As Memorial Day signals the beginning of the annual vacation season, North Carolina’s tourism communities are happy to note that the soaring gasoline prices of the summer of ‘08 have settled back down to reasonable. More families should be “getting away from it all” this season, seeking the comfort of natural beauty and feeling close to the land to leave behind for a little while the stresses of normal life in uncertain times.

The mountainous western region of the state is among the most popular destinations for out-of-state visitors, and not all of them are among the millions who populate the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, hike the highland portions of the Appalachian Trail, or cruise along the lush peaks along the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are many rural and somewhat city-fied attractions in western NC to tempt the family vacation planner.

WLOS Channel 13 in lovely Asheville offers a total of five (5) mapped day-trips in the western counties that look to be great fun to the inveterate sight-seer. There are viewable and printable maps, photos from each trip, lists of attractions, activities and goodies to keep an eye out for along the way. The drives are loops and do not take more than a couple of hours if driven straight through, though they can easily last all day at a leisurely pace with some stops planned-in. There are also hints for making the trip more pleasant, and even some detail about where to pay special attention to the speed limits.

Most of these day-trips meander through wilderness, occasional towns, and rural byways that, depending on when you visit, offer all sorts of agricultural goodies. There are farms where your family can pick your own fresh produce, fruit and berries straight from the fields, and others that maintain convenient off-road market stands for what’s fresh. Some offer delicious mountain delicacies such as sourwood honey, apple and cherry ciders, fruit and pumpkin butters, exotic jams and compotes, and often there will be a fine display of regional crafts as well. Bird and bat houses make of gourds, various styles of hand-painted decorative and/or musical gourds, yard and garden ornaments and scarecrows, even textile offerings destined to become heirlooms.

There are National Forest and state park campgrounds along most of the trip routes, natural waterfalls and swimming holes, fine whitewater rafting adventures, a few good eateries and some popular developed attractions listed. Here are some of the listed “Tips” for different day-trips, offered to ensure you get the most out of your adventure…

• Trip 2 – Southern Rim: If you are looking for a little day hike, right before coming to Caesars Head is the trail head for Raven Cliff Falls, a spectacular 420 foot waterfall. The hike is moderate and is 2 miles to the observation platform or 4 miles to the base of the falls via a suspension bridge.

• Trip 3 – Hickory Nut Gorge: If you are in no hurry to get out of the area, there is a wide assortment of activities to do. Chimney Rock Park offers hiking trails with spectacular views, waterfalls, and unique rock formations while Lake Lure has a beach front, boat tours, and a wide assortment of spas and vacation rentals. Chimney Rock Village is also the home to several souvenir shops and restaurants.

• Trip 4 – Forest Heritage Scenic Byway: Pisgah National Forest is full of attractions that the entire family can enjoy. Some of the more popular attractions and picnic areas are:
- Sycamore Flats Picnic Area
- Looking Glass Falls
- Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education
- Bobby N. Setzer Fish Hatchery
- Coontree Picnic Area
- Davidson River Picnic Area
- Sliding Rock
- Cradle of Forestry
- Moores Cove

• Trip 5 – Cherahala Skyway: Also located off NC 294 is Hiawassee Dam, turn left onto Hiawassee Dam Access Road shortly after passing Field of the Wood. It’s about a 5 mile side trip to the dam. At the dam there is a parking area with restrooms and lots of photo opportunities. The dam itself is 307 feet in height and has been providing power for the TVA since 1940.

Do check out the offerings at WLOS: Cruising and start making your family vacation plans now!

My family watched the movie National Treasure the other night, in preparation for Tuesday’s historic inauguration ceremony swearing in Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

The film stars Nicholas Cage as the last in a long family line of treasure hunters seeking the fabled treasure of the Knights Templar-turned-Freemasons, said to have been brought to this country before its beginnings and carefully hidden by the Founding Fathers beneath Trinity Church in New York and found only after following a trail of clues long thought to have been lost to time.

But there are other, less obscure treasures in our nation that we can proudly protect and gratefully enjoy. Some of them are included in Brainz’ scenic post about 16 Incredible North American National Parks, though most of those are out west or up north, including that ‘other’ North American nation, Canada. What was not included is North America’s most beloved, most visited National Park, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which straddles the North Carolina-Tennessee border and includes some of the tallest peaks and most folded landscapes east of the mighty Mississippi.

Whether your family pitches a tent in one of the well-kept campgrounds, makes use of the rustic shelters along the park’s portion of the Appalachian Trail, stays in luxury hotel accommodations in one of the nearby towns or cities, or rents a cabin or chalet nearby or in the park, there’s plenty to see and do that keeps millions of visitors coming back year after year. 2009 is the year of the park’s 75th Anniversary, so be sure to make your plans well in advance if you’re planning to stay for awhile.

Hike some of the 800 maintained trails, take in some beautiful scenery along the Parkway, play some golf in a landscape that harkens back to the Scottish Highlands where the game first began. Take up mountain biking or engage in a leisurely horseback ride. Attend a festival in a nearby city or get good and wet at an area ski resort, most of which offer summer activities for the whole family. Take a tour of area organic farms or artists’ studios, hit some of the westernmost hotspots on the Mountain Music trail and get to know some of the best fiddlers, banjo pickers and washtub base pluckers anywhere!

You’ll love our beautiful National Treasure nearly as much as we who live here do, I promise. See you there during the Great Smoky Mountains National Park 75th Anniversary year!

Links:

North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains Golf
16 Incredible North American National Parks

When my brother and I were children, we got to spend a couple of weeks every summer visiting our grandparents and aunt in Eastern Kentucky. They lived in town, but our aunt was a social worker who often traveled into the hollows and onto mountaintops to check on her clients, many of whom lived so far back in the woods there wasn’t an actual road into the homestead. Instead, there was often a mule path we’d follow, sometimes with fine limestone cliffs she’d let us climb just for fun. We learned about the plants, the animals, and had great fun helping at harvest, then got to sit at the crude picnic tables in these homestead yards and listen to the stories of the old folks.

A frequent topic for those old men was a legendary mountain man named Big Tom Wilson. He became a hero to my brother and I, and we often played in the woods pretending we were Big Tom-like mountain folk, seeking deer trails or following bear hollows through the rhododendrons to the mountain peaks, blazing trails and knowing everything about everything these abundant mountains have to offer.

Decades later my own family moved here to Western North Carolina where Big Tom is more than just a legend – he was a real man who played a significant role in the history of this region. He’s still got descendants here, I taught one of them in junior high a few years ago.

Big Tom was born Thomas David Wilson in 1825. He got his nickname by being a lanky six foot two in a time when most men were much smaller in stature. They say he killed 114 bears in his lifetime, and he knew the Black Mountains (the Seven Black Brothers) better than anyone alive. He married Niagra (Polly) Ray in 1852 and they lived in a 2-room cabin on the upper Cane River while he earned a living as a gameskeeper for a hunting preserve, as a farmer, hunter, fisherman and a mountain guide. It was as a guide that he played his strongest role in the history of the region.

Big Tom (right) at the waterfall pool where he discovered Elisha Mitchell’s body.

When Dr. Elisha Mitchell came to the area in the late 1830s to survey the Blacks for science, Big Tom was a young teen. He accompanied Mitchell on an 1844 ascent, one of the guides who crawled with him through bear hollows to the ridge to determine which of the ridgeline’s peaks was actually the tallest east of the Mississippi. In the 1850s, however, Senator Thomas Lanier Clingman made his own survey and designated a different peak (current Mt. Gibbs) to be the tallest. The disagreement evolved into the infamous Clingman-Mitchell controversy, and that ongoing fight sent Mitchell back to the Blacks in 1857 to restore his claim. He tried to descend by memory, but by then a man in his 60s, he got lost as night fell.

When Mitchell failed to return to the Cane Valley, Big Tom and other area guides and mountain men set out on a search. It was Big Tom who tracked Mitchell’s last movements from the ridge, and found him sitting upright at the bottom of a pool beneath a waterfall, where he’d fallen to his death. Mitchell was buried ceremoniously atop the mountain that still bears his name, and which was a few years later demonstrated to be the tallest mountain. Clingman, who had made the original claim, had to settle for a different mountain in his name.

Big Tom lived into his 80s, died in 1909. Today there is the Big Tom Wilson Preserve on the western slopes of Mount Mitchell, where a replica of his cabin and other historical artifacts are displayed inside the Mount Mitchell State Park.

No visit to Western North Carolina is complete without a stop at Mount Mitchell, a short climb up the observation tower, and a tour of the historical material kept so well by the dedicated Park Service guides. The entrance is off the Blue Ridge Parkway east of Asheville, and it’s open to visitors as long as the Parkway is open (closed occasionally during the winter). Bring a jacket, it gets cold at night. And the wind can blow strongly on the ridge, so be careful of your footing on the trails!

Links:

NC Parks: Welcome to Mount Mitchell
The Nature Conservancy: Mount Mitchell State Park
Hiking in Mount Mitchell State Park

Many families who consider North Carolina to be the bet vacation spot in the nation will be thinking right about now, what plans can we make for the kids this summer? A fine answer to this question is to book those kids at one of NC’s great summer camps, to coincide with a full family vacation to any of NC’s wonderful summer festivals and events when the camp period is over!

There are literally hundreds of choices, and camps located in every region of the state offering a regular smorgasbord of activities and skills to learn and adventures to enjoy for kids of all abilities and ages. There are some good web sources listed below this post, where I’ll highlight a few of North Carolina’s best special-purpose camps.

Teen Overnight Surf Camp in Wrightsville Beach. Money Magazine named the southern NC coast as one of the top vacation spots in North America. The week-long overnight camps offer instruction in the art of surfing the Outer Banks’ gentle waves, improving your surfing skills, and exploring different coastal ecosystems while you’re at it! Enrollees stay in air conditioned suites on the campus of UNC-Wilmington and the staff of professional instructors are well qualified to deal with both beginner and intermediate surfers. The $1495/week fee includes lodging on campus, meals, 24-hour adult supervision, shuttle transportation from Wilmington’s airport, equipment, instruction with a 3-1 camper to instructor ratio, daily transportation to the beaches, admission and private tour of the Fort Fisher Aquarium, surfboard factory tour and extras.

If your teen is thinking about a future in computer technology, consider iD Tech Camp, which will introduce him or her to campus life while enjoying one on one instruction in campus computer labs from instructors with a six to one student-instructor ratio. Camps are held Wake Forest University in the Winston-Salem area, and UNC-Chapel Hill in the Raleigh-Durham area. Overnight campers live in university dorms, study in the university’s computer labs and eat in the university dining halls. Instruction in designing computer games, producing digital movies, designing web pages and even programming and robotics is available to broaden your young ITer’s skills.

Talisman Programs offers a “wilderness experiential” exceptional program for exceptional children in coed residential summer programs geared toward campers age 7 to 17 struggling with ADD/ADHD, learning disabilities and Asperger’s Syndrome (high functioning autism). Enrollment is limited so that the staff to camper ratio can encourage meaningful bonds, and there is a high return rate as kids come back year after year to enjoy the adventures. There are programs specially designed for younger children and teens, and include wilderness and water skills, rock climbing and activities designed to encourage group interaction and leadership skills.

Check out the many offerings at these listing sites and see if you can coordinate your summer plans to offer your children a wonderful adventure before reuniting to take in one of the fine family festivals our state offers!

Links:

North Carolina Summer Camps for Boys and Girls
North Carolina Summer Camps: Black Mountain
Mountain Adventure Guides
Special Needs Summer Camps for Kids & Teens
Family Support Network Resource Guide Directory

Moving toward the east, there are more great reasons to consider North Carolina’s abundant offerings for family fun when planning getaways and vacations.

11. Mountains to Sea Trail

From the very top of Clingman’s Dome near the Tennessee border to the sand dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the strand of the Outer Banks, North Carolina’s 925-mile long Mountains-to-Sea Trail offers an adventurous way to explore the state’s natural treasures and human wonders. This is an adventure a visitor can embrace in small chunks or in an extended all at once while experiencing the best of NC’s towns and cities, rural agritourism initiatives and natural preserves.

12. Waldensian Valdese

The rich history of the Waldensian sect is preserved in beautiful Valdese, NC in the foothills between Morganton and Hickory. With a world famous winery, a summer festival and outdoor drama, the finest Bocce Ball clay court anywhere and one of the best regional musical venues anywhere, Valdese is a fun and educational stop along the way for anyone wanting to experience some of the best of North Carolina’s homespun heritage.

13. NC’s Arts and Agriculture Trails

In a unique alliance between the North Carolina Arts Council and the NC Cooperative Extension Service, a total of 16 different, well-planned “Arts and Agriculture Trails” have been mapped out for a project called Homegrown Handmade. These trails meander through foothills, across the piedmont and around the coastal regions, allowing visitors to visit wineries, organic farms and dairies, art studios and sidewalk cafes in charming little towns.

14. Cosmopolitan Charlotte and the Sporting Life

From bustling Lake Norman and its posh golf courses and sailboat regattas through the home of NASCAR in “Race City USA” Mooresville, tothe Bank of America Stadium uptown to see NC’s Panthers play professional football, the Charlotte area boasts some of the finest sports tourism opportunities available anywhere. And while you’re there, do check out the busy Charlotte nightlife at famous regional brewhouses and musical venues offering a variety of musicians and styles.

15. Pinehurst – Home of American Golf

Farther to the east between Charlotte and Fayetteville in the rolling Sandhill region, Pinehurst offers golfers the largest collection of Donald Ross golf courses anywhere, and enjoys the distinction of being the “Home of American Golf.” In addition to 10 of the top 20 NC golf courses, the area’s resorts also offer world class tennis courts, spa facilities, exquisite dining and luxurious accommodations. While golf is a regular way of life here, there are also arts, history, botanical gardens, festivals and unique shopping on the smorgasbord of offerings.

Posts to This Series:
Part 1: Reasons 1 – 5
Part 2: Reasons 6 – 10
Part 3: Reasons 11 – 15
Part 4: Reasons 16 – 25

Part 1: Reasons 1 – 5

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The most visited of America’s National Parks, the Great Smoky Mountains hosts more than 9 million people a year on its Blue Ridge Parkway and in its forests, creeks, coves and hollows along 900 miles of trails. Straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina boarder, the park is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is now an International Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage site.


2. Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad between Bryson City and Dillsboro boasts over 53 miles of track, 2 tunnels and 25 bridges. Along with the regular tours there are gourmet dinner train packages on Saturday evenings, and the Mystery Theater Dinner Train on Friday evenings May through September.


3. Cherokee Indian Reservation, Cherokee

If the excitement of Harrah’s Casino and Cherokee Bingo doesn’t get your blood going, check out the native history drama “Unto These Hills” nightly during the summer. There is also the Museum of the Cherokee, Oconaluftee Village, many shops where Cherokee artists and craftmen sell their wares, and native dancing daily both downtown and at the community center on scheduled occasions.


4. Mount Mitchell State Park

Northeast of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway visitors encounter the loftiest mountain east of the Mississippi at Mount Mitchell State Park. Boasting some spectacular views, challenging trails for hiking and biking and an alpine environment with plants and animals native to Canada, the ‘J’-shaped ridge of peaks known as the Black Brothers contain six of the ten highest peaks in the eastern U.S.

5. Asheville – America’s Royal Retreat

Home to America’s finest castle at the Biltmore Estate and Gardens while concurrently claiming the distinction of being named America’s Premier New Age Haven, the city of Asheville offers an urban respite for travelers on the Parkway. There are fine restaurants and arcade shopping plazas downtown, art galleries, street performers, brewhouses and a rich live music scene with everything from rock to chamber music, bluegrass to Irish harps and fiddles.


Posts to This Series:
Part 1: Reasons 1 – 5
Part 2: Reasons 6 – 10
Part 3: Reasons 11 – 15
Part 4: Reasons 16 – 25

Black bears inhabit the North Carolina highlands, rather famously. Even though by census the state has fewer bears [11,000] than Pennsylvania [15,000] or Minnesota [30,000], frequent encounters with campers in the parks and forests are reported, and people who live in the mountains are often familiar with the bears for whom their trash, fruit trees and berry thickets have been claimed as territory.

The Washington Post reported on November 14th that researchers at the Smithsonian Institute in D.C. have used motion-sensitive cameras to photograph wildlife along a segment of the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. The 1,900 pictures showed wild horses, domestic dogs, deer and bear cubs wandering the trail at night when no one was watching. This project didn’t include the North Carolina sections of the trail, but the researchers were surprised by the number of bears recorded nonetheless. I’d suspect that if they had put cameras along North Carolina sections, there would have been a lot more bear sightings.

The Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville devotes an entire page of its website to “Black Bear Aware.” It includes some bear facts and bear history, then offers some good bear advice:

Many people worry about having encounters with bears while they are hiking or camping. If you do encounter a bear, do not feed it or get close to it. Back away slowly making a lot of noise and do not run. Never surround or corner the bear or bears. If you happen to be attacked by the bear, the National Park Service Black Bear Brochure advised to fight back as hard as you can with any object near you. Be as loud and intimidating as you can. They suggest that playing dead is not appropriate. When you are camping or picnicking keep your site clean and free of food or anything food was stored [in]. You can hang your odiferous items in a tree at least ten feet off the ground and at least four feet away from the trunk or limbs. Never cook or eat foot in or near the tent and always pack out your trash.

Now, this is basic knowledge for those of us who live in the mountains and near or surrounded by the National Forest. Having encountered bears more than once or twice during camping trips to the Smokeys decades before moving here, knowing to hang food in a tree and never to leave popped corn on the table or firepit is something that becomes second nature. Bears are known to be experts at opening coolers – even Coleman fancy-lock coolers – and will destroy your vehicle to get at that cooler if you’re dumb enough to lock it in your car or trunk.

In the 15 years that my family has lived on property surrounded by the Pisgah National Forest we’ve had bears who winter in the bottomland, bears who will fight for rights to the berry patch if I don’t get there before s/he does, bears that loll about under the pear trees in fall gorging on fallen fruit (and keeping the dogs on the porch barking their heads off), and even a young male yearling who fell in love with our female black standard poodle. The longing was not mutual.

A big male still comes through every spring and fall to raid the trash bin if we don’t keep it emptied every week. He’s crazy about peanut butter and stale beer. He also smells very, very bad, though I hear female bears think that’s sexy. We keep our distance and so do the dogs. These animals can kill, and sometimes do. Whenever we hike the Graphite Trail or the Mackey’s Creek Trail over Heartbreak Ridge the rule is to always hike with a sturdy staff and make lots of noise, take at least one of the little girl-dogs (adopteds). They won’t chase wildlife, but will bark warnings and threats if you happen to meet any. It’s not happened, but I’m fairly sure that either of our loyal mutts would die to protect any of us if a bad bear encounter happened.

Playing dead doesn’t work with black bears like it works with Grizzlies – who usually only attack for defense. Black bears can just be moody. The largest black bear ever recorded was killed (legally) by a hunter on the ridge less than a quarter mile from my property line in 1999 – 880 pounds! That’s a hefty critter.

In 2004 newspapers reported that a black bear was found passed out after drinking 36 cans of beer in Baker Lake, Washington. The bear had opened the cooler (did I tell you they’re experts?), clawed open the cans and drank himself into a stupor. Oddly – or not – he only drank Rainier Beer while consuming only one can of Busch (and obviously not liking it very much). Go figure.

Black bears do not attack if you’re careful, pay attention to the rules. And it’s not unreasonable for me to believe that my little girl mutt dogs could probably defuse an encounter without too much risk. The Associated Press ran a photograph in June of 2006 showing a black bear that had been treed by a 15-pound tomcat named Jack in West Milford, New Jersey. When the cat was finally called home, the bear climbed out of the tree and ran away.

Living with our wildlife here in Western North Carolina is sharing the beauty with our animal co-inhabitants. It’s really not that hard, and we are often rewarded with deer in the yard (I fence the garden), foxes on the trail, bears in the orchard, and more kinds and colors of birds than anyone could count. Preserving the wildlife is as important as preserving the land, so that this beautiful treasure is available to be enjoyed generations down the line.

So if you plan to build or buy a mountain cabin here in North Carolina, your attitude about the land and the creatures who lived here before you is going to be important. It can also be very rewarding!

Links:

American Black Bear

Your Smokies: Black Bear Information

WNCNC: Black Bear Aware

Having previously covered The Simple Joy of Hiking on one of Western North Carolina’s historic pioneer trails from the base of the continental divide to the top of Mount Mitchell, it’s only fitting to introduce the building of a new trail, this one traversing the entire width of the state from mountains to sea.

From the top of Clingman’s Dome near the Tennessee border in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park to the high dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the Atlantic coast, North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail [MST] will be another gold doubloon in North Carolina’s full to bursting chest of treasures.

The 925-mile route is being blazed by the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail [FMST], a non-profit organization that plans, organizes and oversees groups of volunteers who participate in task force construction and maintenance. At this point the ambitious project’s route links existing trails and footpaths, rural and fire service roads, and DoT bicycle routes. The trail meanders through three national parks, several state parks and three national forests across 37 counties. There are campgrounds, farms, small towns and cities along the way, the trail will offer hikers, bikers, canoers (and along many sections, horseback riders) a leisurely and healthy way to explore the full range of North Carolina’s natural beauty, friendly people and welcoming communities.

The Friends of the trail suggest that hiking the entire length without hurrying will take two or three months, though most users will prefer to take day-hikes or short weekend trips along sections. The first person to walk the entire length of the route is Allen de Hart, who accomplished the feat in 1997 and wrote a book about it, Hiking North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Katie Nelson, a 79-year old great-grandmother, became the oldest person to hike the entire trail in 2003.

Many sections of the trail are still in planning and construction stages, and so far there are no camping shelters, hostels, shuttle services, stores or restaurants on the trail proper, though many such amenities are a short walk off the route in towns and villages along the way. FMST hosts task force work days for volunteers most times of year as well as group hikes along completed sections.

Those interested in volunteering themselves or their whole families for a fresh air exercise outing and some satisfying work can contact task force coordinators or their partners in the regions of interest to make arrangements. Wear your good hiking boots, don’t forget the first aid kit and plenty of water, pack a picnic lunch. FMST provides the tools, the plans and the leadership, volunteers provide the enthusiasm and the muscle.

Links:

About the MST

Across North Carolina on foot [mtnX]

Land for Tomorrow

American Hiking Society