Engagement Photography for Couples Who Love the Outdoors
Perfect place for couples who love an adventure
Waterfalls Marriage Proposal Like No Other
Elopement photography in Dupont State Recreational Forest
DuPont State Recreational Forest is the perfect location to capture the love and emotion of your engagement. Forge Mountain Photography specializes in capturing those moments to be remembered forever. We focus on helping you plan your day and getting you the best photographs, so there is no added stress for you. Whether a surprise proposal or a planned engagement, we want it to be a memorable storybook experience.
You may be asking yourself what location should I choose for our engagement photo session.
DuPont State Recreational Forest is a fantastic place with 10,350 acres for engagement shoots. Whether you’re looking for hiking trails, waterfalls, mountain views, lakes, it has it all.
The great thing about doing an engagement shoot in DuPont State Recreational Forest is it open from 5 am to 10 pm and there is no admission fee.
The best time in the day for photographing for the best natural lighting is an hour and a half before sunset. This way, you get a golden hour engagement photo session at one of the best naturally beautiful spots in North Carolina.
The best time to have the least crowds are during the week or late in the afternoon/early mornings on the weekends.
DuPont State Recreational Forest has six significant waterfalls. Three of the waterfalls, Hooker Falls, Triple Falls, and High Falls, are within a 3-mile round-trip hike making this an ideal spot for engagement photography. The other waterfalls, Bridal Veil Falls, Grassy Creek Falls, and Wintergreen Falls, are equally beautiful and easy hikes to enjoy. The Falls themselves a very romantic natural location, but also leading to the falls are beautiful trails winding in the wooded forest, making for gorgeous photography.
At most of the waterfalls, you can walk right up to the base of the falls making for great engagement photography.
We will help you plan which waterfall is best for your experience.
We are intimately familiar with DuPont State Recreational Forest and will give you an insider’s guide on the trail system and waterfalls to visit and do an engagement shoot. Several of these waterfalls were the location of popular movies filmed, like the scenes from Hunger Games and Last of Mohican, adding to the feeling of romance from these romantic films.
There are two prominent locations with long-range mountain views in DuPont State Forest, Cedar Rock, and Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is the highest point in DuPont State Recreational Forest; at a 3620 ft height, it has 180-degree views. Expose granite slabs to create the top of the mountain. Its 2.65-mile round-trip distance makes this an excellent engagement and proposal spot for photography. Cedar Rock is a 4.5 mile Loop; it takes you to the top with granite rock. The top of the mountain stretches for Acres, so this is a good spot for those scared of heights or has young children because you have the view but not the sharp drop-offs and cliffs. On top of the mountain, scattered among the granite slabs are unique moss and lichen sensitive to the touch, so be careful not to disturb them because they take many years to grow.
There are six beautiful lakes in DuPont Forest. Four of these Lakes are within a close area of each other and can be easily hiked for great engagement photography in one day. Lake Imaging, Lake Dense, Lake Alfred, and Lake Julia. Lake Julia is the largest of them all, with 100 Acres to enjoy. Lake Dense, Lake Alfred, Lake Julia can be reached on a leisurely walk via conservation Road for 1.7miles or want a single track hiking trail on Pitch Pine Trail for 2.3 miles. Conservation road is not open to public automobiles, so there’s not much traffic, just the occasional Ranger driving to their headquarters on Lake Julia. All of the Lakes have docks, with Lake Dense also having a covered picnic area.
Are you looking for a bit of adventure for your engagement or proposal shoot? DuPont State Recreational Forest is known as a hidden gem for mountain bikers. There is something for everyone, whether it be biking on the dirt roads of Buck Forest Road and Conservation Road or the multitude of single-track trails weaving all through the 10,300 Acres of DuPont State Recreational Forest. Bike to one of the above attractions, then have us photograph your proposal or engagement, making this an adventure engagement shoot.
At most of the trailheads and main attractions, there is parking. The two main parking areas are at Hooker Falls and High Falls. These are the biggest of all the parking areas, including amenities like public restrooms and water fountains. These two parking areas are an excellent location to base out of, especially if you want to change an article of clothing during your engagement photography shoot. There is a visitor center at the High Falls parking area with maps and educational information; you can also access Wi-Fi.
Professional Photographer working with clients in North America and the Caribbean.