Meigs Falls, A Smoky Mountains Waterfall Right Along the Road
To access many of the waterfalls in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you need to hike for 1+ miles up a mountain trail. But not Meigs Falls.
Meigs Falls, 240mm Focal Length
Meigs Falls is located right on Little River Road between the Sugarland Visitor Center and the Townsend Junction. The falls are hidden back from the road so unless you know where to look, you could drive right by them. The GPS for Meigs Falls is 35.668972, -83.675110.
You’ll need a longer focal length lens to photograph Meigs Falls since it is set back from the road. I used a Canon 100-400mm lens with the full frame Canon 5D Mark III. I’ve included the focal lengths with the photo in this blog to give you an idea of the reach you’ll need.
I used a bean bag on the car window to stabilize the camera enough for long exposures that give the falls a silky look.
It can be tricky to photograph Meigs Falls due to the lighting conditions. In mid morning, the falls were in the shade while the rapids on the foreground were in bright sunlight. A couple of options to deal with this lighting condition are to tightly crop the composition or to expose for rapids and brighten the falls during post processing.
Written by Martin Belan
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