Blue Ridge Parkway across NC and Virginia

The Blue Ridge Parkway extends 469 miles along the crests of the southern Appalachians and links two eastern national parks – Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains.  It was started as a project in the Great Depression and FRD's New Deal Programs to stimulate the economy though the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) public relief program that operated from 1933-1942.

We are driving along the full extent of the parkway.  It goes through South/North Carolina and Virginia.  Beautiful mountain scenery and plunging cliffs along the side of you – scary in parts.  Unfortunately, the national park campgrounds along the BRP do not open until May.  And we are too early for the wildflowers in spring.  Spring is late up here.  But beautiful vistas nevertheless.  And there are national forests and state parks along the way, which do have campsites open.  And when all else fails, we go off into a town and stay at Walmart.

Grandfather mountain.

Price Lake which we walked around.

There is Tiger- a tiny dot across the lake.

Above is Linville Falls and below is the upper falls.

Stone Mountain waterfall below is a 200ft drop in the form of a long waterslide.  And there are more than 250 steps in the form of a wooden construction which takes you from the top to a platform below.  The water at the bottom is not at all deep and there are warnings not to climb or slide – people have been killed here.  It is a very impressive waterslide.

Andrew standing at the platform on the bottom.