Winding road to Asheville, North Carolina
Monday, 4/09/2018
I have always wanted to drive the full length of The Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the Southeastern United States, and is noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for 469 miles through Virginia and North Carolina communities, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The beauty of the Parkway is both mountains and the various trees and flowers found along the way. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains.
Brilliant autumn foliage occurs later in September on the mountaintops, descending to the valleys by later in October. Often in early-to-middle October and middle to late April, all three seasons can be seen simply by looking down from the cold and windy parkway to the green and warm valleys below. October is especially dramatic, as the colored leaves stand out boldly and occur mostly at the same time, unlike the flowers.
Major trees include oak, hickory, and tulip tree at lower elevations and buck eye and ash in the middle, turning into conifers such as fir and spruce at the highest elevations on the parkway. Trees near ridges, peaks, and passes (often called gaps or notches) are often distorted and even contorted by the wind, and persistent rime ice is deposited by passing clouds in the winter.
The road leading north out of Cherokee is just a few miles until you enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway’s southern terminus. The large sign for the park has several people waiting to take photos so I continue past just up the road till I see the entrance to the Parkway. The motor home lumbers along making the right turn when suddenly coming into view is a large barricade across the entrance. The sign says the road is closed due to weather . . . ice, snow and fog.
That required another change turning around and heading back through Cherokee turning past the casino and heading up and over the mountain to Maggie Valley. There was the sleepy little village that I went snow skiing in high school at Cataloochee ski resort, not much had changed only the size and prices of homes all over the mountainsides. The roller coaster sits atop the mountain at The Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park as you crest the mountain from Cherokee.
It was a Wild West-themed amusement park in Maggie Valley, North Carolina that is currently on hiatus. An unusual aspect of this park is that it is located atop a mountain which can only be accessed by visitors via a 3,370-foot-long chair lift or an inclined funicular railway. These start at the parking area beside Jonathan Creek at an elevation of 3,150 feet climbing to the lower level of the park at 4,400 feet, a climb of 1,250 feet. The recreated "Ghost Town" sits at 4,600 feet, with the highest elevation in the park being about 4,650 feet. The park is located on a ridge extending from Buck Mountain border, an extension of the Cataloochee Divide, to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park's entrance is located on U.S. Highway 19, the main road through the town. Ghost Town was promoted as "North Carolina's mile-high theme park" in my youth.
In Asheville the traffic coming in is heavy due to rush hour but finding the campground was pretty straight forward since it was just off the highway exit ramp alongside the French Broad River. The campsite is along the river just feet from the RV door. There is a greenbelt trail through the park so there were many people, walking, jogging, or walking dogs well into the evening hours.
Day one on the road had a few missteps but all in all it was a good day. Weather started clearing by late afternoon and I hope to see my friend Mike tomorrow afternoon for lunch.
Tuesday – 4/10/2018 Clear – Temp 55°
Mike picked us up around noon since he did not want me to drive around Asheville to find parking places to meet him. He is known for his great BBQ and we headed over to Buxton Hall Barbecue for lunch and a drink. The food was excellent as expected since he knows the best places in the area. We talked and caught up on things since we last saw one another about a year ago. He introduced me to a new drink called “The World Famous Buxton Slushie”, Bourbon & Cheerwine. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I am not really fond of any slushie type drinks but this was awfully good. The taste was like a bourbon cherry coke flavor and went down cold and smooth. The whole hog pulled pork plate was great with all the fixins’, cornbread, slaw, and spicy bread & butter pickles.
After lunch he drove us around Asheville seeing some different sights, like where Robert Mitchum jumped out of the window in the movie Thunder Road among others. Gave us some history where he has lived all his life which was fun and informative. We made a couple of stops before heading back to the RV Park along the French Broad River so he could make his lodge meeting.
We headed over to the Biltmore Estate to the winery to do the tour and have a bite of dinner. As we left at sunset the warm orange red glow over the distant mountains cast that alpenglow on the surroundings. The grounds driving out were many wild turkeys, deer, and geese feeding in the pasture land.