If you like to photograph waterfalls, the Smoky Mountains area is a great place to visit. Almost every trail seems to have at least one waterfall. Some are taller, some are smaller, but all are beautiful. But, one of my favorite waterfalls, the 200 foot Mingo Falls, isn’t in the national park. It’s about five miles from the park entrance on the North Carolina side in the small town of Cherokee. The drive from Gatlinburg, Tennessee to Cherokee takes about an hour as US Highway 441 snakes its way up and over the Smoky Mountains, but the views along the highway are absolutely incredible. From the parking area at the falls, it’s a short ¼-mile hike, but you have to climb over 150 steps to get to the viewing area at the bottom of the waterfall. It’s certainly worth the effort. In this image, I selected a small section near the bottom of the cascade that had multiple flows of falling water and nice contrast between the water and the green foliage and mosses. My settings were 105mm, 1 second, f/22, 200 ISO.