Blue Ridge · Asheville to Linn Cove Viaduct
A 229 km loop from Mount Mitchell
Open this ride in the planner →
Why this ride
High forest, stone walls and America’s best slow road. 229 km round from Black Mountain - plan on about 4 h 24 of riding. It goes by way of Linville Falls, Linn Cove Viaduct and Blowing Rock. The climb of the day is Mount Mitchell. It tops out at about 950 m. The passes are the reason to go.
Roadbook
- Mount Mitchell gate
high
Mount Mitchell has a simple claim to fame: at 2,037 metres, or 6,684 feet, it is the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River. It stands in the Black Mountains of western North Carolina, part of the southern Appalachians, and a spur road climbs to the summit from the Blue Ridge Parkway at around milepost 355. The last stretch of the road ends at a car park a short walk below the summit, where an observation platform gives views across rows of blue ridges.
The mountain is named for Elisha Mitchell, a professor from the University of North Carolina who measured the peak in the 1830s and argued about its height with a rival. In 1857 he fell from a cliff near a waterfall while returning to confirm his measurements, and was buried at the summit, where his grave still lies. The area became North Carolina's first state park in 1915, after logging companies had stripped much of the forest, a loss that prompted early conservation efforts in the state.
The high slopes hold a forest more typical of Canada. Red spruce and Fraser fir grow here, cool and dark, and the air smells of resin on damp mornings. Sadly, many of the Fraser firs have been killed by an invasive insect, the balsam woolly adelgid, leaving grey skeletons among the green. Clouds often wrap the summit, and temperatures at the top can be 10 degrees Celsius lower than in the valley. Snow can fall in any month except high summer.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a famous motorbike road, with a low speed limit, long gentle bends and constant views, and the climb up the spur to the summit is a short, steep detour. Sections of the parkway and the spur road close in winter, with ice and fog, so check the status before setting out. Autumn colours in October draw crowds. Black Mountain, seventeen kilometres away, and Burnsville have petrol stations and places to eat. Pack a warm layer, even in July.
- Linville Falls
photo
Linville Falls is the most dramatic waterfall on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where the Linville River drops through a rock gorge before plunging into the wilderness below. The falls are reached by a short walk from a car park off the Parkway at about milepost 316, and several viewpoints give different angles, from the upper falls to the thundering lower cascade. Below them, the river runs into Linville Gorge, a deep canyon sometimes called the Grand Canyon of the East, which is a wilderness area with some of the wildest country in the southern Appalachians.
The Parkway itself is a masterpiece of landscape design. Built over fifty years, from the 1930s until the 1980s, it follows the crest of the mountains for almost 470 miles from Virginia to North Carolina, and was designed to give drivers a slow, scenic journey away from commercial traffic. The speed limit is low, usually 45 miles per hour, and there are no trucks, no traffic lights and no billboards, just curves, tunnels and views. The pavement is generally good, though it can be damp and covered with leaves in autumn, and you should watch for fog, which is frequent.
The forest is rich. Rhododendron and mountain laurel flower in late spring and early summer, and the oaks, maples and tulip poplars turn red and gold in October. The area is home to black bears, deer and a wide range of birds. Peregrine falcons nest in the gorge, and the cliffs of Table Rock and Hawksbill offer spectacular views.
Practical matters need planning. Spruce Pine, about twelve kilometres away, is the nearest town with stations and restaurants, and Marion, thirty kilometres south, is larger. Parts of the Parkway are closed in winter because of ice and snow, and landslides sometimes close sections, so check the National Park Service site before travelling. In October, the Parkway is crowded with leaf-watchers, and the slow traffic can try your patience.
A good time to visit is early morning in late spring, when the air is fresh and the rhododendrons are in bloom. The falls are most impressive after rain, but the trails can be slippery, so wear sturdy boots, and take care near the edges.
- Linn Cove Viaduct
sight
The Linn Cove Viaduct is one of the great pieces of road engineering in the United States, and it exists because of a change of heart. The Blue Ridge Parkway, begun in the 1930s as a scenic road along the crest of the Appalachians, was nearly finished when it reached Grandfather Mountain, and the owner of the mountain refused to allow a conventional road blasted across its slopes. The solution, completed in 1983, was a curving concrete bridge that hugs the mountainside, almost four hundred metres long, built from the top down so that no heavy machinery had to cross the fragile terrain. The segments were precast and lowered into place one by one. It closed the last gap in the Parkway, which opened fully in 1987.
Riding it is a pleasure. The viaduct is an S-shape, rising and curving around the side of the mountain, with the forest falling away below, and you feel the road flowing beneath you more than you see it. Its surface is smooth concrete, with a low speed limit that is enforced and sensible, because the beauty of the place calls for slow riding. A visitor centre and a short trail let you walk beneath the bridge and see how the structure was built.
The surroundings add to the experience. Grandfather Mountain, a rugged peak with a swinging bridge at a mile high, is one of the most biologically diverse mountains in the Appalachians, with rare plants and wildlife. In October the hardwood forest around the Parkway burns in red and gold, and it is the busiest time, so expect traffic and slow progress. In spring, the rhododendron and flame azalea bloom. Fog is common, and in winter ice and snow close sections of the Parkway.
Boone, about twenty kilometres away, and Blowing Rock are the usual places to refuel, and the small communities at Newland and Banner Elk have stations too. Deer and wildlife are frequent, so keep an eye on the edges. The best months are May to early June and September to mid-October.
- Blowing Rock food
food
Blowing Rock is a small mountain resort on the crest of the Blue Ridge, at about 1,100 metres, and has been welcoming summer visitors since the nineteenth century, when people from the lowlands came to escape the heat. The village has a neat main street lined with shops, galleries and restaurants, with flower boxes in summer and a good deal of charm. The town takes its name from a rock formation on the edge of the gorge, where the wind blows up the cliff so strongly that, according to local legend, light objects thrown over the edge are blown back. The story that goes with it is a love story, involving a Chickasaw maiden and a chief, and is told with a straight face to children.
The Blue Ridge Parkway runs close by, and Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, with its large white manor house, carriage roads and craft centre, is only a few kilometres away. Flat Top Manor was built by a textile baron early in the twentieth century, and the carriage roads and apple orchards around it are open for walking. Nearby, the Tweetsie Railroad is a theme park built around a historic steam locomotive, a living piece of Appalachian railway history.
For a rider, Blowing Rock is a pleasant place to rest and refuel. The roads in the area are twisty and scenic, with the Parkway running north and south, and US 321 and NC 105 giving good alternatives. The climb from the lowlands is a series of bends through forest, with views opening up as you rise. Traffic is heavy in summer and autumn, and the Parkway's low speed limit makes for a relaxed pace. Fog is common, particularly in the mornings, and the temperatures can be ten degrees lower than in the valley.
Food is the strength of the village. There are cafes, bakeries, ice cream shops and restaurants serving everything from Southern cooking to more modern fare, and a slow lunch is an easy thing to arrange. Boone, nine kilometres away, is a larger town with Appalachian State University, and has more choice and fuel, though the village has a station or two on the main road.
Autumn is the most popular season, but spring and early summer, when the rhododendrons bloom, are quieter. Winter can be bitterly cold, with ice on the roads.
- Back to Mount
finish
The Blue Ridge Parkway reaches its highest point on this stretch, and the mountain at its heart is Mount Mitchell, at two thousand and thirty-seven metres, the highest summit east of the Mississippi River. A narrow spur road leaves the Parkway and climbs to a state park at the top, where a short path leads to an observation platform, and on a clear day the view runs over rank after rank of ridges, fading into blue. The summit is covered in dense spruce and fir forest of a kind more at home in Canada, a remnant of the ice age that survives on the highest peaks of the southern Appalachians, and the air smells of resin and damp.
The mountain is named after Elisha Mitchell, a professor from the University of North Carolina who measured its height in the 1830s and died in a fall near a waterfall on its flanks in 1857, which is a strange sort of fame. He is buried at the summit. The climate at the top is harsh, with cold fog, frost in most months and ice in winter, and the road is closed in bad weather.
For riders, the run along the Parkway to and from Mount Mitchell is superb. South of the junction, the road passes the open, grassy slopes of Craggy Gardens, where rhododendrons bloom in a purple wave in June, then drops through woods toward Asheville with long, easy curves and glimpses of the valley. The Parkway speed limit is low, but the pace suits the scenery, and traffic is light on weekdays. Surfaces are usually excellent, though cold patches and wet leaves are slippery, and fog can cut visibility to a few metres.
Burnsville, on the north side, is another option. The best seasons are late spring and early autumn, with colour peaking in October. Always check the Parkway status in winter, as closures are common.