A very nice stop along the parkway with a good southeastern view…read more The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 470-mile-long roadway that meanders through the mountains and connects the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The parkway boasts about 170 official stops along the path. This site is one of these many stops. This is between the Waterrock Knob stop and Fork Ridge overlook. This particular stop shares a fair amount of similarities with the Fork Ridge Overlook. It has the same southwestern view. It is a pull-off on the same side of the road. It has a broad view with very little obstruction. It does not have any restrooms or picnic tables or trails but has a wonderful view of several mountain ranges and valleys that run off to the south of the location. This stop also shares the same view as the one that can be seen from Waterrock Knob at a higher elevation so if you went there, you may want to skip this stop. If you have not been to that Waterrock Knob, then you may want to stop there next. Overall, it is a nice stop with a southwestern view. Enjoy.

This is one of many beautiful roadside stops that you can find throughout the state of North…read moreCarolina. It is free and located just off of the main road. This isn't a place you hang out for a long time at unless you do a picnic. Really , it is a great place to admire the vast beauty of nature and take some Instagram worthy pics, then keep it moving. Certainly worth stopping for at least once.

This spot is the first or second that I stumbled upon as I drove along a portion of the Blue Ridge…read moreParkway. So glad it has plenty of parking because the view from here is breathtaking. I'd love to spend a bit of time just observing the way that the sun moves along the mountains, because the way the mountains cast shadows on the trees here is stunning. In fact, at one of these outlooks there may have been a couple doing just that.

This is a really fun trail that my family and I walked on while we were visiting the blue ridge…read morethis afternoon. It is a bout a mile long trail that goes all the way around the facility in blue Ridge Park. It goes underneath bridges and has a bunch of different little fun paths to travel down

5 Stars for a beautiful, fairly easy trail that ends with spectacular views…read more The areas surrounding Asheville have some truly stunning hiking trails and we got a chance to walk the Bearwallow Mountain Trail with a large group that included kids. This is an easy trail with clearly marked paths. I would highly recommend it to folks who aren't seasoned hikers. The path ends at a high point where you get stunning views for many miles. One thing to note is the end-point happens to be a spot frequented by cows, so you will be dodging tons of piles of... excrement... and it is stinky! But, it's worth it for the views- promise! We walked up and back within a couple of hours and had a great time!

This weekend, my family and I decided to explore Jump Off Rock in North Carolina since the weather…read morewas nice. Jump Off Rock--located about 15 minutes from Hendersonville, NC--is a scenic overlook of Western North Carolina with three easy hiking trails, making it a perfect spot to enjoy a sunny day. There is complimentary parking, easy-to-follow trails that are hiker-friendly for all ages, benches to enjoy the scenic outlook, and wheelchair accessibility. Once my family arrived, we enjoyed the magnificent view of the Western North Carolina mountain range, taking photos of the scenery and personal selfies together. There is a drawing of the mountain range that identifies which mountains you are looking at. I found this very helpful since I could finally put names to the mountains in front of my eyes. After admiring the amazing view, we took the three hikes Jump Off Rock offers. The trails are fairly easy, ranging from 0.25 to 1 mile. They are easy to access, located on the left and right sides of the parking lot. The paths are simple to follow and not too dangerous for occasional hikers and their furry friends. While we were there, my family and I saw two deer on the path, which was really cool. Altogether, the three trails took us around 30 minutes at an average pace. Just a quick note--there are no restrooms or portable toilets at Jump Off Rock. I recommend stopping in Hendersonville or at a gas station before making your journey. If it's a nice day or you just want to get out of the house, I highly recommend visiting Jump Off Rock to enjoy the scenic overlook of the Western North Carolina mountain range and reconnect with nature.

jump off rock was a decently pretty view we saw some people taking family pics definitely good idea…read morebut i wouldn't go again i would have rather used my time to go on a hike or something else

If you're looking for a walk in the woods near downtown Asheville, this is a nice place to go. You…read morewon't need a car to get to it as it's the area behind the baseball park and stadium. I've given it three stars because the land was fairly recently purchased by the city of Ashville, and they haven't put a lot of work into it. There is a nice wooded trail up to the ridge with a small view of downtown at the top, about a half mile. To get there go to the entrance of the baseball park, near the entrance to your left there is a road called Buchanan Avenue walk up the hill to White Fawn Drive and turn left. The trail head is where White Fawn Drive dead-ends. There is a cattle gate and a sign with park rules. One caveat: you might want to go with a friend or with a dog because there are a few places where homeless people are camping. I didn't see anyone, but I did see their tents. And, as always, please leash your dog. I ran into a couple who didn't have their dogs on their leashes. I didn't have a dog, but if I had, there dogs might have been injured by my dog. The leash is for your dog's protection as well as for the protection of others.

My family and I stopped in here at Bent Creek experimental for us this weekend while we were in…read moreAsheville North Carolina. We stopped in to go hiking because Asheville is known for their hike so we went hiking through the woods looking at the animals seeing the trees it is exploring a big fan of exploring trying to get my family to enjoy it as much as I can but it's tough at times. My kids get tired of walking and they get over it pretty quickly but we still enjoyed it overall quick little fun experimental forest walk that we had. Took some fun pictures had a good time I recommend it for sure

This is a great place to go if you're in Asheville and don't have all day to spend driving to a…read morelocation and doing a hike. It's located just off Brevard Road in South West Asheville. There are a bunch of different hiking and biking trails that twist and turn through this area. There is also a campground located here and a small lake to walk around, or swim in during the warm month. The hiking trails are well maintained and easy to navigate. You could definitely get lost in here if you weren't paying attention, but trails are blazed and marked well. You can park at any of the little parking lots and just jump on a trail and start walking. Trails are marked for hiking or biking so if you prefer to hike on a trail with no bikers, look for one marked as so. These trails can get pretty busy on weekends and summer but for good reason. They are easily accessible from Asheville and are a nice getaway. I love spending a day here just wandering the trails. The only reason I give Bent Creek 4 stars instead of 5 is because there are no big views or waterfalls. That's OK though, still a great place!

MERRY FALLS is a beautiful roadside waterfall found along the gravel portion of Cascade Lake Road…read morejust outside the boundaries of the beautiful & rugged Dupont State Recreational Forest of North Carolina. The exact GPS location is 35.200645, -82.643481, but if you are skilled at reading maps, the waterfall is located just north of where the East Fork of Laurel Creek merges with a lesser no-named creek or about 500 feet south of where the East Fork merges with the main Laurel Creek. There is no hiking required to view the falls, but if you wanted a closer, more in-person pic at the base it would require a fairly easy goat scramble down the semi-steep roadside embankment. Different hiking websites claim the falls to be anywhere from 30 to 50 feet. However, using the topography lines on AllTrails I have calculated the height of the waterfall to be approx. 47 feet tall from top to the lower cascade. The main two tiered fall itself is approx. 35 feet tall with another 12 feet of cascades from the base. On the day I visited the falls it had rained 4 of the previous 6 days, so the falls were full and beautiful! FINAL THOUGHTS This is not a typical destination waterfall, but it IS an excellent bonus stop when touring the larger high volume waterfalls in the area such as nearby Triple Falls, High Falls, Hooker Falls and Raven Cliff Falls. You could also visit the spill wall of the Cascade Lake Dam approximately 2.25 miles north of Merry Falls on Cascade Lake Road. It is built in such a way that by itself it is a beautiful drive-worthy waterfall. ENJOY!!! 2021 / 42