Atlanta Spring Break, Road trip

Blue Ridge Parkway – Again

4 Comments

Wednesday April 5, 2023

Road video and map

The Blue Ridge Parkway has already featured prominently in two of my previous road trips, south to north on the original Perimeter trip and north to south on my Perimeter East trip but it is such a pleasant way of traveling through the Appalachian Mountains that I’m taking the drive again, subject to the weather cooperating. Today was partly sunny as I left Asheville to head north to Boone, NC but it became cloudier as the day went on. Showers and thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow with steadier rain on Friday. Although the views today were hazy it was still a great drive but if clouds and rain set in there is no point in extending the trip by driving slowly on the Parkway.

Today I stopped at several overlooks and, while still enjoyable when viewed in person, they do not photograph well.

This view I liked for the number of ridges you can see in the distance.
This is the very first tract of land that was bought by the US Forest Service when it was created in 1905. At the time the area had been stripped bare of trees for lumber.

I deviated from the Parkway to visit Mount Mitchell State Park where, 5 miles from the Parkway, I walked to the summit of Mount Mitchell which, at 6,684 feet (2,037 m) is the highest point in the US east of the Mississippi river. Luckily, the state has built a road almost to the summit and I only had to walk about 320 yards (293 m) to the observation platform built at the summit.

View of the road leading to Mount Mitchell from the observation platform. I usually post photos as they come out of the camera (except for cropping) but, here, I attempted to reduce the haze in the distant hills. It would have been OK except for the top of the tree making it almost impossible to just select the background to adjust.

After returning to the Parkway I took a real walk to the Erwin’s View lookout above Linville Falls. The falls are only about 45 feet (14 m) high but there was a strong flow and they were quite loud from a distance of about 1/2 mile (800 m).

The person in the blue shirt gives an idea of scale.

I am hoping for another day of relaxed driving, some walking and interesting sights tomorrow.

4 thoughts on “Blue Ridge Parkway – Again”

  1. We are so lucky to be able to travel with you and to feel through your Lenz the beauty of the mountains

    1. Thanks, glad you enjoy it. The views are hazy but the beauty of the area still shines through.

  2. Your photographs are giving us a glimpse of these areas that we have not been to. It will rain here today, so drive carefully.

    1. Only had a brief shower here, soon after I had finished my walk, good timing. I always try to drive carefully 🙂

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