Blue Ridge Parkway

 

Since I was in Mt. Airy which is on the northern side of North Carolina, I decided that I was going to take the Blue Ridge Parkway south as far as I could. I had heard that it was a beauteous road, many many stunning views and “they” were possibly very right. The Blue Ridge Parkway weaves and wanders through some incredible places and with a speed limit of 45, there is a chance to see it all. That is, of course, if you are not pulling a 36 foot fifth wheel. Hands on the wheel, eyes not daring to look either left or right, trying to stay on my side of the road. I did get to see some of the vistas because I did pull over at the occasional overlook to do a look-see. Actually, I pulled over because I usually had developed quite a long line of cars behind me, all chomping at the bit to get past me. Part of the Parkway was closed so I had to detour off of the Parkway and travel through some little mountain towns. I found this a little more enjoyable than the stressful Parkway.

Rhododendrons were still all droopy and hadn't gotten their spring clothes on yet.

I checked into a lovely campground – the Bear Den Campground. You can only check in after 3:00 pm. The reason is that the road into the campground is only one lane with trees tight on each side. It would have been disastrous meeting another camper who was leaving and coming down the road, there was no place to turn around and backing up was not an option. Campers who were leaving for the day had to be gone by 1:00 to avoid that issue. Bear Den was a nice campgound – in the woods. I had a flock of turkeys come by every evening. They were fun to watch, there were two big toms, who were always trying to impress the ladies with their tail feathers all puffed out but the ladies were steadfastly ignoring them.

The swimming hole at the campground

North Carolina is a land of waterfalls. As I am a big-time waterfall aficionado, this is my land, my place to be. I'm moving into the mountains of North Carolina and waterfalls are everywhere. I'm not talking those little pretty babbling brook type of waterfalls, I'm talking rip-roaring knock-your-socks off type of waterfalls. Word of warning, if you don't particularly care for waterfalls, then perhaps you might want to not even bother reading the next few blogs, cause I have immersed myself in da falls.

Linville Falls was a great starter falls right on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a three-tiered waterfall that runs into the Linville Gorge (the “Grand Canyon of the Southern Appalachians). There were three trails, each one a further distance from the falls, giving you a view of the falls with a different perspective. At the closest viewpoint there was a sign and a fence telling people not to go any further. Lots of people disregarded the sign. I got really angry, almost to the point of saying something to these people. Urg – angry was I. People like that are why we can't have nice things. There was one errant family who basically followed me to every viewpoint. The teenagers were going out on the edge of cliffs – freaked me right out. Total disregard for propriety, not alone safety. Yup, that's me – turning into a grumpy old lady.

Linville Falls:

Starts out as two falls

Winds around some rocks

Drops into a pool

You can just barely see the first falls up at the top center

Hiking further up the trail, the waterfall is getting smaller

Did I mention that when you drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, you are up on a ridge? As in the top of a mountain ridge? When I left the Bear Den Campground, there was a heavy cloud cover. This means that you are driving in the clouds, you are that high up. I could barely see beyond the front of my truck. It was scary. Then on top of that, I had to drive down the mountain to get to my next stop. Getting out of the clouds was wonderful, going down several miles of a 10% grade was not. At one point, I had to pull over because my brakes were beginning to smell. I certainly didn't want to be losing my brakes on that steep of an incline. We all made it down safely which I am grateful for. Note: Since this downward journey, I have since learned how to go downhill using my engine braking as a helpmate.  So, all is good.