Hiking Catawba Falls Black Mountain Trail In North Carolina

Outdoor Awakenings

Hiking The Catawba Falls Black Mountain Trail In North Carolina

Recently, I was in the West central area of North Carolina. It’s the Asheville, Black mountain range off of I-40. I wanted to take a sunrise hike. Pray, sing songs to the Lord and take some photos. I loaded up my photo gear and hit the trail at 6AM. It was glorious to walk and pray and sing to the Lord. It had been a while since I had been hiking and after a mile climbing up the trail I began to notice the 30 pound pack on my back just about the time I made it to the first lower falls. The first fall breaks across the trail so you have to pause to navigate it’s crossing on large rocks. It was a perfect time to break and start taking some pics. Here are some of the pics I took along the hike up the trail to the upper falls area.

Plate – 1 First Lower Falls 

All photos by Edward Biamonte (C.)EBP2018 All Rights Reserved Edward Biamonte Photography

One of the greatest ways we can experienced God The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in moments of complete surrender. And it’s true you can surrender to God at any time and any place. And because of that AWESOME AVAILABILITY why not make it memorable on many levels? OK, get to the point.

When is the last time you went for a morning walk, a sunrise hike or any hike for that matter? It can be a really amazing experience. Picture this: there you are alone with The Creator of the universe and all that is in existence actually experiencing His art work. What could possibly be holding you back?

Plate – 2 Second Trail Falls 

True story: A Moment To Remember

Years ago, working hard as a tent maker, a minister, adjunct professor and pro photographer, my beautiful wife and I, who’s now DR. Char, had finally saved up enough money for an eight day family vacation. Our daughter Ari was six years old and she loved Disney World. So off to Florida we flew. After arriving at the resort we were running through this beautiful rose garden when I said to my wife: Char – stop! And she replied “what now Babe, we have a schedule to keep.” I repeated “Stop and close your eyes. Char: “we don’t have time for this Babe.” I said: Ari and I are not moving until you stop and close your eyes.” Frustrated, she complied, she stopped and closed her eyes. I asked her to smell the air. She inhaled slowly, smiled and opened her eyes to realized she was standing in the middle of this beautiful rose garden.

Char, always in such a blur, was going to miss an incredible moment to make an incredible memory. How many moments and memories have we missed because we’re in such a blur? When is the last time you stopped to smell the roses? Or better yet, take the time to walk and pray to make incredible moments with God? If you’re driven like Char, or maybe the opposite, lethargic, not wanting to do anything different from your normal schedule, it’s time for you to have a Godly Outdoor Awakening.

Plate – 3 Lower Upper Falls

GET OUT, Get Out, get out! 

That’s right – get out! Get Outdoors into the fresh air and watch the beautiful sunrise or sunset and worship our Heavenly Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not only is it beautiful to praise Them, but to praise Them for the beauty of Their creation and the blessings it has been upon our lives.

Plate – 4 Mid Upper Falls

Plus, there’s another positive, there’s not a whole lot of other distractions to cause you to lose your focus. It’s just you, The Godhead and Their creation. I have been blessed to worship God around the world at sunrise and sunset and each moment is unique because the sky is ever changing. And He always has wonderful things to say if we’ll just take the time to listen.

Plate – 5 Full Upper Falls

Photography Gear Box:

For photo minded enthusiast, the gear I was using is a Leaf Aptus 65 digital back and a Mamiya body, a standard 50mm lens and tripod.

Please Note:

As a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ and pastor of a new church work called TheVine, I hope and pray you enjoyed this new section called “Outdoor Awakenings”.

If you would like to own one of the images, I am offering Elegant Giclee’ prints in different sizes from 8×10, 11×14, 16×20 and 22×28 for our building fund. Please contact pastored@thevinewc.org