The captioned photo – now known as The Roan Sentinel – was taken on February 17, 2024, just as darkness fell over the Roan Highlands on the Tennessee/ North Carolina line. Badger had been ill with Covid and was beginning his recovery when the siren’s call of the mountains beckoned him up to Carver’s Gap, then reluctantly out of his vehicle and finally up the Appalachian Trail.

The idea was to hike only about a 10th of a mile at the most as the weather was seasonably cold, so I only carried my Canon R7 with one lens sans pack. In a state of near delirium, the beauty of the snow adorning the trees on The Roan got the best of me as I ascended farther upward than initially intended.

As the evening grew grayer, then darker, my eyes eventually fixated on a group of snow-ensconced evergreens just off the North Carolina side of the AT. Mesmerized by the view, I took several photos of the immediate area, moving from side to side in a “photographer’s shuffle” while negotiating a half foot of snow on uneven terrain – all to obtain the best image angles without a tripod assist. The moves were purely instinctual, guided by an innate sense from eye to settings to shutter and back again – my routine that’s occurred thousands of times, often in trying conditions like this one.

The photo session was essentially ended by a frozen darkness while I perched in that wintry terrain, alone below Round Bald – with no pack, no headlamp and no headgear as the temperatures dipped into the upper teens.

Even for Badger, the conditions presented challenges as I returned back to my vehicle where warmth and safety awaited. Every step presented an opportunity to use the mountaineering and orientation skills honed by decades of off-trail hiking in adverse Southern Appalachian weather. That I was ill and cursing myself for not being prepared made the return trip even more chilling, but eventually I struggled back to the one lonely vehicle in the Carver’s Gap parking area.

When I thawed out, I reviewed the SD card images to find several of the photos taken in near darkness turned out better than expected. One portrait orientation and one landscape-oriented photo turned out exceptionally well. The review reminded me that regardless of the situation, you have to put yourself in a position to be successful, just as that experience had happened.

The portrait image was chosen by the popular Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine as a finalist in their 2026 Cover Photo Contest. The magazine covers all of the Southern Appalachian region. Thousands of photos were considered for the cover. One of the finest honors of my photography career was the selection of my image for inclusion in the contest taken at one of my favorite locales.

At times, quality photography requires a willingness to transcend a personal “comfort zone.” Badger strives to embrace that challenge, even when conditions are considerably less than ideal.

Thomas Mabry – Honey Badger Images Many of the HoneyBadgerImages are on display at instagram.com/honeybadgerimages.

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