After a few months off from blogging, I am back and I thought it would be neat if we learned about some interesting places to explore in NC as well as a few places in VA during the Fall months. I would recommend checking them out at other times of the year too, but fall can especially be a fun time with the leaves changing color and all. Now, I will not go into real deep detail of these places as I want to encourage you to do some research and exploring for yourself.
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| Waterfall up in Boone, NC. Photo by ME. |
Let's start with NC's mountains! So lets look at the Blue Ridge Parkway.
According to the North Carolina Wildlife Viewing Guide, by Charles E. Roe, "The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 470 mile scenic motorway down the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It passes through an array of habitat types and elevations ranging from 2,000 to over 6,000 feet." Roe also writes that they extend from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in NC, to the Shenandoah National Park in VA.
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| Beautiful sunset in the NC mountains. Photo by ME. |
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| Along the Blue Ridge. Photo by ME. |
Along the parkway, are places you can stop and enjoy the view and even check out historic buildings and the like and learn what life in the mountains was like a long time ago. There are some neat places and views to check out.
If your ever up in the parkway in VA, here are a few places that are really neat to explore.
Meadows of Dan, VA.
Located up in Patrick County, VA, and certainly around the mountains, it is a small but neat tourist attraction. This place is the Mabry Mill.
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| Mabry Mill. Photo by ME. |
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| Photo by ME. |
It's construction dates back to 1903 and the use of it started in 1910 as a gristmill. Today tourists can look around and learn about what life in the region was like, There is a restaurant and also a black smith shop ( inside of it is pictured below. Photo by ME.) you can look at. The mill had originally started off as a black smith shop. (wikipedia).
It is an interesting place to check out.
The next place, is what you could certainly exclaim "Sweet!" Be sure to check out Nancy's Candy Company.
This place is amazing! The lady who owns it, of course is named Nancy. This place makes home made fudge and truffles as well as other goodies. They offer various candies too. Pictured below are some of their truffles, so good! I apologize if this blog makes your mouth water.
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| Photo by ME. |
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| Truffles! |
So yeah, go to this place if you love chocolate!
Of course in that and around Fancy Gap, VA area, there are some pretty views of the mountains!
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| Photo by ME. |
One final note on this region of VA, there is a great winery called Chateau Morrisette, located in Floyd, VA. It is great! Really neat atmosphere and great wines. Would highly recommend if your a wine consumer.
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| Chateau Morrisette Winery. Photo from Internet. |
Ok, now lets get back to more nature related exploration in the mountains.
A really neat place you might not have heard of, that I would highly recommend checking out is the Crabtree Meadows Park and Waterfall. This is on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC, near the Asheville area.
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| Crabtree Falls. Photo by ME. |
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| Crabtree Falls. Photo by ME. |
As you can see, the Crabtree Meadows Park and Falls has a spectacular and massive waterfall. According to http://www.hikewnc.info/besthikes/blue-ridge-parkway-section-3/crabtree-falls. This trail "descends on a moderate path to a majestic 70' waterfall, which is widely touted as one of the most photogenic in the area. You'll climb steeply up the opposite ridge for a short distance, then hike a wide, smooth trail beside the stream."
The trail certainly does get steep, so prepare accordingly when you visit. It is a fun place to hangout at and explore.
Another cool place to go is the Linville Gorge, Falls, and Caverns.
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| Linville Falls |
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| Linville Falls. Photo by ME. |
In describing the Linville Gorge and Falls, Charles E. Roe,author of North Carolina Wildlife Viewing Guide, writes: "In this national wilderness area, the Linville River plunges ninety feet as it enters the deepest gorge in eastern America."
There are few trails here and as you can see, some pretty scenery and waterfalls. The Linville Caverns are pretty neat too as it is the "largest limestone cave in state, with interesting cave fauna." (Roe)
Pictured below is the Linville Caverns. Photo from Internet.
I honestly could keep going on about the cool places to explore in the NC and VA mountains, since those are locations I am focusing on in this blog.
A final place I want to touch on is a bit more "wilderness" like. This place is the Pisgah National Forest.
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| Photo by ME. |
The Pisgah National Forest is a super cool area to explore; some of the places I have talked about are located in or around this forest. You may have heard of the Mitchell Mountain and the Black Mountains; they are along this forest too, it is big.
A friend and I use to, when we were in college, would take a couple days over fall break and go camping in the Pisgah and spend time exploring. We would explore streams like the one pictured below, drive around and stop at certain viewing points to see the mountains. It was awesome!
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| Beautiful Stream in NC Mountains. Photo by ME. |
The really cool thing about not only the Pisgah, but all of the NC mountains is the diversity of wildlife and plants! Salamanders in particular, are quite abundant there.
According to Salamanders of The Southeast, authors Joe Mitchell and Whit Gibbons writes: "...the salamanders found in the Southeast constitute 17 percent of the world total of 578 known species recognized in early 2009....More salamander species live in the tropics than in temperate North America, but more major groups (families and genera) are found in the Southeast than anywhere else." A lot of those are found here in NC.
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| Spring Salamander found near a spring. Photo by ME. |
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| Yonahlosse Salamander. Photo by ME. |
So, I hope you learn about some neat places to check out the mountains. Fall is a great time to go, the leaves are changing color and the scenery is breathtaking. Some other places you might want to go include: Grandfather Mountain, Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Hanging Rock. I would encourage you to look into other places and look for an adventure in mountains over this fall season. Again, feel free to ask me any questions you might have,
I will leave you with some more mountain photos.
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| Colorful Leaves Near A Stream. Photo by ME. |
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| The view is amazing! Photo by ME. |
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| NC Mountains |
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