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For those thinking of taking a trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway I thought I would pass on a few tips from the trip my wife and I took last week. We traveled south on Sunday Oct 8th and stayed in Waynesboro, Virginia – lots of places to stay there and it is only about 10 minutes from milepost 0 of the Parkway. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was close to an Exxon Station for some fuel in the morning. Unfortunately, the remains of Hurricane Nate went thru Sunday evening and coated the 1st 50 miles of the Parkway with branches, leaves, pine needles, and debris. To top it off the fog only let us see about 200ft so the first part of the drive would have been done much easier in my truck vs the C7. The black car turned into a brown goo covered mess, but we had a great time anyway. Bring some lunch fixings in a cooler and pull off at any picnic area for a great view as there are not many places for food on the Parkway. Stop at the Visitor Centers and talk with the Park Rangers - they are great. We drove 230 miles this first day (it was about 8 hrs. on the Parkway with stops) and as we got to some altitude the views were outstanding. Mabry Mill http://www.mabrymillrestaurant.com/ was a cool place for a piece of pie and a walk thru the Mill on how they did things back in the day. We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast at mile post 229 that was also outstanding and 5 minutes off the Parkway. Glade Valley Bed and Breakfast http://www.gladevalley.com/ operated by Margaret and Jim Connor. It was a great place, a great homemade breakfast, and plenty of safe parking for the car! Margaret & Jim were great hosts and their log home is very inviting. Gas is close by as well and they gave us some good places to eat in the nearby town of Sparta. We would highly recommend this Bed & Breakfast. The second day we ran into some road closures from the storm and detoured for a stop in Blowing Rock, NC http://www.blowingrock.org/. Should have checked for road closures and you can on the website ( http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/ which has information on almost every mile of the road. We met a fellow C7 owner with a Z06 that they had owned for only a couple of weeks and had left Florida to miss the storms. Had a nice chat before we both headed in opposite directions. You need to stop at the Via Duct- an engineering marvel - http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/v.php?pg=873. We topped out at about 6000ft and the views were spectacular. Around one corner we came upon a mother bear and her cub running down the road – that was pretty cool, but my wife was not fast enough to get some pictures. Headed down to Asheville and definitely stop at the Parkway Visitor Center in Asheville for some history on the Parkway. We drove down to about mile post 443 on this second day and stayed at the Balsam Inn which is a 100-yr. old hotel. Food was good – facility not nearly the same at the Glade Valley though! There was a Miata club there with about 15 cars on a drive as well. I think now thru the end of October are great months for a ride – we had little traffic as we were in the middle of the week. Spring time is supposed to be good too. If we did it again I would have done it in three days to spend more time at the overlooks and visitor centers along the way. We did go to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville which was also impressive. If you go during heavy visitor time book your tickets in advance - http://www.biltmore.com.
Hope this helps anyone looking to make a trip. My wife and I had a great time and the car performed flawlessly. It did take two hand washes once home to get all the leave and pine needle slurry off it!
Beautiful country, I drive the Va section often.
Even I-64 south bound just past Waynesboro has some outstanding overlooks where you can pull off and observe the beauty.
Thanks for sharing the experience with us.
Last edited by Kevin A Jones; 10-19-2017 at 09:13 PM.
The Appalachian Trail parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway. Hike it for a few miles. It is marked by a dollar sized white blaze. At this time of year you might encounter south bound thru hikers. They are starving, give them food.
Gas is close by as well and they gave us some good places to eat in the nearby town of Sparta.
My parents are from Sparta and Roaring Gap, so I've been there to visit many times over the years. Speaking of places to eat for anyone who happens to be cruising through the area, there is a little restaurant called JB's out in front of the Allegheny Inn. It's a great place to grab a bite for lunch!
I live in the very tip of S.C. so we get up there at least twice a yr. Cherokee, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Forge Tn. are great places to visit and experience the curvy roads.
We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast at mile post 229 that was also outstanding and 5 minutes off the Parkway. Glade Valley B&B operated by Margaret and Jim Connor. It was a great place, a great homemade breakfast, and plenty of safe parking for the car! Margaret & Jim were great hosts and their log home is very inviting. Gas is close by as well and they gave us some good places to eat in the nearby town of Sparta. We would highly recommend this Bed & Breakfast. The second day we ran into some road closures from the storm and detoured for a stop in Blowing Rock, NC We met a fellow C7 owner with a Z06 that they had owned for only a couple of weeks and had left Florida to miss the storms. Had a nice chat before we both headed in opposite directiWe topped out at about 6000ft and the views were spectacular. Around one corner we came upon a mother bear and her cub running down the road – that was pretty cool, but my wife was not fast enough to get some pictures. Headed down to Asheville and definitely stop at the Parkway Visitor Center in Asheville for some history on the Parkway. We drove down to about mile post 443 on this second day and stayed at the Balsam Inn which is a 100-yr. old hotel. Food was good – facility not nearly the same at the Glade Valley though! There was a Miata club there with about 15 cars on a drive as well. I think now thru the end of October are great months for a ride – we had little traffic as we were in the middle of the week. Spring time is supposed to be good too.
Hope this helps anyone looking to make a trip. My wife and I had a great time and the car performed flawlessly. It did take two hand washes once home to get all the leave and pine needle slurry off it!
Wife and I laughing reading your story: we were at the Balsam with the Miata guy as well (Cape Fear Miata Club)! They were a nice bunch. We actually stayed there 1 night on the way back from 4 nights in Blowing Rock, which was the northern terminus of our trip ( came up from Fla). We have a black Z but are not the folks you met in BR.
We started at the Tapoco Lodge, 2 nights. This is perfect, right next to the Dragon's NC side (Deal's Gap). Got a couple of good runs in there but therecare a LOT of Hog cruiser folks who clog the road, so getting a clean run is not easy.
We then did 2 nights at Balsam, then the 4 in Blowing Rock. We ended with a last night in Maggie Valley, which I would not do again. Too touristy.
There are many awesome roads besides the dragon, but slow traffic is always a possibility and challenge. My favorite was 216 off the Parkway between Balsam Gap and Asheville.
One road I do not recommend is 441 to Gatlinburg. Nice road ruined by horrible traffic- campers, harleys, looky-loos and so on.
I live in the very tip of S.C. so we get up there at least twice a yr. Cherokee, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Forge Tn. are great places to visit and experience the curvy roads.
Same general area, and there are countless good roads to drive. Walhalla to Cashiers with some BBQ for lunch is always one of my favorites.
Years ago in a land far far away I traveled on Blue Ridge Parkway. My wife went to University of NC at Boone and so we spent sometime driving through the mountains. What I remember about PKWY
1. Long and winding road.
2. speed limit was set for covered wagons
3. Off Ramps were few and far
4. Certain times of year can be closed
5. Lots of great things to see
6. Places to eat did not exist?
Beautiful pics. I found blue ridge parkway beautiful but boring, cold mountain loop, roan mountain, there rattler, diamondback, the snake were more my taste in terms of driving experience.
10-19-2017, 08:55 PM
Blue Ridge Parkway Trip Suggestions
