Blue Ridge Parkway Journeys

For the past four years, Virtual Blue Ridge has sponsored the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition.  As part of our partnership, we created an online process for photo submission that helped to grow the competition by leaps and bounds.  We’re proud of those results and having been given the opportunity to work with Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs .  One of our perks in the sponsorship is that our team gets a few tickets to go to The Banff Mountain Film Festival on it’s tour in Boone.

This year it comes to Boone for the 15th annual “best of the festival” world tour on Friday April 1st and Saturday April 2nd @ 7:30 pm at Farthing Auditorium. The Banff Mountain Film Festival features the world’s best films on mountain adventure, culture, and the environment selected from hundreds of entries submitted from around the world. Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs choose screenings designed to educate, entertain, and inspire you. Tickets are currently on sale at Farthing Auditorium and Footsloggers in Downtown Boone for $7 (students) and $9 (all others).

It’s always been the case that the Boone stop for the tour has had the biggest turnout, and more importantly those that watch the films show the most enthusiasm for the festival and the filmmakers that make it possible.  It’s definitely a must-see event for the travel and outdoor enthusiast.

Here are some more clips from this year’s films:

I look forward to seeing you there!

In the middle of February, I took a trip to Sapphire, NC.  The community is located about 10 miles south of Devil’s Courthouse in Transylvania County.  From the Blue Ridge Parkway, you would exit at Milepost 423 and travel south on NC 215.  At the intersection of US64, you will turn right and travel west toward Cashiers.

By the way, Devil’s Courthouse is the closest the Blue Ridge Parkway gets to the South Carolina border.  As the crow flies, there’s about 20 miles between the two.  So, when you’re exploring that neck of the woods and you’re looking south/southeast, you will be seeing parts of the South Carolina countryside.  Here is a home video of the long range views this area affords:

Now, let’s get back to my adventure.  February is not the best time of the year to be in North Carolina mountains, but there are still several things to do.  Sapphire Valley Ski Resort (more like a hill than a mountain) offers snow-tubing and ski lifts.  It doesn’t attract a lot of people during the peak ski season, so it’s a good place to take the kids without the crowds you might have in the bigger ski areas located in the Boone area.

Transylvania County is known as the “Land of Waterfalls“.  The area is a sub-tropical rain forest receiving more rainfall per annum than any locale east of the Mississippi.  Couple that with the fact that the area is situated on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and you have the perfect conditions for over 250 waterfalls. In the winter, these waterfalls freeze up and provide for awesome ice formations and an area for local ice-climbers to gear up and have some fun.  Additionally, the barren trees afford the visitor relatively unobstructed views of the Blue Ridge Parkway area waterfalls themselves.

Waterfalls are just just one of the many things the area is known for.  Unfortunately for me, I was on a business trip and didn’t get to partake in any outdoor recreational activities. The high temperature was over 60°F, and I was disappointed I didn’t have more time.  I hope you get to enjoy the area to the fullest when you plan your visit.

My purpose was to visit a potential new client of Horizon Mediaworks and a sponsor of the Virtual Blue Ridge website:  The Preserve at Rock Creek.  They are in the heart of the Sapphire Valley with one of the most unique pieces of property to be found.

It’s now the end of March, and we are excited to announce our partnership with The Preserve at Rock Creek. In the coming months, we will be helping to showcase a truly conservation minded development in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Preserve is an example of a well-conceived earth friendly footprint, with emphasis on land conservation and large estate lots.

Here’s the low-down:

The Preserve at Rock Creek is 320 acres of beautiful forest land that rests on Toxaway Mountain-the highest privately owned mountain in the area with elevations up to 4400 feet.

By blending low density encroachment with nature, the Preserve makes the most of its natural surroundings in an organic layout where 115 species of flora and 100 species of animals make their home.

Large estate lots are cut to take advantage of the incredible long range views the mountain offers. Green minded homes are built to maximize the views for the occupants while minimizing the visibility of homes from adjacent lots. Views, privacy, and being a part of nature are paramount.

The Developer, Tim Bright, is a true land steward. He is creating an entire community using conservation based principals by permanently placing sixty-six percent of the mountain in a conservation easement.

Tim’s land use plan lowers the impact on this piece of heaven on earth using state-of-the-art water erosion and drainage techniques. The infrastructure is well planned with 18 foot wide paved roads, underground utilities, and a state certified water system.

We invite those of you seeking an exclusive and incredible lifestyle living in harmony with nature to explore all that The Preserve At Rock Creek has to offer. Only a limited number of home owners will be able to enjoy this unique mountain property.

I hope you find a chance to visit Transylvania Country and the Sapphire Valley area.  While you’re there, pay a little tribute to our friends at The Preserve.

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

"Poleing Day" on Wilson Creek

L to R: Susie Hamrick Jones, executive director of the Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, which has secured a number of conservation easements on Wilson Creek; Houck Medford, founder and chief executive officer of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation; Martha Townes, wife of “B” Townes; Congressman Ballenger, who has led several Foundation’s funding efforts; “B” Townes, a Foundation and Conservancy donor, as well as a member of the Blue Ridge Conservancy board of trustees, also a member of the Edgemont Fishing Club which has donated a conservation easement on Wilson Creek; and DeeDee Weaver, daughter of Congressman Ballenger.

On May 11, 1999 Congressman Cass Ballenger introduced H.R. 1749 to designate the Wilson Creek drainage a National Wild and Scenic River.  The bill eventually became law.  He had never returned to Wilson Creek which drains from the southern slopes of Calloway Peak on Grandfather Mountain until November 2, 2010.  This arranged visit coincidentally synced with election day, and the event was playfully named “Poleling Day”, appropriate for this Congressman who represented North Carolina for more than 20 years and caught his first fish from Wilson Creek on this visit.  The day was arranged by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

Submitted by: Rick Spruill

Last weekend my wife and I went to Graveyard Fields at MP 419. I had read much about the hiking trail there and wanted to check it and the foliage out. The trailhead started with a tunnel of rhododendron. We had a great time hiking all the way to the Upper Falls which was about 1.6 miles, with great variation of terrain and trails.

It was a good workout but not too tough. The falls were a little light but the rock formations all around it were awesome. As we traveled back we took the upper trail to the Lower Falls. Oh by the way the colors, mostly reds were beautiful. It was quite a hike down to the falls but it was well worth it! They were absolutely gorgeous! I took about 60 pictures on this trip and we will certainly return.