�Upon the Blue Ridge Mountains,
There I�ll take my stand.
A rifle on my shoulder,
Six-shooter in my hand,
I�ve been all around this world.�

--The Grateful Dead, �Been All Around This World.�

Dogwood

May Apple

Wild Rose

Wild Roses

Fire Pink

Looking Glass Falls

First of all, I am no Deadhead or hippie, and my feelings about those people kept me from giving the Dead a chance for a very long time. But I found they made a lot of great music (and a great deal of junk, too), and I am now a fan of the music.

But the lines above resound with me because of my proximity to the Blue Ridge and the amount of time I�ve spent there. I have been all around this country, but the Blue Ridge still holds a special charm for me, for it is where my mountain adventures began, and I have found lovely places deep within those ridges and hollows that would be as good a spot as any to lie down and pass away when the time for my mountain adventures to end comes. Hopefully, though, the guns won�t be part of that.

After seeing the mountains of the American West, a person can easily overlook or dismiss the older, tamer Blue Ridge, but doing so would be a terrible mistake. The mountains of the East do not pierce the sky or tempt the lens for the most part, but a quiet beauty and a special magic there beckon one�s spirit into a world of serene beauty that seems to be a living manifestation of the imagery evoked by landmark American poets such as Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, whose verse about New England seems almost equally applicable to the southern Appalachians. Perhaps restful is the word I seek to describe how I feel when I am out in the woods of the Blue Ridge, and the range�s shaded recesses take me worlds away from the frenetic urban madness of the East Coast and its cities, that world in which I live and work so I can escape to the mountains whenever the opportunity arises. Stepping into the Blue Ridge is like stepping into a folk song about a bygone era of bygone values and ways, and the breezes bear the songs of ghostly fiddles and the forgotten people who made them talk and who played a fundamental and lasting role in the development of American culture.

March through October, the Blue Ridge is an outdoor wildflower museum. All year long, scenic streams (misleadingly called rivers in most places) tumble down the steep hillsides, pouring over countless cataracts and cliff-bound falls along the way; it is my personal opinion that the waterfalls in Virginia�s Shenandoah National Park are collectively the prettiest I�ve seen in all the areas of the country I�ve visited, but I certainly can�t prove that I�m right about that. The aspens and cottonwoods of the West make for a gorgeous fall, but there is more color, and a longer color season, in the Blue Ridge, though the Blue Ridge seems dull in comparison to the October displays in Vermont and New Hampshire. Wildlife abounds, and the clear winter air affords stunning views and spectacular sunsets. Hundreds of miles of hiking trails lace the range, and climbers can find challenging cliffs in numerous places. There is much more, and those who have been there over and over again have seen a great deal of it but never feel they have seen enough.

Part of the Appalachian Mountains system, the Blue Ridge technically extends from western Maryland south across a sliver of West Virginia at Harpers Ferry and down through Virginia and North Carolina (and along the very western edge of South Carolina) until it reaches its terminus in northern Georgia. But the range is principally in Virginia and North Carolina�don�t be fooled by John Denver�s �Country Roads, Take Me Home,� which places the Blue Ridge and the Shenandoah River in �West Virginia.� They are in western Virginia, and the Shenandoah River, like the Blue Ridge, only rolls through in West Virginia at Harpers Ferry.

The mountains got their name long ago because of the bluish haze that frequently surrounds them-- not the same as the pollution-caused haze that destroys air quality and visibility for most of the late spring through the early fall these days and which is contributing to the decline of many stands of trees. In Virginia, the Blue Ridge really is a ridge, a narrow one that rises steeply on its east and west sides but very gently north-south between gaps, what the Southeast calls passes. Around Asheville, North Carolina, though, the range broadens into numerous parallel ridges, and the mountains are wilder, though probably not as much so as in western Shenandoah National Park. In general, the mountains are also higher in North Carolina than they are in Virginia, and the range reaches its highest point at 5890� Grandfather Mountain near Boone; Grandfather is also a rare �rocky� mountain in the East, and it offers several fun scrambling opportunities off the trail to its summit. The nearby Black Mountains, considered by some to be a spur of the Blue Ridge and by others to be a separate range, house the country�s highest point east of the Mississippi River, 6684� Mount Mitchell. In New England, this would mean tundra, but the warmer climate of the South means the mountaintops are wooded.

One of the best ways to experience the Blue Ridge is to visit Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. It is diversely beautiful in all seasons, and it�s the most pristine part of the range. Another great option is the Blue Ridge Parkway, a stoplight-free stretch of pavement running for 470 miles from Shenandoah�s southern end at Rockfish Gap to the southern gateway for Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. A third recommendation I have is to explore the waterfalls region of North Carolina west of Asheville; U.S. 64 winds through an area with several lovely waterfalls, one of which, Whitewater Falls near the South Carolina Border and Lake Toxaway, is by some measures the highest in the eastern United States. Down in Georgia, where there are no famous national parks, the range may not be as spectacular as it is along the heights of the Blue Ridge Parkway or the steep sides of Shenandoah, but it still has the forested slopes, waterfalls, and rock outrops typical of the Blue Ridge, and its relative obscurity outside the local area makes it a much quieter place to visit.

Attached to this page are the �Shenandoah Mountains� Area/Range page, which refers to the mountains of Shenandoah National Park as there are no Shenandoah Mountains; some of the mountains and rocky areas off or near the Blue Ridge Parkway; and some albums showcasing the diversity of Shenandoah National Park and the beauty of southern Appalachian wildflowers and waterfalls.

Those who don�t already know about the delights of the Blue Ridge are likely to find themselves pleasantly surprised when they visit. Don�t be surprised if you fall in love with the region.

Near Linville, NC

Shenandoah National Park

A Blue Ridge Odyssey, Part One: Shenandoah National Park

Sulphur and Heliotrope

October Leaves

Marys Rock

Lower Doyles River Falls

Dark Hollow Falls

There is no way I can claim to have the time or the knowledge to write comprehensively and authoritatively about all there is to see in the various parts of this very long mountain system. Instead, this and the following two sections will take you on a tour of sorts through the parts of the range I know best, and the trip will cover well over 400 miles.

Shenandoah National Park�- If there weren�t already a page covering the mountains of this park, I would make one myself, and it would become almost an endless project for me, so often and extensively have I hiked and climbed in the park and seen so many of its faces and moods and secrets. To get detailed information about specific Shenandoah mountains, go to the �Shenandoah Mountains� page, which is attached to this one. But to learn a little about this narrow and most-protected part of the range, please read on.

For the most part, Shenandoah National Park consists of a long ridge system only a few miles wide and the slopes and valleys, �hollows,� adjacent to the ridges. North to south, the park is more than 100 miles in length, longer than most other national parks, even many of those in the West, but it is rarely more than ten miles wide, which is narrower than most other national parks. Still, Shenandoah is a gem and a wilderness island amid a sea of development whose shores creep closer by the day, it seems. Hidden among its mossy, fern-clad forests are streams and waterfalls, cliffs, rocky outcrops both quiet and crowded, wildlife ranging in size from black bears to almost-microscopic insects, riotous wildflowers, virgin stands of trees, and ruins of old homesteads and cemeteries.

Shenandoah is divided into three contiguous districts�- North, Central, and South. All have paved access. The Central District is the highest and has the greatest concentration of highly scenic trails, the North is the busiest, and the South is the wildest and quietest. Meandering along or near the crest of the Blue Ridge all the way is Skyline Drive, one of the prettiest roads in the East; in autumn when the leaves change color and in certain periods of the spring when showy flowers like mountain laurel and trillium bloom profusely, it is one of the prettiest roads in the entire country. Winter is my favorite season there, though; huge icicles hang from roadside cliffs, ice coats the waterfalls� edges and sometimes covers them entirely, the leafless trees allow better views of mountainsides and from trails, and visitation is light�- in fact, the park often seems empty.

Where to begin to see Shenandoah? For purposes of this page, I will limit myself to locations right off or close to Skyline Drive, the means by which most visitors see the park, anyway. In the North District, which begins outside the town of Front Royal, the cliffs at Big Devils Stairs are nice, and the more adventurous can take a lightly maintained trail down into the canyon there and return via the stream, where there is a small, secluded waterfall. The Jeremy�s Run Trail, at the Elkwallow picnic area, follows one of the park�s prettiest streams deep into one of its broadest areas.

In the Central District, try Whiteoak Canyon (page attached), which, though crowded, is many a visitor�s choice for the most beautiful trail in the park. Hiking the entire canyon will take one past six major waterfalls and several lesser ones, and returning via Cedar Run will mean seeing at least three more. Some of the park�s largest and oldest trees are in this area, and the spring wildflowers here are gorgeous; visits during successive weeks will reveal different bloom concentrations and types each time. Just north of Whiteoak Canyon is the easy trail to Stony Man Mountain�s summit, where one may see peregrine falcons. Along the way are the Little Stony Man Cliffs, where there is technical climbing for free soloists and rope users alike. A few miles south of Whiteoak Canyon is the short, steep trail to the summit of Hawksbill, the park�s highest peak. Skip Dark Hollow Falls Trail, which leads to a pretty waterfall but is just too crowded to be enjoyable, except in winter�- when the only sign of company may be animal tracks in the snow. Near the end of the Central District is the trail to South River Falls, where the plunging creek hits a tier, splits around a large rock, and then drops as two parallel cascades the rest of the way.

The South District offers some great deep backcountry opportunities. Perhaps the finest is the Doyles River-Jones Run loop, doable (and usually done) as a day hike but nicer as an overnighter. This loop passes through stands of huge trees and by three large waterfalls, but there are many other cascades and pools that will delight hikers. Another fine loop is the Wildcat Ridge-Riprap system, which heads deep into the park�s wilder and wider west side. People really looking for solitude but wanting a good trail system should head into the Big Run area, which is deep wilderness for the East. The South District ends at Rockfish Gap, where the Blue Ridge Parkway and the next leg of this journey begin.

A Blue Ridge Odyssey, Part Two: Rockfish Gap to Doughton Park

Fallingwater Cascades

Phlox

The Blue Ridge Parkway, administered by the National Park Service and sometimes little wider than the road itself, winds generally southwest from Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park for 470 miles free of stop signs and stoplights. In many a vehicle, one could drive the entire length without stopping, but anyone who would do so would need his or her head examined. Because there are some gas stations, many campgrounds, and some motel-style lodges along the way, though, one could travel the entire way without leaving the Parkway, and that is a delightful trip indeed.

From Rockfish Gap to Roanoke, Virginia, the Parkway goes through a landscape that looks like a continuation of Shenandoah National Park. Hikers will want to stop at Humpback Rocks (MP 6, attached) and the Peaks of Otter (MP 84-87). At the Peaks of Otter, trails climb to nearby summits, including Flat Top and craggy Sharptop (both attached), and there is also the short, pretty, and easy Fallingwater Cascades loop nearby (MP 83), complete with benches along the way for the out-of-shape and the spellbound. A campground, lodge, and gas station are at the Peaks of Otter.

South of Roanoke, the high ridges soon give way to rolling, meadowy hills, and although the drive is pretty and peaceful, there isn�t much that�s spectacular until it approaches Doughton Park in North Carolina.

One popular stop, though, is Mabry Mill (MP176), where you can get a sampling of frontier life when this part of Virginia was still a frontier. It isn�t my kind of thing, but many people love it. If you go in a cold winter, the mill wheel may be frozen and adorned with massive icicles, and that is a spectacular sight.

Doughton Park, in North Carolina (MP 238-245), has a mix of some of what�s best in the Blue Ridge. There are lovely rolling hills framed by split-rail fences, rock outcrops, deep hollows, and some of the best wild stands of rhododendron I have ever seen. Shortly after Doughton Park, where travelers can find gas, camping, and lodging, the mountains begin to rise again and march into the magnificent highlands of western North Carolina.

A Blue Ridge Odyssey, Part Three: to Asheville and Beyond

Black Mountains

Linville Falls

Cullasuja Falls

Now we reach the best parts. Around the famous but overrated Linn Cove Viaduct (MP 304), enjoy views of Grandfather Mountain (attached), highest in the Blue Ridge. The trail to Flat Rock (attached), at MP 308, leads to an open, secluded view of popular Grandfather. Grandfather Mountain is not on public land, though. Ten years ago, which was when I last went there, it cost $9 to enter the commercialized park and hike its trails (very scenic area, though); I imagine it costs more now. I�d say it�s worth at least one visit to hike to the highpoint of the Blue Ridge, though.

Back on the Parkway, stop at Linville Falls (MP 316, Linville Gorge attached), my favorite spot along the Parkway. Here, there is a rugged gorge with a high, thundering waterfall that cuts through a narrow rocky opening at its brink (see photo). Unlike most other streams well up in the Blue Ridge, the Linville River really is big enough and broad enough to pass as a river, and it shows as it pours over its precipice and rushes through its gorge, where there is rugged hiking and challenging climbing.

Stop at MP 339 for the trail to Crabtree Falls, not as mighty as Linville but a classically beautiful Appalachian waterfall. At MP 355, look for the spur to Mount Mitchell State Park, where a road goes almost to the very top of the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River. Mount Mitchell is in the Black Mountains, which are technically not part of the Blue Ridge, which is why I haven�t attached them to this page.

Craggy Gardens, MP 363-370, is carpeted with blooming rhododendron around Mid-June.

Somewhere around Asheville, the Blue Ridge proper takes a southern turn, but the Parkway climbs into its highest zones, which botanically resemble southeastern Canada more than they do North Carolina, and winds its way to the Smokies. Most people will continue that way, but consider the following before doing so:

Great Smoky Mountains N.P. is the nation�s most heavily visited, and it�s even busy much of the time in winter.

The weather isn�t very good�it�s often so hazy that visibility is almost nothing, it rains frequently, and cloudless days are rare.

You can see much of the same, but with far less company, by leaving the Parkway near Waynesville and heading toward U.S. 64 and the spectacular waterfalls region briefly described in this page�s Overview section.

This is a classic Blue Ridge scene, not hard to come by but somehow always a miraculous sight. Thanks to Mark Doiron for this post.

Red Tape

It costs $15 to enter Shenandoah National Park by car. There are no entrance fees for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Some sites in the national forests require day-use fees.

Camping

Shenandoah National Park has four developed campgrounds. Sites can be reserved at Big Meadows.

There are several campgrounds along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and there are several in the national forests of Western North Carolina.

Many campgrounds fill on summer and fall weekends, especially during the autumn color season. Arrive early.

External Links

NPS Blue Ridge Parkway site
Shenandoah NP site

These sites have links for camping and lodging information.

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