Eclipse Trip -- Blue Ridge Parkway

Once we left the Stable Cafe at Biltmore, we were finally beginning the trip towards home.  However, we still had several things we wanted to see as part of what had become this epic adventure.  Most notable among the things we still wanted to see was Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

Since we were already on the North Carolina side, we thought driving through the park on Newfound Gap Road (US 441), the road that passes through the park, made sense.  The North Carolina terminus for Newfound Gap Road is at Cherokee, NC.  Yes, Cherokee had hotels and the hotels seemed cheaper than those on the Tennessee side, so that looked promising.

There are a couple of ways to get from Asheville to Cherokee.  We decided to take the slower but hopefully more picturesque route, the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Not being familiar with North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway at first seems somewhat obscure.  However, it isn't totally unknown.  For example, it is the subject of the back of the 2015 America the Beautiful North Carolina quarters.

Blue Ridge Parkway featured in the 2015 America the Beautiful Quarters series

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a linear park that runs mostly along the ridgeline of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 469 miles through Virginia and North Carolina.  Administered by the National Park Service, there are no services (or at least almost none...more about that below), no billboards, no commercial traffic, slow speed limits (45 mph in most areas, slower in congested areas), and in most places no passing.  We did not know that much about the Blue Ridge Parkway but figured it would be somewhat similar, at least in concept, to the other linear park we had driven several years ago, the Natchez Trace.

GPS track (in red) along Blue Ridge Parkway from the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center (milepost 384) on the right to Cherokee, NC  (mile post 469) to the left.

In retrospect, I did not do enough research on the things to see and do along this stretch of the Parkway.  It was still very worthwhile and a good way to make the trip given the relatively short distance (~85 miles) and the time of year.  It would have been an awfully slow trip if we had had to go a lot further or if we had been there during a busier time of year such as peak fall leaf season.  As I have since learned, it would have not been an option at all during much of the winter, since it closes due to snow on the road and especially due to ice in or near the many tunnels we passed through.

We started by making our way to the new  Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center which is just east of Biltmore at milepost 384.  Getting there was somewhat of an adventure in itself since we did not seem to have a good map, but we finally found our way onto the Parkway and finally found the Visitor Center.

We were successful in our main mission, i.e. getting a map of the Parkway.  What we did not know until later was that the Visitor Center has a movie about the making of the Parkway.  We would have definitely stuck around for that if we would have known.

Mt. Pisgah and Pisgah National Forest

With map in hand we were off.  The first part of our journey took us through what is now Pisgah National Forest.  This was originally part of the Biltmore Estate, but was sold to the federal government in 1914.  We passed by a major campground at Mt. Pisgah, but did not stop.  I did not know until later that this is also the home of the Pisgah Inn, a motel and a restaurant with panoramic views over the mountains.  I did not know until later that there were any such commercial locations along the Parkway.  Pisgah Inn would likely be an interesting place to stay or at least a gorgeous place to eat if we are ever through there again.

Overlooks

There were many many pullouts to take in the views.   As high as we were, we could sometimes look down on the adjacent mountains.

Funnel Top Mountain overlook at milepost 409.3

The views were spectacular.

View from Funnel Top overlook

Lots of the mountains in the landscape looked pretty much the same.   However Looking Glass Rock is distinct. It is one of the largest masses of granite in the eastern U.S., formed under ground from molten rock that hardened and then was subsequently exposed by erosion.  The exposed surface reflects the sunlight when wet, hence the name.

Looking Glass Rock overlook, milepost 417

Richland Balsam Trail

The highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway is at 6,047 feet.  It is adjacent to Richland Balsam Peak, which tops out at 6410 feet.  "Balsam" refers to the Fraser fir and red spruce which are prevalent.  They are supposedly what produce the scent which permeates the air on the mountain.

My very inadequate map indicated there was a self-guiding trail through the forest to the summit from the Haywood-Jackson overlook at milepost 431.  Even though we knew nothing about the length of the trail, we decided at the last moment to see if we could make it to the top.  It did not look too bad.  The trail was paved (asphalt) and there was even a box at the trailhead for printed guides.

Sometimes appearances are deceptive.  The box for guides was empty so we still had no idea how long the trail was.  The paving extended for only 300 feet or so.   The further we went, the trail became rougher, steeper, and narrower, with lots of slippery, moss covered roots and rocks.  The trail was also totally enclosed under a canopy of trees with no views. 

Sine we had no idea how far it was to the summit and the footing was getting more precarious, we finally decided to turn around.  That turned out to be the wise choice, at least for us on that day without hiking boots.  It now looks like we probably made it about half way to the top, but would have encountered steeper conditions further on.  There probably would not have been any views from the top anyway.  It was still interesting to do the short hike in the dense, enclosed woods...typical for the Appalachians but so different from our usual hikes in the west.

Flutterbys

As great as the views were at the various overlooks, they were not the only things of interest.  There were butterflies virtually everywhere.  There were many Tiger swallowtails, which were easy to see as they floated over the edge of the overlooks.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

 

I was particularly stunned by the huge number of dark butterflies.  It is hard to identify butterflies at 45 mph so I do not know if they were all the same, but at least some of the ones we saw up close were pipevine swallowtails. 

One of the many pipevine swallowtail butterflies we saw along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Cherokee

We continued along the Parkway and finally made it to the town of Cherokee.  Although the area around Cherokee is sometimes erroneously referred to as an Indian reservation, it is more properly the Qualla Boundary, a land trust for the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.  As a trust the land is technically not a "reservation" since the land was not "reserved" by the federal government.  It was purchased by the tribe in the 1870s and subsequently placed under federal protection.  Individuals can buy, own, and sell the land, provided they are enrolled members of the Tribe of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.  Members of the Eastern Band are descendants of those individuals who remained in the eastern U.S. after the Indian Removal Act moved 15,000 Cherokee to the west in the 1800s.

Cherokee was pretty quiet when we were there.  It looked like the tourist season was already over.  There were the obvious cheap touristy type things in town as well as a large Harrah's casino.  Cherokee is also known for some well done museums, including Museum of the Cherokee Indian.  However, we arrived too late to see any of those.  Most of our time, other than getting something to eat, was looking for the grocery store which had apparently moved since the database in my gps had been updated.  We needed groceries so we could pack a lunch for tomorrow's adventure to the National Park.