Blue Ridge Parkway Road Trip: 4 Days Exploring America's Favorite Drive

the blue ridge parkway is pretty much the perfect american road trip the parkway runs 469 miles from cherokee north carolina to waynesboro virginia along the way there's not a single stop sign or stop light and you can cruise at 45 miles an hour the entire drive the parkway is full of pullouts for viewpoints hikes history and waterfalls leading to many great adventures along the drive we set out on a four-day blue ridge parkway road trip and had a blast experiencing this unique area also in the description there's a link to an e-book for purchase that i created with more information on the drive and a map i used for planning here's how we spent four days driving the blue ridge parkway and let's jump into it to begin our time on the blue ridge parkway we arrived in cherokee north carolina at the southern end of the route hey everyone you remember pops today we're in north carolina starting another road trip the blue ridge parkway over the next four days let's do it we're starting at mile marker 469 and this map just shows 340 but 469 miles on the blue ridge parkway is what we're doing i'm excited because of where we were able to get rental car deals we decided to go south to north on the blue ridge parkway this meant that the mileage went down from 469 instead of up from zero this is the first of over 210 overlooks on this drive we won't see them all but we'll probably stop at a bunch blue ridge parkway is a true road trip where the journey is the destination along the way you'll just be driving slow taking in the viewpoints and stopping whenever you would like first animal sighting a turkey pops we've done two of 200 we've done one percent of the viewpoints now tips for making the most of the blue ridge parkway stop to enjoy the view you know my dad and i stopped for everything we possibly can on a road trip but we didn't even stop for all the overlooks on this drive what sets this road trip apart is that it's 469 miles and during that time you'll never see a stop sign or stop light it's 45 miles an hour and you can just cruise the entire way what's amazing about the blue ridge parkway in the early morning is just the sound of the birds the wind many of these overlooks do have uh picnic benches that you can relax at as well [Music] pops has some information from his book about the big witch gap big witch is named after a cherokee medicine man who i guess lived in this area for like 90 years wow as you're driving pretty much none of the viewpoints have any additional information i recommend picking up a book and i'll link to some of the books that we used in the description even the books though don't have information on all of the overlooks since there's so many there are also many tunnels along the route especially in the north carolina portion so you'll be going in and out of tunnels and stopping at overlooks on the first part of this drive if you see an overlook with a sign like this with the gun on it definitely stop as these have additional information about what you're looking at right before arriving at our first stop we saw the plot balsam overlook and this was one of the best ones we saw in the first 14 miles check out that fire lookout right in front of us that's pretty incredible i bet the views are stunning from up there this is easily one of the best viewpoints we've seen so far as we left the overlook we turned off the parkway at highway 19 in the soco gap in order to see soco falls it's only about five minutes off the route but you definitely need to know where you're going is it's a little confusing trying to get there with google maps don't follow your gps to get to this one it's a turn off that you walk down to once you make it to the turn-off it's only about a five-minute walk down to the waterfall viewing area wow that is a pretty incredible waterfall right from the overlook right here soco falls is about a 50-foot waterfall and there are two different flows that lead into the pool below you can take it in from the viewing area or there's a steep trail down to the base of the falls itself there was a rope there that helps you to get down but it was definitely sketchy and my dad stayed up at the viewing platform this waterfall is amazing something you'll quickly realize about the blue ridge parkway is that it's full of waterfalls this was one of six or seven waterfalls that we saw but it was easily one of my did you favorites to see that on the first day of the blue ridge beautiful beautiful waterfall wow that was amazing so if you guys want to find it here's the pull-off there's the start of the trail but there's basically no science after leaving the falls it was a five minute drive to get back on the parkway in case you're looking for one of the best overlooks on the trail soco gap look at those views i'd say there's probably a dozen or so overlooks like this where the trees have grown up and you can't actually see anything luckily most of them are good and we continue to gain elevation giving us amazing views of the mountains out in front of us [Music] one of my favorite things to take photos of are mountain layers and there were so many mountain layers during this entire drive this is water rock knob one of the visitor centers are here and it's a really popular hiking trail as well plus how do you beat these spots for picnics look at all of these mountains you can see from this viewpoint i mean there is a staggering amount of mountains out there the visitor center isn't open yet and also i have to imagine this is a pretty incredible place for sunset the highest point is 6684 feet the highest point of the rocky mountains is 14 422 feet after taking in the views we decided to hike the water rock knob trail the trail here is a quarter mile to the overlook or a half mile to the summit we are here in late june and the rhododendron are blooming you can see them kind of over here over there very pretty i call these rhododendron a couple times on the drive but they're actually mountain laurel which i realized later this is a steep trail up to the viewpoint apparently there's a trail system that runs through this area called the mountains to sea trail mst it heads that way the mst trail goes from the great smoky mountains to the outer banks and is 1175 miles [Music] pops is regretting his decision to come on this trail [Laughter] very steep we made it to the pedestrian overlook right here the views from the pedestrian overlook are a little bit blocked they're still pretty it's cool to be able to see the way the road cuts through the mountains here but i decided to continue on as the views weren't that great this was my first introduction to the hiking trails along the blue ridge parkway and i would definitely say be prepared for steepness most of the trails are honestly pretty short but they're really steep going up and going down the views did continue to get better as i went up so i decided to go on to the summit pops turned around and is headed back to hang out for a little bit i'm continuing to the top but this is definitely a steep trail we made it to the summit of water rock knob i was glad i decided to go all the way up here as you could stand out on this rock and you could see the road going in both directions i imagine sunset with the mountain layers would be pretty incredible up here as we're hiking up the trail i ran into christian who knew me from youtube but actually has a channel as well and your channel is traveling the trails i will leave a link in the description if you want to check it out [Music] the views from the top were really nice i wish i was here for sunset we're heading back down visitor center should be open now we'll check that out before continuing on as you drive the route there are about a dozen different visitor centers each of the visitors centers cover their specific area so ask them any of the questions that you have about the area that you're in but i found they don't know a lot about the following areas and we'll just refer you to the next visitor center look at this big old bug underneath the magnifying glass pop's found himself a shirt gotta get my t-shirt in place tiny little visitor center some information plaques a couple snacks we're heading on i've been told that bathrooms are a premium on the blue ridge parkway so there are bathrooms here as well just fyi so there's the turn off right there and water rock knob is that one that we just climbed this section of the drive is actually some of the highest elevation you'll be at on the entire route it's well worth stopping at many of the different viewpoints here because the view is so expansive as you look out in the distance i was also blown away by how much of the drive has shaded tree cover and how green everything was we did this drive in early june and i have to imagine the spring's a pretty great time to be in the parkway of course the fall is probably the best with all the changing of colors though as we head to the next stop i want to provide a little bit more information on the blue ridge parkway the parkway is run by the national park service and since the 1960s it's been the most visited unit of the national park service for all but four years the parkway connects shenandoah national park in the north and great smoky mountains national park in the south the parkway is usually only open from the spring to the fall and it often closes in the winter as the snow makes some of the areas impassable we've made it to the richard balsam overlook which is the highest point on the blue ridge parkway the official sign ford is back there pops we're only a half day into our journey and we've already made it to the highest elevation on the blue ridge parkway motor road [Music] 6053 feet we don't even get out of bed for 6053 feet in california but it is amazing here the high point on the road trip sits right at mile post 431 it's a great place for a picnic and just to take in some of the views as we continued on we went over a few more gaps and passed many different overlooks each of the overlooks distinct with their own beautiful views out into the surroundings another waterfall on the trail this one's right along the side of the road [Music] our next stop brought us to the overlook for the devil's courthouse and you can actually see tiny people up on the rock in his shot you can hike all the way up to the rock if you want to but we had a lot planned for today so we continued on as we continued on we went through a few more tunnels before making it to our next hiking spot we're at graveyard fields which is the busiest we've seen the parkway yet as we're getting closer to asheville there's four miles of trails here to get all the way to upper falls but we're just gonna go to second falls which is only about a quarter of a mile each way you could spend a day here exploring the trails and swimming in the water but we just went on one of the shorter hikes this is a beautiful little trail but it is pretty steep going down and going back up there's a lot of stairs so just know that but there's a waterfall we've basically seen no one on the trail with us the whole morning but multiple people have told us that we're gonna start to get busy now because we're getting closer to the city so a lot of people come out this area is also especially popular because there's so many great swimming areas for families and for older children we saw a birthday party happening at one of the shallower pools and tons of teenagers hanging out at the deeper ones heading down the stairs almost to the falls the upper part is a very gentle cascade and then as you take the stairs down to the base you'll see that second falls is actually pretty impressive we've made it to the waterfall pops is pointing out that this is what it looks like in the fall which should be pretty stunning and there's an awesome swimming hole lots of people swimming up there to get close to the falls you'll have to scramble on some rocks the main waterfall was about 40 feet tall and i have to say i wish i would have had my swimsuit to jump in as it was awesome that was an amazing waterfall with a nice pool you could swim in i can see why there's so many people here there's jumping rocks all sorts of stuff definitely get here early if you come on a summer weekend we're here on a weekday parking lot was completely full so i'm guessing on the weekends is probably pretty bad heading on to the next spot pops counted and there's over 100 stairs to get down and back up continuing on we made it to a viewpoint for looking glass rock so many of the mountains in the area are tree covered so when you see one that's not it's really interesting you can hike to the top of looking glass rock but it's a longer hike and we didn't get to do it on this trip [Music] as the parkway crossed over highway 276 we got off to see a few close by attractions the first spot you'll get to is the cradle of forestry but we passed by that to go to looking glass falls first and then hit it on the way back looking glass falls is about 15 minutes south of the parkway but it's well worth the excursion to see this beautiful waterfall you can take it in from the overlook or you can walk down the stairs to get to the base this thing is majestic and there are a lot of people looking glass falls is a 60-foot waterfall and the water was flowing like crazy when we were there lobster sketching spray up the walls if you got anywhere remotely close to it you got soaked by the mist we didn't stay for too long but it was well worth the 15 minute detour tons of people there but an amazing waterfall starting to get humid and sweaty we're gonna see if sliding rock is busy or if we can go check that out sliding rock is only a five minute drive from looking glass falls and it does cost to enter we were here in the beginning of the summer and the place was packed with long lines so we just went in to look and then headed on i have to say it looks like an absolute blast and if you're here in the heat and humidity and have time you should probably experience it [Music] there's a ton of people waiting in line and we have a lot more to see on the blue ridge parkway so we're skipping this one but it looks like a lot of fun for summer from sliding rock we made our way north back towards the parkway and stopped at the cradle of forestry the cradle of forestry was the first forestry school in north america and it was opened in 1896. the school was actually only open until 1913 but it was very influential and sustainable forestry practices throughout the united states on a visit here the first thing you'll want to do is explore the museum this is a good stop with kids there's a lot of little areas they can climb and explore i think they have a lot of fun they even got a play area with campfire supplies so you can make your own s'mores and you can hang out in a tent after leaving the museum be sure to walk the bitmore campus trail the trail is one mile roundtrip and takes you to eight historic buildings that show you what life would have been like during the school's days this is definitely a spot you're not going to want to miss if you're interested in the area's history this little trail that takes you to the buildings is awesome plus the museum it's awesome as well many of these buildings were built in the late 1800s after leaving the schoolhouse you'll actually walk under the road and you can see a few more buildings on the loop trail on the other side i wish i could have spent a little bit more time here and maybe took a tour with someone who knew about the area but it was a lot of fun to see from here it's four miles back to the blue ridge parkway [Music] this is called the cradle of forestry overlook and it talks about the cradle of forestry which is cool because that's where we just came from it was basically down in there somewhere we probably only stopped at about half the overlooks today you're gonna have to decide how many you want to stop at they're like every couple miles something to note about the blue ridge parkway is that it's pretty hard to find food on the trail it was getting late in the day and we hadn't passed anywhere to eat so we arrived at the pisgah inn and hoped that they had something for us perfect they have a sit-down restaurant if you want to sit down but they have sandwiches and salads that you can take to enjoy the view with so we found the most epic lunch spot ever basically sandwiches to go adirondack chairs and this view this ended up being an amazing spot for lunch with quick sandwiches that we could grab and great views there's an awesome patio area as well that looks out over the mountains and back towards the blue ridge parkway i imagine this would be a pretty amazing place to stay but there was no availability when i looked for my trip do let me know if you get a chance to stay here or if you eat at the restaurant and how it is in the comments from the pisgah inn it's about a 45 minute drive to get to asheville along the way the route goes through much of what you've come to expect from the day lots of tunnels lots of overlooks and beautiful views we took the drive slow and didn't really stop anywhere else on this portion we made it to the city of asheville which is officially the end of our day on blue ridge highway but we wanted to see chimney rock state park which is about 30 minutes south so we're heading there now when you arrive in asheville there's many things you can do with one of them being visiting the historic biltmore estate when i was researching this trip though i saw a picture of chimney rock and i knew i had to visit if i was close since our hotel was only 30 minutes away we decided to make the drive down there and to see it for ourselves we made it to chimney rock state park we're gonna hike to the top of that and then we're gonna go to a waterfall as well this park is one of the most photographed areas in north carolina the picturesque chimney rock is the highlight of the park and you can either take the elevator or you can hike the many flights of stairs to get up and see it the park recommends that you take the elevator up and then the stairs back down which is what we did for this video we made it out of the elevator that was a quick 26 flights now we're at the rock that is so cool and so beautiful out here yeah and there's an amazing view out that way too at the top there's a store and a small cafe where you can grab some ice cream or a drink and just sit and take in the view welcome to chimney rock you are standing on the oldest mountains in the entire planet apparently walking across to the base of the stairs is actually a little daunting as you start to make your way up to the rock believe it or not pops is actually going up on the rock i was shocked that my dad decided to do this as i would have never thought he would have climbed up to the rock let me know in the comments if you've seen these videos and all the things he hasn't done and are shocked that he went up here elevation 2280. here's all the mountains you can see right out there the brock's well protected with a fence around the outside so you can just take in the views without worrying about falling off [Music] this is an amazing spot well worth the effort to get up here and by effort i mean riding the elevator all right now we're gonna head and see if we can find a view that looks down on it now what you didn't do any steps on the way up my dad decided to hang out on the rock while i explored a little bit more of the park [Music] i really want to get a view looking down on the rock so i'm going to go figure out where that's at there's a staircase that climbs the rock face behind chimney rock and takes you to a few different viewpoints this area is known as the opera box it's pretty tight as you can see i'm sitting down and basically at the top of the rock there's the view out towards chimney rock right there that's a pretty good one but i want to get a little bit higher in case you don't take the elevator it is 499 steps and 26 flights of stairs to get up to the top of just the rock this is adding on yeah once you get to the top of the stairs this is about the coolest view you can get of chimney rock this is definitely the best view of chimney rock you can get looking down on it with the river behind it and just the amazing landscape you can continue going from here but there's no additional views that look back at the rock look at pop's traversing that crazy staircase we're gonna go see devil's head as well since we're already all the way up here the viewpoint for devil's head is right at the top of the staircase i'm guessing that's supposed to be the devil's head right there i don't know what do you think let me know in the comments it's pretty cool i could see it [Music] saying goodbye to chimney rock and we're heading back down to the waterfall that's where we were at up there chimney rock i went to the top of the stairs now we're down here and we're gonna go out on the falls trail once you make it back down to where you parked it's 1.5 miles round trip to hickory nut falls unfortunately that comes with hiking down more stairs to get to the trail and then up at the very end this isn't a tough hike there's only a few hundred feet of elevation but it is pretty humid and not used to the humidity so you get sweaty quickly we're also pretty tired from our busy first day so we just took our time and walked slow towards the falls i hear water so i think we are getting close there's a waterfall right there fortunately not a lot of flow right now hickory nut falls is an over 400 foot waterfall it's one of the tallest waterfalls east of the mississippi and it became well known after it was used for a scene in the last of the mohicans we made it to hickory nut falls fortunately not blowing too much still pretty cool there was a small pool at the base of the waterfall but it wasn't more than a foot deep i have to imagine this would be a pretty incredible waterfall to see in the spring when it's flowing pretty hard we're both exhausted and that was only day one on the blue ridge parkway we have three more left to go so we're heading back to asheville we're gonna get some dinner and then i'll be the end of the stay it took about 45 minutes to drive back to downtown asheville and our dinner spot made it to asheville we're going to dinner at chai pani which just won the james beard award for outstanding restaurant meaning it's one of the best places in the united states let's give it a try my brother-in-law was the one who told me about this and we got really lucky to be able to be in the city about a week after it was announced we put ourselves on the reservation list as we were driving back and it took about an hour and a half before we were seated i don't even think i could tell you what we had we just had the waiter bring us some of the most popular dishes this is the top recommended appetizer pops is gonna give it a try they want you to put the whole thing in your mouth basically at once well done really unique sweet [Applause] yummy wow basically everything we had here was incredible and the flavor combinations were just so unique and not stuff that you normally have i definitely recommend you give it a try if you're in the area now we are officially exhausted that was an amazing meal though and that is the end of day number one to start day two we grabbed the free breakfast at our hotel and then got back on the parkway just got on the route again today and our first stop is the blue ridge parkway visitor center here's a map and we started here and we got all the way to asheville yesterday and today we're going all the way to blowing rock the visitor center in asheville is supposed to be the best on the route so we waited until it opened to make sure we could visit it this bear was alive you would be too close the large center had a great exhibit on the history of the parkway and lots of information about the area the highlight though is the massive map that they had of the entire blue ridge parkway in the back of the center when you see the blue ridge parkway like this it really puts into perspective how big of an undertaking this was to create and how awesome of a road trip it really is if you want to learn about the parkway don't miss that spot the people that are so knowledgeable gave me a bunch of good information and it's got some exhibits and things you can see good stuff also be sure to pick up one of these it's one per car but it has maps and all sorts of information in it what's really cool about the blue ridge parkway is that asheville is basically all around us but you would never even know while you're driving this it just feels like you're in nature there's no mcdonald's nothing even when you're right next to a city our next stop brought us to the folk art center this is the folk art center this used to be open at nine which would be great for us but it doesn't open until 10 so we can't see this on this trip the folk art center is one of the most loved stops on the route but unfortunately we would have had to wait two hours to see it in the building they have a museum and they sell lots of different arts and crafts let me know how it is in the comments as i love to go back and visit here's our first viewpoint of the day haw creek valley pretty much any time on the blue ridge parkway starts like this going slow enjoying the drive taking in viewpoints and overlooks and just soaking everything in in case you're wondering there's an overlook ahead sign before every single one so it's really easy to see when one's coming up also since it's a 45 mile an hour road it's great to be able to have these overlooked so often so you can pull out and let people who want to drive fast go by you our first stop of the day was another small visitor center and a hike at craggy gardens this stop is only about 35 minutes from asheville but you would never know it as it feels like there's nothing around you the visitor center is tiny but it has some souvenirs and some docents you can ask questions to if you're looking at what to do on the route craigie gardens is famous for the rhododendron bloom which happens in june i was hoping we'd be able to see it but the guy told us that basically all of them are gone now so we're gonna go do the pinnacle instead but if you come here in june and they're here you should definitely do it the craggy gardens trail did look really pretty and there was some mountain laurel that we saw there [Music] that mountaintop right there is craggy pinnacle that's what we're heading to next after passing craggy gardens visitor center the craggy dome parking area we're heading out to craggy pinnacle i think that's the most times i've ever said craggy in one sentence from the parking area it's only three quarters of a mile to the summit according to pop's book the summit is supposed to be one of the best views on blue ridge parkway i'm excited to get there but i love all these rhododendron trees all around too even though they're not in bloom at the moment like pretty much all of the trails on the blue ridge parkway this one goes uphill the entire way it's not too difficult but all the trails are pretty much short and steep this one was beautiful with all the shade and different trees plus the mountain laurel blooming and i'm sure the rhododendron during the right time of the year this is a beautiful trail we're in the shade of the trees there's rock steps just heading up but it's beautiful eventually the trail finishes its last few steps and you get to the summit of craggy pinnacle [Music] made to the top of cracky pinnacle it is incredible up here there's the visitor center that we were just at the summit has a rocky area that's been built up to protect from the wind a little bit and there's some benches you can sit at i don't know if it's the best view on blue ridge parkway but it's certainly one of the best views we saw during our trip my dad and i stayed up here a good 20 minutes and there was a volunteer who was sitting up here to answer questions overall a really fun hike along the route we're making our way back down but that was one of the best views best hikes we've done so far on the route shout out to the ranger who told me about it because i wasn't planning on doing it that has got to be in my top five most beautiful short hikes that i've ever done with the beautiful canopies of the flowering trees and the incredible 360 view fabulous hike [Music] this one actually has a waterfall out there this viewpoint but right now it looks like it's basically dry out there the waterfall here is seasonal and you really need a zoom lens to be able to even see it at all continuing on we saw some turkeys on the side of the road and then took a short detour up to mount mitchell state park this state park is located right off the blue ridge parkway and the drive up to mount mitchell is beautiful it's definitely something you don't want to miss as it's only a short walk to the summit and it's the highest point east of the mississippi we're doing the grueling hike to the summit which is 280 yards wow not 300. there is a good grade on this hike so short but it's a little steep as someone who loves to visit state high points i thought it was great that this one was so accessible [Music] when you got to the top there was a bunch of people just enjoying the views taking pictures with the signs plus it's cool to be able to say you were at the highest point east of the mississippi highest point east of the mississippi it's beautiful beautiful place to be easy to get up here beautiful spot the summit has a different plaque for every direction that show you the mountains you can see in the distance my dad and i just sat up here for a while and i did a couple time lapses it's a beautiful spot when you get back to the parking area there's a snack shop that makes sandwiches and some other foods it was basically the only lunch spot on this part of the route i'll say it again it's hard to find places to eat on the route so bring your own snacks or be prepared for this for lunch from mount mitchell our next stop was about 30 minutes away along the way we just casually enjoyed the drive under beautiful shade trees and stopped at a few different overlooks we made it to the parking area for crabtree falls and we are heading out on the two mile trail the trail starts relatively easy with about a half mile walk through the amphitheater and the campgrounds before you make it to the official trailhead [Music] we're here we're heading to the falls and then we're just going to come back but you can do a full loop if you want this is supposed to be one of if not the most beautiful waterfall on the trail we've already seen some pretty amazing waterfalls so i'm excited to see this one from here the trail heads downhill the entire way to the waterfall there's a lot of steps and rocks you have to climb over and it's nice on the way down but it's definitely difficult on the way up this is definitely a rocky muddy trail but we're almost to the falls i like that sound because that's the sound of a lot of water right as we round the bend there's our first view crabtree falls pops found a primo spot this is the way our bench should be right here crabtree falls is around 60 feet tall and the water cascades beautifully over the rocks it was honestly one of my favorite things that i saw on our entire time on the blue ridge parkway there's a short spur trail on the right hand side that'll take you up closer to the base or you can just take it in from the bridge like my dad did there's pops chilling back there on the bench and there's the waterfall this is a great place to bring snacks and to have lunch it's one of those places you're going to want to spend some time at saying goodbye to crabtree falls and starting the steep hike back up but that was well worth it we made it out crabtree falls that uphill will wear you out that was a grind i'm soaking through my shirt to the bone with the humidity but amazing waterfall and we're going to little switzerland to get like coffee and something to eat hopefully from the parking area it's only a 10 minute drive to little switzerland which is one of the few towns that are right along the blue ridge parkway we made it to little switzerland population 46. so unfortunately little switzerland cafe is closed but the general store is open so hopefully they have something to eat there just another reminder that you can't really plan on any food spots being open on the drive i have no idea why the cafe was closed as it was a normal lunch time but we did go to the general store and get a gatorade and a few other snacks unfortunately little switzerland was the best let me get some gatorade back on the parkway it was a seven minute drive to another visitor center and museum as we were driving we saw a sign for the museum of minerals here we check it out it was interesting to see that the visitor center was small and the museum on minerals is actually a lot larger to the mines this museum was interesting as it was relatively interactive and would have been good for families looking for a quick stop with kids we also enjoyed learning about the geology of the area and the area's mining history overall it's a quick stop but you don't see anything else like this along the parkway [Music] there's our next stop just slightly off the road it's the orchard at alta pass definitely don't miss this spot but there's no signs or anything so make sure you know where you're going it's only a two minute drive off the blue ridge parkway on a short dirt road on the hunt for lunch what do you think pops are going to find something to eat here the orchard at alta pass has been here for over a hundred years seeing the area's changes brought about by railroads and then again by the blue ridge parkway it's still a favorite place for visitors driving the route with you pick apples during the season and amazing pie that you can get year round we tried to get lunch at every place that was supposed to have lunch for us on the trip but this looks like lunch yeah we're gonna have ice cream and pie for lunch this is really not by choice though we tried to get regular lunch delicious nice pie yeah pops has changed his review he said it was good but now he said it's really nice it's really nice it's got a great crust it's very good would you give that out a 10 no i give it eight and a half oh man that's good pie yeah i mean pretty much anything you eat is good when you can look out at this view while you're eating it i don't know if i'm just hungry but that was amazing pie beautiful views not a bad stop all right so we can't find coffee on the road either so pocket lattes ready to eat coffee pops with the lavender vanilla looks more like pocket chocolate i'm getting coffee and i'm not getting chocolate which is interesting it looks like chocolate but it's supposed to have one whole cups worth of coffee caffeine in it it's got the the bitterness and stuff of coffee i don't know not horrible all right amazing not horrible not amazing pops review after indulging an apple pie and a pocket coffee for lunch it was back on the parkway one of the signs talked about the area's apple history and it said there was few things more loved than apples to the farmers here [Music] pops found this spot in his book and he promised that it was the best view on the entire route i did not promise that all i said was rent was what the book said it's one of them oh okay one of the best views on the route we'll all be that's a pretty nice viewpoint that pops found right there if you're wanting to see this for yourself it's known as the chestowa view parking area honestly the views down into the valley were pretty amazing from here that peak right there is grandfather mountain we're heading around that later today this was a great find that pops had it was only a three minute walk from the parking area to this view you guys know that i love to visit caves when i travel so we decided to take a 10 minute detour off of the parkway to visit the linville caverns i got there right in time for the last tour of the day and be sure to note the tour times if you want to visit as well we're about seven minutes south of blue ridge parkway and we're heading into the linville caverns which is the only show cave in north carolina why i'm heading in pops is staying in the car fun to see something different though on the blue ridge parkway the area surrounding the caverns has picnic benches and sits along a beautiful creek eventually was my time to go into the cave for the 45 minute tour linville caverns was originally found by fishermen that saw fish going into what looked like a solid rock as you walk through the cave you can still see fish swimming around in it today it was first opened to the public in 1937 and i'm not going to tell you it's one of the best caves in the world or anything but it was still fun to explore the tour is one way in and one way out i didn't feel claustrophobic in it but for some people it might be a little narrow it doesn't have a lot of formations like the bigger caves do but it does have a lot of water that's constantly dripping and you'll probably get a little wet that was a fun cave tour great little break on the blue ridge parkway and we're heading on to linville falls from the caverns it was only a seven minute drive back onto the parkway and to the parking area for linville falls on the way to the parking area there's a pull off for the river bend overlook that's worth taking this is a beautiful overlook looks like it'd be a fun place to hang out have a picnic with the family before getting to the falls note that linville falls is one of the busiest attractions on the parkway and the parking lot could be full next up we're heading out to lynnville falls which is supposedly the most photographed place in north carolina see how it is there's many different hiking trails that take you to different viewpoints but i think we're gonna go to the plunge basin i would have loved to have hiked here more and seen all of the overlooks but it was late in the day and i researched the views beforehand decided just to go to the plunge basin overlook plunge basin overlook half mile [Music] park service map said this trail is difficult it's only a half mile so i don't know if it's steep or something but we'll let you know pops is all up for another difficult trail we're almost to the overlook and i have to say that this trail is difficult and the one we did earlier to crabtree is extreme because this trail is not bad there's a little bit uphill in the beginning relatively flat shaded pretty beautiful i call this the pop's rating scale for trail difficulty you know whether a trail is difficult on whether he takes out his hiking pole packing pool is not out so it's not a difficult trail as you go down the last few flights of stairs you'll get to the overlook wow look at that this waterfall is stunning because of the gorge that it falls into and it's about 45 feet tall it's beautiful and i like the way it's kind of like got the two levels and the one is hidden in the back it'd be cool if you could see that back one a little bit better but it's still pretty sweet and then this big beautiful lake that's formed in here too is cool linville falls plunge basin overlook if you let me know if you go to one of the other viewpoints and if it's better than this one but i have to say it's pretty good be sure to leave a thumbs up on this video for pop's conquering is fierce standing on the edge of this lookout right here oh man one footed there is a steep path that takes you all the way down to the water near the base of the falls we didn't do that on this trip though [Music] 20 minutes later we were arriving at one of the spots i was most excited for in the blue ridge parkway the lincol viaduct before that though we had to go around grandfather mountain which you can actually drive to the top of but it was closed for a private event the day we went we're heading out to the observation area for the lincoln viaduct this is also a wheelchair accessible trail to the observation area there's also a visitor center here but it was already closed when we got there this trail is called the tenawa trail and it takes you to the base of the lincol viaduct this is not the traditional view that you normally see but it's cool to be able to go under it is the turnaround point with a wheelchair but you can continue up as you continue on there's no real signs and the trail goes in and out and even over some rocks there are views of the bridge through the foliage but i kept going trying to find that iconic view i hope this trail leads somewhere i feel like i'm like climbing in the rainforest or something right now if you're looking to get to the viewpoint that i did i would recommend doing a lot of research online beforehand i only found it because i saw some people walking down who told me where it was at so there's a short little split right here it looks like you can kind of see the bridge once you climb to the top of the small rock you'll be able to look out at the viaduct with the views of the mountains behind it all right so this is the iconic shot of the limco viaduct i did not know that but from that little break you come down here onto this rock and then there's the shot in all the books this was a beautiful view even though it wasn't the best time for photography and i'm so glad i was able to find it i did not think that that iconic shot would be so hard to find but you have to come down through here and stand out on that rock after taking a bunch of photos i made the walk back met up with my dad and we drove across it the lincol viaduct was created to protect the habitat that exists on grandfather mountain it's 1243 feet long and it's the last piece of the blue ridge parkway that was completed in 1983. if you're interested there's a turn off right after the viaduct and you can actually walk back out on it if you want if you want to see a few more views of the viaduct then you can walk the short path that goes along the road from the pull out area i just wanted to quickly note that the first two days on this drive had by far the most attractions that we wanted to see as you can see it's pretty late in the day already and we still haven't got to the hotel from the viaduct it was only a 20 minute drive to blowing rock but we had a few more things we wanted to see this is our second to last stop of the day it's the overlook for price lake which is stunning right now look at that guy living his best life out there that's hard to beat price lake is 47 acres and there's lots of opportunities for canoeing hiking and fishing we just took it in from the overlook along the road but i would have loved to have spent more time here [Music] as we neared blowing rock the only thing we had left to do was to visit moses h cohn memorial park this property sits right around mile marker 294 and it features the beautiful home that he built in 1901 the house is 13 000 square feet and features 23 rooms so this is actually a visitor center from 10 to 5 as well and a craft center in here unfortunately it was too late in the day for us to enter but i imagine this would be a pretty cool place to take a tour of let me know if you get a chance to do that in the comments this is an awesome spot to explore there's over 23 miles of carriage trails you can walk around there's also a figure eight trail that he created for him and his wife to walk plus just beautiful views from the house looking out from here we said goodbye to the blue ridge parkway for the day and finish the drive into blowing rock we've made it to the town of blowing rock at eight o'clock we're hoping to be able to get some dinner and then that is going to be the end of the day as we arrived in town we saw the blowing rock ale house and that was good enough for us to stop and grab a spot to eat [Music] pops and i haven't eaten since breakfast we got pretzels which is always the right answer they are all right not yet we have to wait i forgot to record pop's reaction but good pretzel with good spicy mustard and now we got bison burgers bob's is still got horseradish in his nose from the this pretzel this this mustard is awesome this was a great spot for food we weren't let down finished our dinner at nine o'clock we're heading back to our hotel that is the end of day two [Music] waking up to a nice foggy morning hopefully it clears off later today and get some breakfast and coffee beforehand panel for breakfast we headed right across the street from our hotel to camp coffee they had a lot of pastry options and it was a great place to get a cappuccino my friends magellan and greyhound that made videos on the blue ridge parkway that i'll link in the description told me to prepare for anything like fog and rain even if it's a sunny day the day before now we're heading on to our first stop this is the famous blowing rock area which the town blowing rock is named from it's been a tourist attraction since like 1930s fortunately we're not gonna be able to see it it's super foggy today doesn't open for another hour and we have a long drive so we're continuing on but check it out let me know how it is in the comments based on what we wanted to see the previous day and the limited amount of stopping places halfway through this drive we decided to push all the way onto peaks of otter this was about double the driving time that we spent on the previous two days if you're planning a trip like us note that this is an incredibly long day here's our first overlook for the day hopefully it gets better from here when i was planning this trip i was worried about the weather but it ended up being perfect for us other than this first hour on day three grand view overlook fog's starting to clear just a little bit at least the fog was actually kind of a cool touch in the blue ridge parkway with the way that it made the mountains look in the distance about a mile ahead we have a detour from the route so we have to go around it there's actually three or four places where they're working on the route where it's closed that we're gonna have to go around today when you plan your blue ridge parkway trip be sure to look at the detours on the national park website when we went there's multiple detours including a long one in roanoke that had been there for almost a year whenever there's a detour it's well marked and easy to follow but it is a bummer to have to leave the parkway for a road trip like this the 20-minute detour put us back on the interstate and after not having to drive on an interstate for a few days it felt a little weird to be back on one once we returned to the 45 mile an hour blue ridge parkway it was a lot more relaxing we have a question for everyone pop says this is a well-known folk song let us know in the comments how many people have actually ever heard of this song before it's based on a place we're going by this is our first major stop of the day tompkins knob overlook we're gonna hike 500 feet to jesse brown's cabin tompkins knob overlook is a great stop as it's only 500 feet to walk to the old historic cabins there are three buildings you can see here pretty cool to see an old cabin preserved right here alongside the road blue ridges right there according to the historical plaque jesse brown was a farmer and a preacher he built his cabin about a half mile from here in the 1800s and it was actually never located in this site when he lived here [Music] there's also one other structure to see it's an old church up here this building is not the actual church that once stood here but just a recreation of what they think it would have looked like also most of the preaching happened outside but this building was here in case there was weather and they needed to move it inside look at pops doing this good service right here picking up trash also who drinks a yoo-hoo especially in that cabin as we were walking back we saw another little structure maybe like a storage shed or something it's got a little uh water runoff going into it this is actually a small shed they would use to keep things cool from tompkins knob it was only about a half mile to our next stop which was our one major hike of the day right around mile marker 272 this one mile round trip trail takes you down to a nice waterfall [Music] it's interesting in the area we came from all the rhododendron were blooming but here they just have buds on them so they're not blooming yet this trail is incredibly peaceful in the early morning light and we didn't see any other people until we were coming back up the trail shaded pretty much the entire way and it follows a nice creek as you make your way down to the waterfall based on the creek i didn't expect there to be a lot of water in the waterfall but i was pleasantly surprised by the time we made it down there note that you do have to go down a series of steps to get to the overlooks this is the first overlook from the first overlook you're basically at the top of the cascade and you can see that it actually goes pretty far down that was a beautiful little view from the top and there's another trail that goes down a little bit closer i definitely recommend continuing on to the second overlook as this is a better view of the actual fall part of the waterfall while the actual drop is only about five feet the entire waterfall cascade is over a hundred feet it didn't look like it was going to be that impressive in photos but both my dad and i agreed that it was one of our top spots on the trip it was incredibly beautiful and a really peaceful hike that was an awesome waterfall way better than i anticipated it being not too hard of a hike some stairs to get back out but pretty impressive heading on after hiking back out we stopped at betsy rock falls overlook as we figured maybe we'd be able to see a waterfall unfortunately there was no waterfall to be seen we've made it to the lump overlook which is affectionately called that because of that hill right there called the lump tom dooley song still popular the youtube comments will tell us whether that's true or not we figured we were here might as well walk to the top of the lump i couldn't find any information on how the lump got its name but it's a short well-maintained trail so people must be doing it all the time we made it to the top of the lump fortunately there's not much of a view from up here that was a lot of working out for nothing so you can probably leave walking up the lump to professionals like us no real reason to go up here my dad was very happy that i called him a professional in the previous clip after saying goodbye to the lump we headed on and we're greeted by our second of the three detours we had to do today the parkway is closed again so we have to take a detour but luckily for us we at least get to see the trading post before we head on i read online that the northwest trading post has been in business for over 50 years it was easily one of the largest gift shops we saw on the blue ridge parkway here they had snacks and drinks an entire section of children's gifts and souvenirs and even a table for children to play and draw on the woman who was working there was incredibly knowledgeable as well and overall it was just a great quick stop on the route nice shop thanks to stack on lots of souvenirs we're heading on gonna do the detour it's about 12 miles before we get back on the road this detour took us about 20 minutes driving through a small town with lots of christmas tree farms eventually though we saw the sign to get back on the blue ridge parkway this part of the drive feels a little different as it starts with some farms that go along the parkway which you don't normally see [Music] from there it gains elevation again and you start to get the views you've come to expect eventually we arrived at the visitor center in dalton park at the visitor center here there's a restaurant and there's a small museum this is one of the smallest visitor centers as there's only a couple historic photos a map and a few souvenirs [Music] the highlight here though is easily the beautiful and historic bluffs restaurant which is right next door this restaurant was originally a popular spot on the blue ridge parkway when it opened in 1949 it closed in 2010 and its future was uncertain until it was repaired and restored and reopened in 2020 found this awesome spot to eat you guys should definitely stop here pops is gonna try the cobbler out this cobbler looks pretty epic can you stop what you're doing and come here right now it's amazing it was a little too early for lunch for us so we just grabbed a slice of the pie to try and then continued on this place is an awesome stop for lunch great great customer service great people the cobbler was fabulous blackberry peach come on down plus they have coffee here at the bluffs restaurant so we haven't seen that on the roof very often from the bluffs it was only a five minute drive to our next stop the breneger cabin [Music] cabin is open today from 10 to 11 45 we're just making it like 15 minutes before 11 45. one of the reasons why we couldn't stop and eat at the restaurant was because we had to get here before it closed i was really interested in seeing this cabin as it's one of the best preserved historic cabins along the blue ridge parkway they even had a national park worker who is here to tell you all about the cabin the area and the family's history the cabin here was built in 1889 and the brennagar family lived here for over 60 years you are free to walk around the interior of the cabin and ask any questions you had [Music] pops does not fit in the historic house not so well this was their outdoor pantry there are also two more buildings you can see on the property the first being the outdoor pantry inside here there are lots of different tools with information on how they worked the land the last building you can see is the spring house which was downhill from the main cabin heading on from the historic cabin we made it to another overlook we're at the stone mountain overlook which i guess is that right there as you continue north on the blue ridge parkway the area really does change this little pond has a trail around it if you're interested in seeing a little bit more or you can just check it out from the overlook as the drive continued on we made it to our last stop in the north carolina portion of the blue ridge parkway this is the cumberland knob area which is a park and it's also famous because this is where the blue ridge parkway actually started being built cumberland knob where the ccc started the road the cumberland knob sits close to the halfway point at mile marker 217. it's where the parkway began in 1935 and it's one of the most popular stops on the route there's a trail you can take through the park but we have a lot more to do so we're skipping it looks pretty though before leaving there's a short five-minute walk that has many different information plaques about the area's history there's also a historic cemetery to see here as well there's more than 75 cemeteries in the park leaving the cumberland knob and we are heading in to virginia there's the state line we're about a mile and a half away from entering virginia crazy there was nowhere to pull off to take a picture of that sign but we have entered stay number two after crossing over into virginia the first stop is only seven minutes away and that's the historic blue ridge parkway music center we're at the blue ridge parkway music center and supposedly there's actual music happening live music at noon yeah the blue ridge parkway music center is a museum and a visitor center for the route one of the volunteers talked us through the center's history he told us that this area was a crossroads for music because of the way people traveled through it a lot of american music originated here and then moved out to the rest of the country this is an amazing museum lots of knowledgeable people about music and how it came from here and went elsewhere plus you can press these buttons and you can hear songs it's easily one of those places you could spend a few hours as there's so much information here to see i don't think i'm gonna be able to pull pops away he's super excited about the music history if there's a band playing be sure to sit down and enjoy the music for a little while before heading on [Music] [Music] that place was incredible one of the coolest stuff we've done on blue ridge yet really really fun and just these kind of friends getting together not professionals just plucking together and jamming so fun yeah plan for at least an hour there it's awesome i don't know where we're heading on to now but hopefully lunch because we haven't had lunch at a normal time this entire trip as you pass into virginia it's amazing how different the scenery is here there's a lot more agriculture here and the elevation is significantly lower there's still some great views but they're not as expansive as they were in the first two days hooray our lunch spot is open we're really excited that the gap deli was open as it's hard to find lunch on the route that's not just a gas station snack and it was a great stopping point as well i got the crazy turkey wrap something with chutney in it and top scotch the meatloaf sandwich going big we're actually eating lunch for the first time in three days excited about this that was a great lunch spot shout out to america's parks we did a road trip video on blue ridge i'll link to their video in the description they're the ones who showed us that and we're heading on fancy gap is one of the bigger towns in this middle section so you might be able to find a hotel here if you didn't want to go as far as my dad and i did our next stop brought us to puckett cabin which is about 15 minutes away pops what information do you have for us on the cabin well there's two things interesting this woman lived to be 102 she delivered she was a midwife delivered a thousand babies but sadly she had 24 children of her own and they all died in infancy oh my gosh that's horrible it's horribly sad to hear about her own story with her children but it's amazing to think about the lives and generations this woman touched through the work that she did as a midwife we're only about two minutes away from the cabin and we're at our next stop which is the groundhog hill one of pop's favorite things on this route has been finding out about fences he loves all the old fences and guess what this is all about fences i'll see you in like an hour [Music] actually go in here and climb to the top did you learn all you can learn about the fences it's crazy how we hiked like 10 miles yesterday and it's just it's hard to walk up the stairs yeah neither pops or i have any idea what this is but i'm going to tell you right now so if you want to guess before i tell you pause the video guess and i'll tell you what it is believe it or not this area was actually built in 1942 and was a fire lookout now it's just here as a part of history for you to climb up and enjoy pops look at this photo of the two fences going into each other about 15 minutes north look for a building on the right hand side with a small road leading to it that's the mayberry trading post i actually missed it and had to double back and find it as it's right off the parkway this building was originally built here in 1892 back then it was the area's post office and a general store and now it's just a general store here's the mayberry creek post office back here it's fascinating to explore as there's lots of antiques and old pieces of history in between the different items for sale it's a great quick stop and it has bathrooms all right i got three different types of homemade jelly that the ladies made in there this one is looks like dawson preserves it's a it's a type of uh plum and then i got wild black raspberries which it sounds pretty epic and then i got wild fox grapes not sure what that is but i'm excited about them all she said she made the raspberry this morning too it's a fun little spot next i stumbled on the round mountain overlook which had a 20 minute trail you could take this is an awesome little view under the bridge i'm not gonna do the full trail but look at that i'm beginning to realize that four days is definitely not a long enough time if you really want to experience the parkway there's so many things like this where you could get off you could explore but everything takes 20 30 minutes and when you're getting to a destination you gotta pick what you do as we left the overlook we were arriving at one of the most popular things on the blue ridge parkway the mayberry mill the mill is the main thing but there's a bunch of other buildings looks like as well that are all like how real life would have been here we are at one of the most iconic spots on the blue ridge parkway the mabry mill what do you think it's beautiful it's like the idyllic notion of what you would imagine of a rural setting it's just beautiful the mill is located right around mile marker 176. eb mayberry was the one who created it and he began construction on it in 1903 over the next few decades he continued to expand on it making it into the crazy contraption you see today here's the water that runs into the wheel on the mill he actually diverted multiple water sources to bring water to where he needed it at the mill it was an incredible feat of engineering to do all of this in the early 1900s and to still have it standing today note that the grounds are open year round but you can only go inside of the buildings in the summer and the fall [Music] it looks like they bought their wheel from the sears robux catalog back in 1927 that was kind of the amazon of the day on the day we visited we got to go inside of the mill and there was a worker who was in there showing us how the water wheel and all the other contraptions worked [Music] so these different wheels led to different things and the size of the wheel would be related to the speed so for example this one would go to this one which was a grinder and then one of these others would go to this one which was like a saw and other other tools that this guy invented it's just fascinating after exploring the mill be sure to walk around the entire property and see all the other historic buildings i've never in my life seen a lumber drying rack there's one right there pretty much all of these buildings were not built here they were actually moved here in order to create this outdoor museum that shows what life would have been like here overall it's fascinating to go into the many different buildings and to see how well they recreated them in a few of the buildings they even had volunteers that were able to answer questions for you many of the areas settlers would make whiskey and this is an example of what it would have looked like right next to a creek this is creek number two that's feeding the second part of the mill this is easily a top five spot on the blue ridge parkway so much history such a beautiful setting you definitely want to stop here after saying goodbye to the mayberry mill there's a store and a cafe you can visit but we just grabbed some ice cream as we left the mill and continued driving we reached a few more overlooks this one has a fun history as he created the dam in order to allow his customers to fish while he was doing work for them there's not much to see here but it's fun to see the historic dam and the little man-made waterfall plus we saw a big turtle swimming in the water but we weren't able to get in on video as we continued towards roanoke there weren't a lot of stops there was the occasional overlook but there are a lot fewer overlooks in the virginia section than there was in the north carolina one the rolling hills shaded tree drives and occasional farmland made for a beautiful and relaxing trip eventually though we reached the main detour which was going to take us all the way through roanoke when we went the parkway was closed from mile 121 to mile 136 it had been like this for almost a year so i'm not sure when it's going to be fixed it's about a 17 mile 30 minute drive to go around it in case you're wondering our road trip song is take me home country road john denver why is that it says blue ridge mountain shenandoah valley in the song that's all it takes to be a top song for us unfortunately i can't play the song here or i'll get a copyright strike but let me know if you like it in the comments since we had a detour through roanoke we figured we'd see the star which is one of the most well known attractions here the roanoke star was built here in 1949 to celebrate christmas it was so popular and well loved that it stayed and now it's an icon in the city every night the star is illuminated but it was fun to see during the day as well plus there's some great views out over downtown roanoke from the top of the hill leaving mill mountain we headed back down to the outskirts of the city and continued along the detour before arriving back on the blue ridge parkway we went through this section relatively fast as we wanted to get to the peaks of otter before the sunset one of the viewpoints you should stop and see is the quarry overlook here you can see a dolomite mine that's been running since 1916. so the peaks of otter are right in front of us that's a sharp top right there and where we're staying tonight is right at the base of that mountain near a lake [Music] there's probably a half dozen or so more viewpoints here that we skipped as we made our way into peaks of otter we made it to our hotel for the night the peaks of otter we're gonna go check in look at the restaurant and then explore this is a beautiful location an amazing place to stay you definitely want to get a reservation here in advance and note that it is a little bit pricey though here's our room at peaks of otter pretty sweet look at that view it's a bummer we don't have more time here this is a sweet spot we got our chairs we got this awesome view the lake here is stunning and you can actually walk around the entire thing or you can just sit at some of the adirondack chairs they have set out me and all these beautiful flies are enjoying the sunset together pops is racing the sunset right now he's got about 90 seconds before the sun goes down to sit in his chair i don't want to stay here i want to live here yeah take your seat right before sunset pops doesn't want to sit next to me now you see now the sun's already down over there there you go pops in the sunset of course like any road trip you can't do everything sharp top mountain is something i really wanted to do but we're here too late and we only have tomorrow left so we're not going to be able to do it on this trip but it's an amazing hike with supposedly amazing views now we're heading to get something to eat what makes this property so nice is how walkable it is as you can just leave your room and walk over to the restaurant along the way there are more chairs and there's even a few fire pits as you've heard me say many times before this is basically the only food on this section of blue ridge parkway if you wanted to you could have had dinner in roanoke but we decided to get the full experience and eat here with the view of the mountains pop's going with the burger and i went with the chicken and a waffle bun that was a decent place for a meal the chicken sandwich i got was really good there was nice views that's the end of day three on the blue ridge parkway one day left a bad way to start our last day blue ridge [Music] we got the sun coming up behind us and pops is getting all the bugs around his head it's a beautiful glow of bugs lots of little match don't be like us and plan your trip so busy that you have to leave this area early it would have been awesome to spend a couple hours here just one note this is basically an off the grid experience there's no reception out here and the internet basically doesn't work we are heading on this is an amazing place to stay though if you're staying at the hotel there's also a paid shuttle that'll take you close to the top of sharptop mountain so if you don't want to hike you can do that but it does take at least a few hours just as you'd expect the last day began with more overlooks also this last day was only around 90 miles so it was an easy drive and it allowed us time to just relax and to take it all in onion mountain overlook is about a six minute walk so we're gonna go check it out we thought this would be an easy hike to an overlook but we got lost pretty quickly this is a really pretty early morning hike but the trail is pretty much impossible to find and overgrown so no overlook for us heading back that's the funny thing about some of these viewpoints is that i'm sure they're amazing at some point in time but over the years the trees have grown up and some of them you can't see anything out anymore there's a popular trail to apple orchard falls here but it was about a thousand feet of elevation down and then back up again so we didn't want to try to fit it into the day the virginia part of the parkway reaches its highest point apple orchard mountain which is back there can't really see it right now though even at its highest point it's about 2500 feet lower than the highest point of the north carolina section though the elevation is much lower you still get some amazing views in this section of the mountains out in the distance the landscape here isn't quite as dramatic but it's still pretty incredible we started the morning early because our plan was to take a detour off the blue ridge parkway and head to natural bridge this detour is about 25 minutes each way so we knew it would add a decent amount of time to our drive we're about 16 miles off the route and we're at natural bridges state park heading out to see one of the top attractions in virginia like chimney rock this is one of those places where i saw pictures of it and knew i couldn't skip it from the parking area it's about a half mile walk down to where you pay your fee to enter the state park it's one of the most popular attractions in the state so get there early if you're coming on a summer weekend this is a stunning little shaded walk right along the creek when we were there the park opened at 9am and it cost about 10 bucks a person check it out natural bridge that's crazy to see in person it's massive it's really high up too we were some of the first people to enter the park so we had the bridge basically to ourselves the natural arch is 215 feet tall and 90 feet wide what's crazy is that there's actually a road that goes over the top of it but you would never know when you look at it after going under the bridge the trail continues to the monacan indian village and then on to a waterfall unfortunately the exhibit was temporarily closed and we were there so we didn't really get to see it pops would like to note that there's another type of fence right here [Music] about a half mile from here there's a waterfall as well the lady told me that there wasn't much flow right now because of the drought in the area so we skipped it but it might be cool to see if you have more time we're heading back to see if we can see george washington's initial on the bridge and then we're gonna go back to the blue ridge parkway and finish out our last day on the route when my dad and i researched this stop we heard that president george washington was a surveyor in his youth and actually visited here apparently he carved his signature in the rock and it took us a good 15 minutes to figure out where it was there's pops that's how big the bridge is we found the initials we're directly under the bridge right here next to this marker and then look across the water so that little square right there that was a great excursion and a beautiful place to stop now we're heading back to the parkway about 25 minutes from here as we left the state park we happened to stop at the natty b cafe to see if they had any food for breakfast lunch we didn't get breakfast at peaks of otters so if you come out here to natural bridge there's a great general store that makes awesome breakfast sandwiches that is what came with our sandwich for breakfast and it was so good we had to go back in from there was about 20 minutes back to the parkway and once we got on it we almost immediately arrived at our next stop the visitor center is closed but there's a nice trail that goes across the river that we're going to do by this time we didn't need to go to another visitor center but we were excited to visit the canal lock exhibit which is about a 10 minute walk across the bridge the pedestrian bridge that they built here was amazing as it goes underneath the blue ridge parkway which is right above you the bridge allows you to cross the james river which is the largest river in virginia as you make your way across there's views in both directions and it's a stunning spot when you make it to the other side there's a small path that'll take you over to the canal lock exhibit the sign states that the lock was built in 1848 and it's about 15 feet wide 21 feet deep and 100 feet between the two gates it was designed so that it could lower and lift boats so that they can go from the creek into the river heading on and we're only about 65 miles from the end of the trail so this place right here is the lowest point along the blue ridge parkway it's kind of like a gateway through the appalachian mountains at the lowest point we were at 649 feet almost 6 000 feet lower than the high point we're about one minute away from the visitor center at the otter creek trail system there's a man-made waterfall right down here this particular spot is the south end of otter lake with a dam and a man-made waterfall i mean it is man-made but it's pretty awesome [Music] along this section of the drive you go along otter creek and otter lake which is what feeds into the james river [Music] the overlooks here are not stunning vistas but are overlooks of the different parts of the creek as we left the creek behind we gained elevation and headed to some viewpoints that were at fifteen hundred and two thousand feet of elevation we also passed a few more tunnels and there are actually not very many tunnels in the virginia section of the drive we took this part of the drive slow knowing that we are nearing the end of our road trip plus my dad and i were still blown away by the beautiful blues and greens that we saw in the mountains and the skies at each of the overlooks we're right around mile marker 34 so only 34 miles left to the end this is yankee horse ridge there's like a 0.2 mile trail here many companies built narrow gauge railroads here in the 1920s for logging this is the trail it's an overgrown old logging train roof this section of the track that you see here was reconstructed to show what it would have looked like the information plaque also said that logging and fires destroyed much of the trees here and that what you see now is just second growth it was a stunning short trail with a small waterfall and just beautiful views of the railroad going into the forest i'm a sucker for this kind of thing as i love trains and i love photography so seeing the tracks go into the trees was pretty incredible for me [Music] the trail is really short this is only like a 15 to 20 minutes stop there are picnic benches here if you want to stay a little longer but we continued on [Music] made it to mile marker 19 which means we're officially under 20 miles left of our blue ridge parkway journey [Music] as we continued on there were a couple more viewpoints but none caught our eye until we saw this big collection of rocks off on the left hand side [Music] we're right at mile marker 11 raven's roost and there's some awesome rocks that you can climb out on to get some good views when we were hanging out there were some people even rock climbing in the area and you know my dad wasn't getting close to these rocks so he walked back along the road to take some videos of me [Music] during the course of this drive we probably saw a dozen deer so keep your eyes peeled as they often go out in the middle of the road [Music] one of our last stops on the blue ridge parkway was at the humpback rocks visitor center and farm museum this is the first visitor center you'd reach if you take the trip going south it was relatively small with a couple exhibits and some souvenirs we're heading out on the mountain farm trail this trail just leaves from the visitor center and has a few buildings that shows what life was like in the 1800s this trail is self-guided and it's about a half mile round trip look they have a perfect representation of pops right there complete with hair and everything identical this farm museum reminded me a lot of the outdoor exhibits at mayberry mill only a couple of them were actually open to go in and they didn't really have anything inside of them the one at mayberry mill was way better because they had people to answer your questions and they were all decked out on the inside [Music] that thing right there is actually a pig pen they would round the pigs up and put them in there pops look there's another type of fence it's a rock fence how do you feel about that one i find your humor is exhausting [Laughter] this is a spring house we've seen a couple of these along the route where the water would flow in and it actually cooled down everything that they stored in here this is a great trail for families lots of things to see and interact with it's historic it's very short and flat so if you're looking for a family trail this is a good one the main trail in this part of the park is the humpback rocks trail we're gonna do that tonight for sunset to end the video but we're gonna go out the last five miles and finish our time on blue ridge parkway [Music] we're at mile marker three this may be our last viewpoint it's a view of the shenandoah valley and it looks like it's very good the shenandoah valley must be through there somewhere all right i'm glad we're not leaving on that past viewpoint this is the rockfish valley viewpoint and it is much better than the last one [Music] at least if that's the last viewpoint it's a much better end sad moment we're on the last mile of our blue ridge parkway trip you can see we're about to become a highway i was wrong again this is the afton overlook which is officially our last [Music] overlook look at how much i wore pops out he didn't even get out of the car for the last overlook that's how tired he is all right all that's left is the end of the route sign unfortunately there's no end blue ridge parkway sign so we're gonna walk down to mile marker zero which is right over there mile marker zero and the start of the blue ridge parkway is at the rockfish gap [Music] mile marker zero we have officially completed our time on the blue ridge parkway tonight we're gonna do sunset before ending the video also tomorrow we're going to make a video on shenandoah so i'll link that below and there's a video on great smokies i'll link to as well like any great road trip it's always a bummer to get to the end but we wanted to go out with a bang so we headed back into the park for sunset i was told at the visitor center that humpback rocks is one of the best places to watch the sunset in all of blue ridge parkway we got there about an hour and a half before the sunset because the trail is short but it's really steep plus we wanted to get up there and just relax and watch the sun go down pops and i are back on the blue ridge parkway doing one more hike which is a little bit tough to watch the sunset the trail begins by going through a shaded area and it was beautiful to see the sun coming in and out of the trees as we walked on this trail is only three quarters of a mile but it is uphill basically the whole way 750 feet through horizontal mile so it's tough and steep everyone be sure to give pops props in the comments he did almost 50 miles on the utah trip done about a 30 on this trip with a lot of uphill and he's still charging along this trail a lot up there the uphill is beginning again when you get to the last quarter of a mile the trail doesn't mess with you anymore it's basically just incredibly steep and rock hopping as you make your way up eventually you'll make it to the top and then it's a short flat walk over to the rocks [Music] no joke this is the steepest hike we have done on this entire trip it is a tough one so know that going in when you reach the humpback rocks and see the view the difficulty of the trail melts away as you look out into the distance from here you can scramble up the rocks to the left or to the right and there was about 15 to 20 people up here but it was easy to spread out my dad had no interest in doing the scramble so he stayed at the base of the rocks but he had a pretty great spot for sunset as well pops made it and found his spot right there this is the second time we've ended a road trip video with a sunset and i think we need to do more of these in the future this one and the alaska one are sunsets i'll never forget in my entire life we stayed up here for over an hour and watched the cars driving along the blue ridge parkway below us and the sun heading down in the distance unfortunately there were some clouds right along the horizon line so we didn't get it as amazing of a sunset as i was hoping for but honestly i can't complain it was still something i'll never forget not a bad sunset but it looks like the sun is gonna get covered by the clouds on the way down i'm gonna find pops and we're gonna head on you can see pop sunset view in this clip with the rocks on both sides i actually filmed an outro here but on the way down we started seeing lightning bugs and i had to keep the video going wow there's a bunch of them over here fireflies oh my gosh it's so cool look at pops hiking with all these fireflies around him i've seen fireflies like once in my life i am freaking stoked right now i had to walk back up the stairs so pops could film me hiking with the fireflies it's just flashing everywhere around josh as he's coming down here wow that's the way to end a blue ridge parkway video right there it was hilarious because as i was coming down there were some locals and they thought it was funny that i cared about the fireflies coming from southern california though you never see anything like this when you're hiking of course this video will never do it justice [Music] all right after seeing the fireflies and getting down the hill that is officially the end of the video we'll see you on the next one [Music] you

Channel: Through My Lens

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Id: 4APFqo9wU9s

Length: 91min 36sec (5496 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 11 2022