Blue Ridge Parkway Journeys

Additional Resources :: [ Listen Online ] [ Bloom Schedule ] [ Wildflower Gallery ]

We’re approaching mid-September, and depending on your location, you may find that a few signs of fall color are on the trees along the Parkway.  This is just a reminder to a fall that’s display always arrives here in the mountains in about a month, the middle of October.

Generally fields on the Parkway are full this time of year with Black-eyed Susan, Joe-Pye Weed, Queen Anne’s Lace, Iron Weed, Goldenrod, and in some places you’ll see great displays of Cardinal flower, especially in moister wet areas.  The staff at the Peaks of Otter in Virginia is reporting Iron Weed, Jewel Weed, Woodland Sunflower, and Pink Turtlehead, in addition to the above species.

The meadows and agricultural land in the Rocky Knob/Mabry Mill area are showing nice displays of Joe-Pye Weed, Black-eyed Susan, Goldenrod, and a few early signs of fall color here and there.  If you’re in North Carolina around the Cone Estate, Spotted Jewel Weed is nicely in bloom around Trout Lake.  Yarrow is also common along with Bee Balm and Bellflower.  Look for nice Purple-Headed Coneflower just around the visitor’s center at the Linn Cove Viaduct.

From Linville Falls through Gillespie Gap at the Mineral Museum, Ox-eye Daisy, Phlox, Angelica, Jewel Weed, Yarrow, Iron Weed, Coreopsis, and Black-eyed Susan are all common.  Some purple Aster should be in bloom through the Craggy Gardens area and Mountain Ash is coming on.  Everything seems to be gearing for a splendid fall showing.  Tall Coneflower, Fleabane, Ox-eye Daisy, Asters, and White Snakeroot can be found on the Craggy Gardens trail as well.

As always, we will remind you to drive carefully while on the Parkway.  Keep your eyes on the road as you enjoy the view.  In a few weeks, more indications of fall color will be coming with the peak commonly coming mid to early October.

Regular updates for color reports will be posted to our web site home page. You can also use the National Park Service information line at 828-298-0398 to keep informed of what’s being reported on the Parkway.

For more nature and science information, visit our virtual resource center, http://www.virtualblueridge.com/parkway/general/nature.asp, which will provide you with much more information.

Have a safe Parkway visit! Enjoy the view, but watch the road.

Additional Resources :: [ Listen Online ] [ Bloom Schedule ] [ Wildflower Gallery ]

This is the Blue Ridge Parkway Wildflower Report for the first week of August.  Beginning on the North end around the Peaks of Otter in Virginia, visitors will probably find Jewel Weed, Butterfly Weed, Common Milkweed, Yarrow, Black Cohosh, Woodland Sunflower, and Deptford Pink. All of these are common summer varieties here in the Blue Ridge.  Turks-cap Lily and Joe-Pye Weed are showing nicely now around the Peaks.

Throughout the plateau district which extends from Roanoke to the North Carolina state line, summer blooms are prolific with Black-eyed Susan, Queen Anne’s Lace, Coreopsis, and the bright orange Butterfly Weed common throughout.  Rosebay Rhododendron is still nice in a few places.

In the Grandfather Mountain area, moving into North Carolina, look for Yarrow, Queen Anne’s Lace, and lots of Rosebay Rhododendron blooming along the Parkway.  Spiderwort, Phlox, and Morning Glory are common in the Moses Cone area along with Turk’s-cap Lily and St. John’s Wort.  Joe-Pye Weed is nice around Trout Lake.  Look for Bellflower and Basil Balm around the figure eight trail at the Cone Manor,  Sundrop at Bass Lake, and  Coreopsis in many areas throughout this region of the Parkway.

In the high elevations north of Asheville, Rosebay Rhododendron is in bloom along with some displays of Bee Balm along the higher elevations around milepost 360-370.  Turk’s-cap Lily is common along the road from Mt. Mitchell heading down into Asheville.  There are nice displays of Butterfly Weed around milepost 380 and again close to the Parkway Visitor’s Center in Asheville.  Black-eyed Susans are becoming more noticeable along with Brown-eyed Susan, tall Coneflower popping up between milepost 350 and 370, and Coreopsis is noticeable between the picnic area and Craggy Visitor’s Center.

The Parkway is a beautiful and cool place to spend these very hot days of summer , but it’s not like most other roads. Please take some special precautions while driving.  Above all, slow down, take your time, and use the overlooks to let other traffic that backs up behind you get by.  As we often tell visitors, enjoy the view, but watch the road.

Regular updates for color reports will be posted to our web site home page. You can also use the National Park Service information line at 828-298-0398 to keep informed of what’s being reported on the Parkway.

For more nature and science information, visit our virtual resource center, http://www.virtualblueridge.com/parkway/general/nature.asp, which will provide you with much more information.

Have a safe Parkway visit! Enjoy the view, but watch the road.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation with honor has announced that Dr. Houck Medford of Winston-Salem, its founder and chief executive officer, has resigned and has been succeeded as acting CEO by Dr. Carolyn Ward of Asheville, who has been serving as chief operating officer. Medford will continue as a consultant to the Foundation. In making the announcement, Bob Shepherd, chairman of the board of trustees, praised Medford’s vision and dedication to preserving the beauty and culture of the nation’s most visited National Park. The parkway extends 469 miles through 29 counties in North Carolina and Virginia.

“Our board is unanimous in expressing deep appreciation for Houck’s and K.B’s (his wife) perseverance over the years in creating and growing our foundation so that citizens and organizations can have a tax deductible conduit through which they can contribute in a meaningful way to enhancing the Blue Ridge Parkway,” Shepherd said.

In 1997, Medford and a group of civic leaders organized the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation in Winston-Salem after Medford retired from a successful dental practice. The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, is the primary private fundraising organization for the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Foundation has provided more than three-million dollars in endowments and direct allocations for projects and programs which enhance the visitors’ experience and help preserve the Blue Ridge Parkway’s scenic, cultural and environmental quality.

Over the past few years, the foundation has contributed to numerous capital improvements along the Parkway, including renovation of the North Carolina Mineral Museum, preservation of the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, improvements at Graveyard Fields and other projects.

Parks As Classrooms is one of the flagship programs funded by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. This program instills values of Parkway protection, history, ecology and culture among students in all 29 Virginia and North Carolina Parkway counties where the program is presented.

Now in its third year, the Foundation’s “Kids in Parks” program is a special initiative to combat childhood obesity and to engage children and their families with our national parks. The sponsorship of special Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation license tags in North Carolina generates around a half-million dollars a year for the parkway’s benefit and is the most popular specialty tag in the state.

Dr. Ward joined the foundation in 2008 as the first director of the Kids in Parks program and became president and chief operating officer in March of this year. Before joining the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, The Wytheville, Virginia native taught at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California for nearly ten years. An award winning researcher and author, she is the editor of the National Association of Interpretation Journal for Interpretation Research. She received her master and doctorate degrees in outdoor recreation from Virginia Tech.

For more information:

• Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
• Kids in Parks
• Virtual Blue Ridge Parkway Guide

Rough Ridge Celebration!

Twenty-five people representing numerous Blue Ridge Parkway partnerships met at one of the most scenic Parkway vistas to celebrate a new era of collaboration.

Stephanie Gemache called from North Augusta, S.C. the day before to make sure there would be enough parking, but also to tell Lynne Fletcher at the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, “I have only made one gift to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and it was for Rough Ridge.”  Stephanie stayed at a local hotel the night before so that she could be on hand for this special event.

The occasion was to celebrate the re-decking of the boardwalk  straddeling this fragile ecological landscape, but also to honor the Blue Ridge Parkway Corp, a formal association of student volunteers from Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Program who have been formally trained to monitor the area and offer advice to visitors on how to protect the locations fragile vegetation, but also to remind them to “stay on the trail” and limit rock-hopping to the newly accessible “view rock”.

Greg Brown, president of Friends of the Parkway, talked about the opportunity to the park of what so many volunteers could do … and the addition of new chapters being added to the quiver of many.  One of the most recent chapters is the Boone / Blowing Rock chapters was represnted by Mike Kebelbeck who is already working to engage volunteers to complete a handicapped access walk around the circumference of Price Lake.

Susan McCracken, Vice-President of Community Relations at Appalachian State University, talked about the how the idea of a “Blue Ridge Parkway Institute” could provide the catalyst as well as the framework for managing so many collaborative relationships and opportunities to the Parkway.  Eric Furman added that funds could become available through federal assistance programs to compensate students for summer work.

The guest presentation was delivered by Randy Johnson - author, writer — who crafted the wilderness trail system for Grandfather Mountain and owner, Mr. Hugh Morton decades ago.  Randy was also on the team who designed the Tanawha Trail which stretches from Beacon Heights to near Price Lake, a part of which is the Rough Ridge segment.  Randy applauded what he saw was a new era of collaboration among many and more partners who could collectively and positively impact the health of the country’s most visited national park.

The event was hosted by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

Kevin Adams, ascending into heaven at sunrise!

Kevin Adams workshop was the most informative that I have attended …  Joe Sikes

Kevin’s  presentation on “Concept Photography” really hits home the message that one can take outstanding pictures if one can open up their mind and let go of the so called “rules of photography”…Sai Chandrasekharan

The retreat is set in a magnificent area with grounds that are truly a part of the Blue Ridge Mountains…Skip Pudney

For schedule information and to enroll:

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