The morning the Parkway had other plans

Best Laid Plans I set out before dawn to catch sunrise from Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi, and I did not make it in time. A slow driver sat ahead of me the entire way up, and by the time the road opened, the best light had come and gone. Here is the thing about mornings that fall apart. Sometimes they hand you something better. On the way back down toward Asheville, along one particular stretch of road, a mama black bear and her three cubs were out, unbothered,...