Believe it or not, The Blue Ridge Parkway is a national park that traverses 469 miles over the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to the Smoky Mountains. This was the second part of our east coast road trip and had some of our favorite sights on the entire trip. We only had about a day and a half to explore this area so we carefully planned out the main things we wanted to see.
We started at the northern entrance of the Blue Ridge Parkway so we could take out national park sign picture!
Our first hike on the Blue Ridge Parkway was Humpback rocks. Even during the week this was a popular trailhead and we didn't get there until 10:00am since it was a little bit of a ride from where we had been staying in Shenandoah.
The Humpback rocks loop trail is 3.8 miles long with 1102ft. of elevation gain. At the top are some really cool rock formations you can climb all over. We were limited to our climbing because we had our pups with us but it was still really cool at the top!
We had initially planned to do an out and back the steeper and shorter trail to the top but we found there were still some patches of snow and ice and with the dogs it would be a lot safer to go down the gradual way on the Appalachian Trail side.
Since this trail took a lot longer than we initially planned we just drove a little further down the Blue Ridge Parkway stopping at a couple of overlooks like 20 minute cliff.
Then we drove to our overnight destination in Boone, NC. Of course we hit a couple of breweries while we were there! And both were dog friendly!
Lost Province Brewing Company
Appalachian Mountain Brewing Company
They also had really good pizza!
The next morning we were out the door pretty early because we had a full morning of stops before heading to our next stop in Atlanta. We left Boone and hopped back on the Blue Ridge Parkway which was only about 15 minutes from our Airbnb.
Our first stop was this pretty lake that wasn't on our original itinerary.
Our next stop was Rough Ridge. I don't have many words to describe Rough Ridge because this was our number one favorite stop on the entire trip. Get there early and during the week so you can have it to yourself like we did. It's also not something you would necessarily notice because you have to climb up to the overlook from the parking lot.
Just down the road from Rough Ridge is Linn Cove Viaduct. There's a whole trail you can do from the visitor's center at this location but the parking lot was closed which was where we would access the trail. You can still park at the overlook right before Linn Cove and walk on a dirt path along the parkway to get the to the spot we went to.
A little farther down the parkway is Beacon Heights overlook. From the parking lot it's only about a half mile walk up a trail to the overlook. This was another really cool spot with an open rock face overlooking the mountains.
Our final stop on this section of the Blue Ridge Parkway was Crabtree Falls. This would be our longest hike of the morning but was still only 2.6 miles with 577ft. of elevation gain. You start out walking through a campground but eventually come to a trail where you'll switchback your way down to the falls.
You can complete this as a loop trail but we chose to just go back up the way we came.
After our final hike we made our way to Asheville where we stopped at the Blue Ridge Parkway visitor's center and then we made a stop at Sierra Nevada brewing before heading to Atlanta.
Tips:
Go early and during the week so you can avoid crowds
If you only have a short amount of time, do your research so you can pick the best spots to focus on since the Blue Ridge Parkway is so long! When we drove between sections we got off the parkway because it was a lot faster to do this and we were short on time.
Check daily for closures - when we arrived in Boone after our first day on the parkway, the whole next section we had planned was closed. When I checked the closures the next morning, everything had opened again. Especially in the shoulder season, conditions can change daily!
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