In the last month, we've done a great deal of traveling to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's not far from home and it's glorious right now with the last of the wildflowers and the leaves beginning to change. Since our primary target for nature walking is about to take a long winter break, our focus has been on waterfalls lately. In the past month we have visited three within close proximity of each other: Linville Falls, Crabtree Falls, and Glassy Creek Falls.
Linville Falls is, as one would expect, gorgeous. Located nearly mile marker 316 on the Parkway, it's a hot spot for tourists. There are three trails to follow with varying difficulty, but all three give you very different views of the falls. Here's a shot from trail #2, known as the Plunge Basin Overlook Trail.
Linville Falls actually has two drops. The lower drop pictured above is known as Linville Falls. The upper drop is made of two smaller falls collectively known as Double Falls. The right falls, we discovered upon returning home, was featured in a scene from The Last of the Mohicans.
Crabtree Falls is located off mile marker 339. It's a short trail estimated to be completed in 2.5 hours if you take the entire loop around. For us, the trail ended up being 4 hours as we just had to stop and examine the wildflowers. Because of forecasted heavy rains and thunderstorms, we visited the falls a day later than planned but that turned out for the better in terms of lighting and the falls itself.
Glassy Creek Falls is just outside Little Switzerland off mile marker 334. Located on private property, the falls are small but still beautiful to see. Just be prepared to do a bit of climbing to get the best view. The trail that leads to the falls veers off in the opposite direction past the falls; if you want to get to the foot, you have to climb down some rather steep embankments.
This coming weekend we'll be visiting another waterfall, Hickory Nut Falls in Chimney Rock State Park. It's been over a decade since we visited Chimney Rock. We thought it was time we visited it again since both mom and I have changed a great deal since then.
