The Catawba River tumbles over gentle rapids beneath a clear blue sky, a quiet highlight of a walk along the Carolina Thread Trail.

White ripples dance across the surface of the Catawba River where it spills over shallow rocks in Rock Hill, South Carolina. A dense band of leafless hardwoods crowds the opposite shoreline while brambles and shrubs catch the sunlight in the foreground, a small but lively scene captured during a hike along the Carolina Thread Trail.