Blue Ridge Mountains - October 2008

Last year, I toured a little of the Blue Ridge Parkway during a business trip. It was beautiful. I decided to make a vacation of driving its entire length, hoping to see some nice fall colors. I was a little early for the colors, but it was a very pretty drive.

It's a fer piece to the south end of the Parkway in North Carolina. It was especially fer because I went straight south, un-cutting the hypotenuse, and without the interstates, all the way to Georgia - through corn, cotton and kudzu...



..and through Superman's home town, Metropolis, Illinois.


I moseyed my way over to Atlanta, to see my sweet 'sister' Jain and family, through Kentucky and Tennessee.




This is near the ancient center of the Cherokee nation. It was like their Washington D.C.


(The lower reflection is from the top of my car)

I entered the kudzu zone. A local man told me that someone is farming the stuff for export to Japan. They think it makes an attractive and tasty garnish.


The highest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald. The views were amazingly symmetrical that day.





From Atlanta, Jain and I took a day trip to Toccoa Falls and Helen's Octoberfest.


Mica floats in the water and lines the shores at the Falls.


Sweet Jain


In 1977, a dam broke and destroyed the little Christian college town that contains Toccoa Falls. It wiped out this bridge too.


Oktoberfest in Helen


Contented and contentious country cows by a gazebo grazing green grass



I entered the Parkway's southern end. The mountain views seemed more accessible and spectacular here.










Sometimes the road went through the mountains, instead of over or around.





There are many dozens of overviews along the Parkway. Some have exhibits and pretty little trails for walking. They are a nice break from the twisty road.




The mountain views became more impressive again toward the Parkway's northern end in Virginia...



...and I finally saw some fall colors.



I didn't drive all of the Parkway. About 20 miles were closed because of rockfalls. One detour led me on a 3 hour tour through mountain roads with endless turns and climbs and dives. Lodging on the Parkway is expensive and always booked. You have to find an exit to a nearby town and hope to find something that doesn't smell like cigars and hunting dogs.

I finished it in 4 days, but I had to hurry too much. Many beautiful looping trails tempted me (1/2 to 4 hours walk). I criss-crossed the great 2175-mile Appalachian trail over and over. Now there's a hike!

(Blue Ridge Mountains - October 2008)

Blue Ridge Rocks

On a business trip to North Carolina, I had a chance on the weekend to drive over to the Blue Ridge Mountains. I just cruised around all day in the rental car and took in a few sights.


On a recommendation from a local, I began by checking out Blowing Rock.



This is the rock that blows.


It's named after a native American legend that goes kind of like this...

A Chickasaw chieftan was fearful for his lovely daughter, because she had attracted the admiration of a white man. He journeyed far from the plains to bring her to a tall mountain. He left her there to be cared for by a squaw mother (an elder woman of her tribe). One day the girl was daydreaming in loneliness on the mountain's cliffs. She saw a Cherokee brave (warrior) wandering in the wilderness far below. She playfully shot an arrow in his direction. The flirtation worked! He soon appeared at her wigwam, and he romanced her with songs of his land. They soon became lovers. Together, they wandered the pathless woodlands and the crystal streams, bound by ever-strengthening love.

One day a strange reddening of the sky brought the two lovers to a great rock on top of the mountain where she was exiled. To the brave, it was a sign of trouble. It told him that his people were at war. He knew he must return home to help his people with the fight.

She begged him not to leave her. The brave, torn by conflict of duty and heart, leaped from the great rock into the wilderness far below. The girl was grief-stricken. She fell to her knees and wept and prayed to the Great Spirit to return her lover. She remained like this, weeping and praying, for many days and nights.

One night the sky again became red, and a great wind blew up the mountain's side and over the rock, where she still knelt grieving. A gust of wind blew her lover back to the top on the rock, and into her arms. From that day, a perpetual wind has blown up onto this rock from the valley below.



Next, I went down to Grandfather Mountain, the tallest and oldest in the Appalachain chain.



Near the top was a suspension bridge that lead to an outcropping with great views.








The trails were great. I wish I'd had more time for them.




They had a "habitat area" with bears, deer, eagles, otters, and lions. I could only get a decent shot of this guy.



The sun was getting low, so I had to race through this pretty park called Linville Falls.

Hmmm... Over or under?





Here are some other sights I saw on the Blue Ridge Parkway and other roads...


A happy house in the college/hippie town of Boone



A roadside rest area with a path down to a pretty little stream



UFO clouds near sunset


(Blue Ridge Mountains - May 2007)