Waterfalls | Blue Ridge Parkway | Places to Eat/Stay
LINK INDEX
PLEASE NOTE! The entire USGS
early series maps are now online at TopoZone! Oh, my... to be
able to look up an area and really KNOW the place. Check it
out! While really it's the poor-man's substitute for the
real thing, it's a great place to go mapping while sitting
in that armchair. Great planning tool!
Pisgah & Nantahala Forests Hikes
Don't forget to check my Hikes page.
Kdarnell (we never get to
know who s/he is), has some good hikes in the area,
described and rated which include Nantahala Forest hikes,
also some East Tennessee hikes... shares with me the value
of staying away from the Great Smoky National Park simply
because of the throngs that visit.
Several Pisgah and Nantahala hikes are
described by the Gorp
corporation. GORP stands for Great
Outdoors Recreation Pages, but is a commercial site trying
to sell you their guides/books/travel stuff. That being
said, it's also a great site of resources for hiking, scenic
drives, and many other outdoor adventures Also, a nice
description of the Craggy
Gardens area, Shining
Rock, and Black
Mountain Crest trails with maps.
Alex Netherton, of the Appalachian
Naturalist, has some good information
on the hikes around in the Pisgah area and thereabouts. His
focus is frogs and snakes, so you'll get good info on
mountain bogs and things like that. His site has other good
information too.
Bent
Creek Experimental Forest has several interpretive
trails. While not exactly hikes, they are informative
strolls and good for the family outing.
In Adventure
in the Smokies is a description of by Joann
Swofford's day hike in the Pink Beds of Cradle of Forestry
in Pisgah. They probably have hike descriptions of the
Smokies, too, but i didn't find them. Also Darcia
Bondurant's description of a hike up Cold
Mountain can be useful, especially if
you don't see the apple tree that marks the turn...
Graham
County is proud enough of its
beautiful hiking to include quite a few trail descriptions
and many helpful hints along the way. A pretty site with
many beautiful hikes in the Nantahala NF. Wonderful and
helpful maps of each section are included.
On the site of the old 'Asheville Zoo,' the
WNC
Nature Center is a great resource for
nature in the area. Naturalist notes, printable fact sheets
and teacher resources abound here. Timely news and a
calendar of events (along with weather info and an
admonition to dress appropriately) make this site really the
complete guide to visiting this wonderful place. There's a
"hands on" Nature Lab and Educational Farm with petting
area. A fun place to visit, online or in person!
Another
Western NC'er and naturalist who offers very
reasonably-priced walks is Scott
Dean. Despite his tendency to
volunteer a lot, he still manages to get in a great deal of
wildflower and native-plant walks. A storehouse of
interesting information (science, lore, and fun little-known
stuff), Scott leads wonderful walks that sometimes slow down
to a crawl because of all the stuff he's anxious to tell
you. An infectious spirit whom i'm proud to have walked the
woods with. Contact him via e-mail or his address below for
a schedule of his walks:
Western North Carolina . . . Naturally
Scott Dean
PO Box 1535
Weaverville NC 28787
or phone 828-658-3375
Blue Ridge Parkway Hikes
GoCarolinas.com has a list of
hikes beginning near or at the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a
list only, and not detailed information. Still, it's a place
to start.
Great Smoky National Park Hikes
Rod's
guide to the Smoky Mountain hiking includes 6 popular hikes in
the Smokies, well detailed, along with information about
specifics to hiking the area. His site also includes info on
fishing, events, maps and FAQ's, so it's not just about
hikes, but the hike descriptions are good.
Gorp also has some good information about hiking in the Smokies.
Other Hiking in Western NC
The trails of Macon county
are detailed by length on the Macon
County Webpage, has quite a few listed and
have good directions.
Great Hiking Tips and Equipment and Stuff
The
Campsite is full of information about
hiking and camping that is directed to, but not solely
beneficial to the beginning hiker/camper. Includes a brief
description of the main trail of Shining
Rock Wilderness area (Pisgha NF).
See also my Misc Links page which has some equipment stores.
Jordan Mitchell has a great
Mountain Bike site for WNC, appropriately called
Mountain
Biking in Western NC. Besides great trail rides
and some not-so-common ones, he has instructive pages on how
to view USGS maps and make the most of them, He is
sensitive to the bike's impact on both the environment and
the human directing it, and has a simply lovely section of
photos taken around the area. A must read if you intend to
bike the area, and not-too-shabby place to go if you're
planning to hike these areas (or just wanna armchair hike -
i guess that's called - virtual backpacking)
Curtis Krumel's wonderful homepage has quite a
few pictures of local
waterfalls, done well, and thumbnailed
to preview. He also has information on hikes in the area,
and he gives great advice, like "You can't see the falls
from the top - Don't go there." and my favorite " Mooing at
cows in a roadside pasture is not funny the first time."
Nice place to sit and view the falls. Hopefully it'll help
get everybody out to view them for real.
Randy's
Index is a great source of
waterfall pictures not only from WNC, but Georgia and SC
too.He takes some gorgeous pictures and has over xx photos
of NC waterfalls alone. Like this site, there's a download
lag, but trust me, it's worth it. I have had trouble
accessing the site occasionally... probably because it's
AOL, or perhaps because of a javascript copyright disclaimer
before each image that sometimes just hangs up.
The Pisgah
Inn is an inn (and the only gas
station for many miles) along the Blue Ridge Parkway between
Asheville and Waynesville. Next to Pisgah Mountain it has a
restaurant and is a fine place to stay, though i never have.
Just heard nice things. Open April - October
The Blue Ride Parkway is a great place for
viewing wildflowers, and Roanoke.com has some of those
flowers marked by mileposts along its route. Great for going
to find exactly what you want to see when. Helpful
map
of the parkway, too, with places to see,
eat, gas up and stay.
Other Blue Ridge Parkway sites:
