Pair Your Picnic With Delicious Vistas Feed your eyes with spectacular views and your ears with serene sounds of nature with an al fresco meal that you will never forget. Before you head out to the great outdoors for your picnic, pick up a picnic … read more
The Best Places to Catch a Scenic Sunset The Blue Ridge Mountains offer some of the best vantage points to watch the sun drop below the peaks in a splash of color. People travel from all over the world to see the nightly show. We asked our social … read more
Outings to Satisfy Your Inner Bird Nerd Flashes of red plumage in the forest canopy and a familiar song - “what-cheer, what-cheer, what-cheer” - signify the presence of a nearby Northern Cardinal. This is an easy bird to recognize, even … read more
A walk in the clouds in the Black Mountains Hike from the highest peak east of the Mississippi River (Mount Mitchell, 6684 feet) to the second highest one (Mount Craig, 6647 feet). On the ridge line of these giants of the Black Mountains, you might … read more
Visitors to Mount Mitchell State Park can walk in the footsteps of Elisha Mitchell himself, the man credited with discovering the highest peak in the east. This area of the Black Mountains would have been quite wild during Mitchell's treks in … read more
Visit an Internationally Renowned Nature Preserve, Just 90 Minutes from Asheville Shakespeare is staring at me. The cleverly named barred owl is perched on the leather glove of Grandfather Mountain's head naturalist. It's as if the bird … read more
The granddaddy of technical hikes Called the most technical hike east of the Mississippi (without climbing equipment), the hike to McRae’s Peak, Attic Window and Grandfather Calloway Peak at Grandfather Mountain is also affectionately called … read more
A storied peak for experienced hikers Local author Charles Frazier made this 6030-foot-high peak in the Great Balsams famous with his 1997 novel of the same name. The 2000 movie version won the hearts of even more fans. Hikers love it too, but … read more
