As we enter mid-October, color is slowly but surely progressing at our elevation of 2,300 feet above sea level, inside Pisgah National Forest east of Asheville, NC. Mother Nature is using a mostly-yellow color palette at the moment.
Early October is when we start to see colorful “pops” peeking through all the green in Pisgah National Forest and the area around Asheville, NC. Ready to find out where to hunt for bright fall foliage? It’s time for our second week of fall color reports for the NC mountains near Asheville and Black Mountain!
Here we are – the 2016 fall season has arrived to the North Carolina mountains! We’re one week into fall and, somewhat similar to last year, we have actual fall color to report even though it’s very early in the season and still mostly green.
Each month this summer, we’re featuring one of the four North Carolina State Parks closest to the Inn on Mill Creek, and August is reserved for a guest favorite: Grandfather Mountain. Let’s learn a little bit about this special place.
The official start to fall is just six weeks away, but who’s counting? OK, we admit it. We are! After a hot and dry July, we’re so ready for the cool and crisp autumn mountain air that we know and love. This post will highlight what to expect when you visit the Asheville, NC, area during the fall season.
The year 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the North Carolina State Park System and NC State Parks are celebrating in a big way with events throughout the year. There are nine state parks in the mountains of western North Carolina, and we’re fortunate to have four nearby, which we’ll profile for the next four months. This month, we take a look at Mount Mitchell State Park.
If you’re looking for a super-scenic day trip hike while staying with us here at Inn on Mill Creek near Asheville, NC, consider a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Graveyard Fields. Is it a graveyard? Nope. Is it a field? You could say that… but it’s so much more. Let’s explore.
Craggy Gardens is a section of the North Carolina mountains accessible via the Blue Ridge Parkway, north of Asheville. It has excellent hiking trails, a picnic area, cool mountaintop balds with wild blueberry bushes and dramatic mountain vistas. Read on to see what we saw on our hike of the Craggy Gardens Trail in early May! Hint: Wildflowers galore and other cool stuff that makes us love love love nature.
UPDATE – APRIL 16: The Craggy Gardens area is now open!
We aren’t the only ones who have a project list that we tackle in the wintertime: the National Park Service has been working on projects relating to improving the tunnels on the Blue Ridge Parkway around Asheville, including Tanbark Tunnel at Milepost 374.4 near Craggy Gardens.
As we move further into October, some areas of western North Carolina are at or near peak in terms of fall foliage. It’s rather impressive at elevations higher than 4,000 feet. And between 3,000 and 4,000 feet, large patches of Mother Nature’s perfect fall color palette can be found.
