Blue Ridge Parkway to Chapel Hill, North Carolina

It's getting late, and we don't want to get off the parkway for the night, so we follow this road toward a state park.  When we got there, it was for tents only.  We encountered snow along the road on our way up here, and its 38 degrees.  So we turned around and headed back down.  Even though we are the only ones here, we know the rangers close the gate at night, and they would find us and make us leave. 

We found out later that we had gone to the highest peak in the Appalachian Mountains, and the highest peak in the eastern United States, at 6, 684 feet.  

We got off the parkway and headed toward a campground we had located near Burnsville, N.C.

But, we came across this campground first and pulled in.

It was right on the Toe River!  And there were very few people in it.  So we had our pick of campsites and nestled right in among the trees.  This is our first campground on the whole trip in the type of area we like.  No hook ups, i.e. water, electricity, etc. but it suits us just fine1

We got up late.  It was so dark in the woods and with the overhead clouds, it was just cozy and quiet, and gave us a chance to sleep in.  

After a nice leisurely breakfast, we spotted this fisherman headed down to the river.   Quite a sight with his net over his back and a rustic walking stick.

The water and shoreline were just beautiful.  The river is running high.  The area has gotten way above average rainfall.

There were three brothers who had met up at this campground.    John went to talk to them, and they were so friendly.  They each came up and shook his hand.  Later we spotted this brother and he showed us his catch - brook trout.  Boy, does that bring back memories for me of  trout fishing with my Dad on streams just like this.

There is a little sandy beach here and a still pool of water that eddys into a swimming hole.  It must be wonderful in the hot  and humid summer.

And steps leading down to it. 

After going out of our way to find diesel ($3.99 here in the mountains), 

we headed back to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  There aren't many bicyclists out here, but in the interest of those of you who are bicycling enthusiasts, here's one!  There is no bike path and virtually no shoulder on the road, so it's not exactly bike friendly, in my opinion.

We pulled off the road at Little Switzerland and mailed some postcards.  Haven't done that in a long time, but there was actually a post office here.  We'll see how long it takes them to get to their destinations!

A bed and breakfast across the road had these wonderful adirondack chairs in the back yard.

Can you get more idyllic than an adirondack chair by a little waterfall? 

Here's another example of the vistas we are seeing.  Even with an overcast sky you can see forever.

At this same vista point, there were dogwood trees down below.

And Azaleas.  These were way down the hill but thanks to the wonderful camera my children bought me, I can get a close up.  Thanks, guys! 

We had just been talking about the lack of wildlife.  We'd heard a few birds, seen  a couple of wild turkeys, a few hawks, but nothing much else.  And then we spotted these deer. 

We haven't encountered road work delays on this trip to date, until now.  This flagman came over and said,  "Are you from California?"  "Yes."  "Did you come all this way jes' to drahve through the mount'ens? Cuz a lot of people do, ya know. " 

What can you say about this sign?  I agree!  We encountered about 50 cars in the 100 miles we drove the parkway.  Not saying we had all of these conditions, but it was close!

Just as quickly as we got down off the mountain then there were wonderful meadows and farmland, contented cows, little streams ....

I read that this is called the High Country, and is one of the most photographed areas in all of North Carolina.  I suppose this is opposed to the Low Country, which is near the coast.  All in all, we are enjoying the countryside, high or low!