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| Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain view (MP 430.7) |
Winding 469 miles connecting The Great Smokey Mountain
National Park and the Shenandoah Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge
Parkway (BRP) is a two lane road that climbs and curves its way along mountain
ridge lines in North Carolina and Virginia.
It offers steep climbs and descents, breathtaking vistas, tunnels,
hikes, beautiful mountain music, and gorgeous views. The BRP is stated to be the most visited unit
of the National Park Service (Happy 101st Birthday NPS!!).
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| MP 469.1 |
We had been in Tennessee visiting with our brand new,
beautiful grandson, Asher Griffiths. We
spent a wonderful week helping the young family and enjoying the newest
addition to our family. When it was time
to head home, we decided to meander the entire length of the BRP. After all, it is almost in Leslie and Natalie’s backyard
at the Southern end, and almost in our backyard at the Northern end. Perfect!
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| Rugged mountain view (MP 422.4) |
The BRP is numbered by mileposts North to South with MP 0 in
Virginia and MP 469.1 in North Carolina.
We entered the BRP at it’s southern most point (MP 469.1) near Cherokee
NC. This part of the Parkway has steep
grades as it climbs up to the ridgeline of the mountain chain, with deep scenic
drops at the side of the road. This part
of the BRP also has many tunnels, some of them only tall enough for the
ShoreXplorer (height 12’4’’) to drive through by driving down the middle of the tunnel under its highest point and straddling the center yellow line.
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| Pano of Cowee Mountain Overlook (MP 430.7) |
The scenery was glorious with rhododendron blooming on the
side of the road, dense silent forests and scenic vistas at every turn. The morning chill called for long pants and
sleeves. Quite a difference from the
late June swelter in the lowlands.
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| Over a mile up (MP 431.4) |
We stopped at the Waterrock Knob Visitor
Center (MP 451.2), the southernmost Visitor Center on the BRP, located on a bald area with
scenic views from every corner of the parking lot. We also climbed to the breathtaking highest point in the
Parkway (MP 431.4) at 6053 feet.
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| Looking Glass Rock shines when covered with water or ice (MP 417) |
Then, we followed the Parkway around Asheville NC and
stopped at the Folk Art Center (MP 382) where local crafts people and fine artists sell
their lovely and pricey creations. We
took a hike in the Craggy Gardens (MP 364) where you walk through tunnels of rhododendron
and mountain laurel to a bald with unobstructed views of the nearby Black
Mountain Range. Some mountain laurel
was blooming above and beside us in the thicket, and we could only imagine how
gorgeous it must have been earlier in June when all of the plants are in full bloom.
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| Moonshine Creek |
We entered the Parkway late in the day on the first day and spent
the first night in a crazy, cozy, delightful campground off of the Parkway on
Moonshine Creek. The second night we
boondock camped in an NPS campground on the Parkway at Crabtree Falls (MP 339.5). We shared that campground with 3 other RVs
and a deer that didn’t give up munching on the grass (with one eye on us) until
Tiki (who was tired of standing and quietly watching it with us) barked at it. Then it strolled away. No urgency on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
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