills and hollows and transforming the landscape. I had hoped to get some nice photographs this week but the fog is obscuring the view. So instead of fighting the weather I've decided to work with it.

Attached to this blog are a few photographs I took this morning off the Blue Ridge Parkway. You can barely see 10 feet in front of you up here. I have found the fog to be good for introspection. I sat out on my porch this morning for one hour and meditated on the gray blanket in front of me. I came away relaxed and ready to work on some tunes.

What are your favorite fog stories? Please share.

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11 Comments

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My introduction to North Carolina came in the fog! We drove here from Arkansas pulling a U-haul trailer behind the car. We were on I-40 and got as far as Asheville before deciding to stop for the night because it was raining.(Lucky it wasn't something worse, we're talking about Thanksgiving weekend here.) The next morning we woke up and started on toward Raleigh. It was somewhat foggy, but not totally impossible until we hit Old Fort - I came down that mountain trying to keep up with but not hit the tail lights of the car in front of me, and of course I had no idea how high or curvy that road is. I love that drive now, but boy I was scared that morning.

gingerrush
June 18, 2009 3:00 p.m.

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We were at Linville Falls in April and got caught in a thunderstorm with lots of hail. Upon leaving, we hit the most dense fog I've ever driven in on the parkway. I finally pulled over to an overlook to explain to my wife that I was focused on the center line, and wasn't sharing her view off to the side of the road. We crawled back to Blowing Rock safely enough, but I wouldn't want to do this again for sport!

davidgnews
June 18, 2009 1:36 p.m.

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LOL Bill! You have some wonderful pictures but the one with the street/road signs is the best! Tells exactly what you are seeing!lol I love it!! :) My favorite fog/mist time is at the beach. Sometimes early in the morning before it gets hot you can see the mist rolling in off the ocean. Very pretty! I have always thought of that poem by Carl Sandburg, about the fog coming in on little gray cats feet and then slipping away as quietly, when I see fog even now. Enjoy your time in the mountains! :)

fishnett5977
June 18, 2009 1:30 p.m.

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Glomae - the same thing happend to my family in New Hampshire at the Old Man in the Mountain! Somewhere in an old photo album I have a picture of a mountain and fog! When I got home and showed the pictures to my friends, they didn't believe there was actually the outline of a man's face in the mountain!

LMRA
June 18, 2009 9:46 a.m.

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Some years back, my wife and I were staying at the Pisgah Inn on the Parkway. It had been hot in Raleigh and we were enjoying the cool temps on the mountain. So much so,we left our patio door open when we went to bed that evening. In the morning, to our surprise, the clouds and fog were in the room with us! It took a while to dry everything out.

dentech
June 17, 2009 7:33 p.m.

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Once we drove up Grandfather Mountain early in the morning. We hit fog (I'd call it a cloud) before reaching the parking area. It was a total whiteout. The world ended at the windshield wipers. Brilliant me (I was young) partly opened my door and drove at a crawl looking at the line in the road. I just wanted to reach the parking lot! Then the line ended. I stopped, with no clue where I was except somewhere on a mountain. We sat there over an hour expecting to be hit from behind and afraid to get out of the car. We could see NOTHING. I was afraid I'd step wrong and go off a cliff. Finally it cleared enough to see we were well into the parking area. About that time gift shop employees began to arrive. That drive has stuck in my memory for many years.

ghimmy51
June 17, 2009 2:35 p.m.

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Bill, the pics are great. I always love foggy mountain mornings. My foggy story is really my mom's. She and her best friend were out one Saturday night driving home. She said the fog was so thick that she could only creep along about 10 miles per hour. This was Creedmoor in the early 1950's. All of a sudden she saw two men with white shirts heading towards her car.They just kept coming. She and Nell were terrified out on that country road, two girls alone and scared. Finally the men stopped in front of the car. Screams and panic inside. A closer look revealed two mules who had escaped the farm. They both had big white diamonds on their chests.

lynneslaughter
June 17, 2009 2:34 p.m.

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In correlation with a meeting my father had to attend, my parents and I spent three weeks driving across the country and back. We allowed about one day for each of the sights we wanted to see. One of our planned stops on the way back was Mt. Rushmore. We arrived in the early evening but decided we would wait to visit/see the mountain the next morning. During the night a heavy fog rolled in and obstructed the view all day. I sent my sister a postcard that read: Mt. Rushmore is incredible. Sure wish you could see it but then again I wish I could, too." I sure want to travel back that way again one day!

Glomae
June 17, 2009 2:20 p.m.

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Bill thank you so much for those gorgeous pictures. I am so envious because I love our mountains. I remember as a child being on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the fog would be so thick you could barely see the road or the sites at the overlooks. It was scary and amazing at the same time. Enjoy the beauty for me too! :)

doglover11
June 17, 2009 1:42 p.m.

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Great pictures Bill! My parents used to have a cabin up in Blowing Rock, when we lived in South Florida. Each summer we'd take the long drive up to the NC mountians and it was wonderful! One summer my aunt and uncle came up with us and my my aunt had never seen "real" fog before. The occational fog in FL is nothing compared to the fog we can get here or in the mountains. I'll never forget one morning we drove down the mountin and I sat in the car wondering who was the 10 year old- me or her! She keep saying "We're driving in the clouds!" It was so funny and she was tickled for days...