Blue Ridge Farceway

Today was not a good day. Firstly, it was raining in the morning, and it rained steadily all day, which is enough to put any tourist in a bad mood, but our experience with the Blue Ridge Parkway made it worse.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a tourist road (no commercial traffic) which runs along a high ridge of the Appalachian Mountains for 469 miles in Virginia and North Carolina. The information about the Parkway proudly proclaims it to be a "designated All American Road" which requires it to have such exceptional and unique qualities that it is a "destination unto itself" and "the road must provide an exceptional travelling experience so recognised by travellers that the primary reason for their trip would be to drive along the Byway". This requirement places All American Roads well above "National Scenic Byways" which apply to a lot of particularly scenic roads in the US.

Well sadly, the Blue Ridge Parkway is a farce. Today it is closed in no less than 12 separate places, the closures totalling 241 miles of the most scenic (highest?) parts of the road. The closures are due to "ice and snow". Trouble is, we have seen almost no ice and snow anywhere on this trip. Even around ski resorts, the only snow visible is man made. The entire southern 80 miles of the Parkway, from Cherokee to Asheville, which we particularly wanted to cover, is closed.

Why is this "exceptional travelling experience" completely ruined by these closures? Our enquiries reveal that no attempts are made to clear the road, so travellers wanting to enjoy this All American Road have to wait for very old ice to melt naturally in areas where sun probably never reaches in winter. We have travelled the Rockies in winter, and mountain passes twice as high as anything in these mountains are kept open during snowstorms, and in exceptional circumstances, seem to be opened within hours of really heavy falls. Surely, no other American tourist attraction, not to mention one claimed to be as exceptional as the Blue Ridge Parkway, is treated with such contempt by its guardians.

Before we get flamed, let us emphasise that in no way are we criticising the staff of the National Parks service which, apparently, has responsibility for the Parkway. We are confident that the Parkway is being neglected due to underfunding, and that the staff are doing the very best they can with the limited resources available to them. Surely the "blame" belongs with the bureaucrats and politicians who determine the budgets available to the Blue Ridge Parkway, this road of exceptional significance. Shame on whoever is responsible for this!

Good information is available from recorded messages and from very helpful visitor centre staff on where the road is open or closed at any particular time, and what the best alternate routes might be. It's a pity that notices on the road itself about closures are virtually non-existent. Maybe the budget again?

So, our drive from Asheville to Boone which should have been 100 miles of the Parkway, was actually less than 10 miles of the Parkway (with hardly a trace of ice or snow), and the rest of the way on alternative routes, including Interstates and US Highways which hardly give the same experience.

This drive had its highs and lows. The scenery was both interesting and delightful once we were off the I40, and we saw some quaint mountain towns such as Black Mountain, Old Fort (which we would have missed if were on the Parkway, and Clare got cappucino at a friendly shop in Black Mountain) and Blowing Rock.

We tried to see Linville Falls which is supposedly one of the most spectacular sights of the Parkway, but it required a 1km bush walk, and frankly it was raining too heavily, and the path was slippery. We can't blame the bureaucrats for the rain! The Parkway visitors centre at the Falls was closed as was the State Forest visitors centre (a cute shack, photo). Why are these Centres closed? We are quite concerned at the tendency to close businesses and services down in winter when there are still tourists about (these mountains abound with ski resorts, after all) and most of them are accessible.

We tried to visit Blowing Rock, a natural feature in mountainous country apparently characterised by exceptional updrafts. Sorry, it's closed for the season, and because it seems to be on private property, not even able to be looked at from a distance.

We think the value of the Appalachians, and the Blue Ridge Parkway, is the exceptional natural beauty of the area, and the quaintness of the towns and small settlements. There is little or no value in the commercial capture of scenic beauty (Blowing Rock as mentioned, also Grandfather Mountain), turning them into tawdry attractions and theme parks. It's a shame that this exploitation has been allowed to occur in such an exceptionally beautiful region.

Driving slowly along the Blue Ridge Parkway today would have been a perfect way to spend a miserable rainy day or two. The scenery would surely still have been glorious. Instead, we missed that opportunity, although the other road was still good. Hopefully, the weather will improve - that will improve our mood considerably - but we doubt that anything quick will happen to open the closed sections of the Parkway.