| Photo Credit: Chimney Rock Park |
For 20 years now, Santa Claus has been practicing for his big night of heading down everyone’s chimneys by going down the 315-foot “Chimney” at Chimney Rock Park, 30 minutes south of the Inn on Mill Creek.
| The road to the Inn on Mill Creek, October 20, 2012 |
Welcome to peak leaf peeping week at our elevation (2,300 feet). This is one of the best autumn color shows that we’ve seen in a few years here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The fall foliage started out mostly yellow, with hickories, birches and beeches, and now the maples and sassafras are giving us rather striking orange and red hues, and the oaks are now starting to turn as well. Peak colors typically happen at our elevation sometime between October 21-31, and for the past several years, it has been on the later end of that timeframe. This year, Mother Nature decided to switch things up and make it a little earlier.
For those of you who, like Innkeeper Brigette, are addicted to geocaching, you may have seen that Sunday, October 14, is the 6th annual International EarthCache Day. There are more than 23,000 EarthCaches and some of them are located close to the Inn on Mill Creek!
We’ve decided to do a 12 Months of Birding at the Inn series on the blog, where we’ll talk about the kinds of birds you can expect to see at the Inn on Mill Creek (a site on the North Carolina Birding Trail) and in the surrounding areas of the North Carolina mountains. We’ve also taken lots of pictures over the years of the birds in our neck of the woods, and unless photo credit is attributed to someone else, all photos on the blog are ones that we’ve taken of our winged neighbors.
The Point Lookout Greenway is a 3.5-mile paved walking/biking trail near the Inn, in scenic McDowell County. The route used to be Highway 10, then Highway 70 {now called Old Highway 70}, and it was blocked off decades ago in this particular stretch from Ridgecrest to Old Fort. When it was the main highway, before the construction of Interstate 40, there was a gas station and restaurant, and a beautiful overlook.
| Photo Credit: Chimney Rock State Park |
Now here’s a great way to get outdoors and see some gorgeous fall color in our neck of the woods! Chimney Rock State Park, located 30 minutes south of the Inn on Mill Creek, is offering two “Off the Beaten Path” guided hikes in October:
Asheville and western North Carolina are often on top ten lists (top ten cities for art, top ten places to retire, top ten cities for beer lovers, and the list of lists goes on, and on, and on…). Now, Asheville has been recognized as one of ten affordable summer driving destinations by weather.com. Specifically, they give a shout out to the Atlanta-to-Asheville road trip, which is just under four hours.
Happy weekend! Thinking about a trip to our neck of the woods but you’re still undecided? Maybe this video of our gorgeous North Carolina mountains will help. We hope you can come see all this beauty in person. Check our availability and make reservations at www.innonmillcreek.com.
| Linville Falls from the Chimney View Overlook |
Spring is quickly approaching in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and what better time to take a hike through some gorgeous green scenery to a wonderful waterfall? Every Saturday in March, Chimney Rock Park is offering guided hikes to Hickory Nut Falls, a 404-foot waterfall inside the state park that cascades down a huge granite face. Here’s the base of the falls:
