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A Blue Ridge Parkway Journey

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Yesterday, I visited an old friend, the North Carolina Mountains. I took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I took it from US 421 in Deep Gap (around mile 278) to VA 8 in the Rock Castle Gorge region (around Mile 170). It took about six hours to drive the 108 or so miles. Why because I stopped at a lot of the overlooks to hike or take photos. I took 209 photos on this trip. Here are some of the ones I liked the most.

The Cascades: There's a stop withing E.B. Jeffress State Park with a short hike to a waterfall simply known as 'The Cascades". It's a great spot for photos and to forget about life for awhile.


One of the great things about the Parkway are the vehicles that you find on it. Motorcycles are common place but so are classic cars.

View of Mt. Jefferson: Jefferson, NC is one of my favorite small towns in Ashe County. From the parkway, you are able to view the mountainous backdrop that shares its name.


The Lump: Is known for sweeping views of the foothills below. At the lump there's a small trail to the top and it gives this view.

Doughton Park: One of my favorite stretches of the Parkway is through Doughton Park. There are numerous trails and overlooks, and my next journey to Northwest NC and the Parkway, I will be spending considerable time there.


Devil's Garden Overlook: An awesome view here!

Mahogany Rock Overlook: I have a page on it already. I'm looking forward to improving the photos.

Bullhead Mountain Overlook: As you can tell in a number of photos. I experimented with various angles of adding the overlook information sign in the photo.

Puckett Cabin: Now in Virginia. Virginia starts of slow with overlooks and photo opportunities. In fact, for much of the southern part of Virginia, a local road parallels the Parkway. A neat little stop is Puckett's Cabin. It is the former home of Orlena Puckett who for most of her 102 served as a midwife. In fact, the year of her death - 1939, Ms. Puckett continue to perform that duty. Tragically, the 24 children that she would give berth to never survived infancy.

Mabry Mill: The last ten miles of the Parkway I was on in Virginia made the journey thoroughly enjoyable. First, a great setting of Mabry Mill. Took a number shots around the mill. Here's some highlights.



Finally, the last overlook that I stopped at was the best. The overlook for Rock Castle Gorge was home to a large patch of butterflies. It was one of those pleasant and unexpected surprises that makes any trip worthwhile.



I did gain two new Virginia Counties on this trip (Patrick and Floyd) along with a number of new routes. I also stopped at two covered bridges off of VA 8 north of Stuart. It was a great trip, the weather couldn't be better no humidity anywhere...with it in a warm upper 70s in the mountains and a just right mid 80s in the Piedmont.

I'll certainly get back to Doughton Park and more of the Parkway later this year

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Mahzha said…
If you think you like Doughton Park now, you should camp there for a weekend. You'll fall in love with it.

CD
2:21 PM
Uncle Gomer said…
I'm guessing one of the covered bridges north of Stuart was Bob White «http://tinyurl.com/3xt6kx». What was the other one?
9:26 PM
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