A weekend to myself
For the first time in what seemed like years, I was going to have a weekend all to myself. My son was going with his mother to her hometown to visit family and I was staying behind. The plan was simple, take the back seat out of the wrangler, load it up with camping gear, and spend as much time hiking as I could. The Jeep was phenomenal off road, it was a 97 with six inches of lift, 35 inch tires, five speed with the four liter, for those of you who know jeeps, it was no slouch.
But the three hours on the highway to get to Blowing Rock North Carolina was another story. The soft top was like a sail at speed and the stock fog lights barely illuminated the windy mountain roads. Nevertheless I got there safe, set up camp and it was definitely worth the drive.
Julian Price park Campground
I was camping at the Julian price park campground west of blowing rock right off the Blue ridge parkway. There was miles of trails surrounding the campground, as well as a mountain lake, rivers, and within ten minutes of downtown Blowing rock. And I was also excited because, for the first time I would be in the right spot, at the right time of year to possibly catch a glimpse of a legend, seen in this part of Appalachia for over two hundred years.
Podcast intro
Welcome to episode 4 of tales trails and taverns, Today were heading south to the Tar heel state to talk about some beautiful trails near the blue ridge parkway and a couple of the legends of the surrounding area. Like I said in the intro I drove my lifted wrangler for about three hours on a Friday after work to get to the Julian price park campground just outside of Blowing rock.
Julian Price was the founder of the Jefferson standard life insurance company. He purchased the land to provide a place of recreation for his employees and when he passed in 1946, his heirs left the land to the blue ridge parkway as a memorial to Julian, a man who loved the natural beauty of the area. The park is a whopping 4200 acres of mountain land sitting between 3400 and 4000 feet of elevation.
First Morning
On Saturday morning after having breakfast in the village I headed out to tackle the Boone fork trail. This trail heads out north from the campground, loops deep into the forest, connects to the mountains to sea trail and runs along the bee tree creek until it turns back to the opposite side of the campground. Now I did this trail six or so years ago, so there’s no way I could do an in depth recollection of everything I saw. But a couple things I remember.
One, they call it a creek, but in sections that water was easily 40 feet across, and the falls that ran along the entire section near the trail were very large. I mean you couldn’t always see it, some sections of the trail ran along a cliff 40-50 above the water, and most of the time the foliage was to dense to see anything. If you’ve ever been to like the flume gorge, especially during the spring, and you hear the roar of the water over the steep rocks, this supposed creek is like that but severely amplified.
Boone Fork Trail
The other thing I definitely recall is how desolate the trail was. It’s a five and a half mile loop near a fairly popular village, and I think I saw three other people. And that was only when I got close to the camp again. For almost three hours I was completely alone. That part had me freaked out for a while too, because when the trail is lined with rhododendrons and turns so often that you cant see more than a dozen or so feet you start to wonder what else could be out there.
And as well marked as the trail was I didn’t see enough people to make me think that the animals had reason to avoid the path. Also, have you ever been out on a trail and distinctly smell something that reminds you of a wet dog? I definitely smelled that at one point and convinced myself that I would walk around a corner and come face to face with a black bear. That was about the time I started banging my walking stick against random trees just trying to make extra noise. Anything to scare whatever might be there away.
At the end of Boone fork I crossed the road and hiked the Price lake trail. Which as the name suggests runs around the perimeter of Price lake. This was a really nice mountain lake, and it had incredible views across the lake and of the surrounding mountains. This trail was much more popular and I didn’t feel as isolated.
MST
Side note, I mentioned the mountains to sea trail, more commonly called the MST for short. That is a project in NC that links trails across the state starting at Clingmans dome and runs for 900 miles to the NC shoreline. It crosses places like Mt Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi, Stone Mountain, and Jockeys ridge state park, home to the highest sand bar on the east coast.
Day Hike
After lunch that day I headed to the trail to flat top mountain. The trail starts at the Moses cone manor and it a 5.1 mile out and back. At the 4900 foot peak of flat top there is a fire tower open to the public. Once there you have 360 degree views of the surrounding mountain ranges. It’s a fairly easy trail gaining less than 600 feet, most of which is near the end of the trail along near constant switchbacks. There were quite a few people along the trail but I did manage to have about ten minutes of solitude on the fire tower to take a nice panoramic video.
After a full day of hiking I headed back into blowing rock to the appropriately named blowing rock brewery for food and a drink. The village is named after Blowing rock that sits on a cliff 3000 feet above the Johns river Gorge. The position of the gorge creates an updraft, the highest recorded wind speed of the draft being 135 miles per hour. The wind can carry small objects thrown off the cliff back up, and snow can be seen rising out of the gorge. The blowing rock is North Carolinas oldest tourist attraction and the site of a native American legend. Ill read this to you as I found it on the blowing rock .com
The Legend of the Blowing Rock
It is said that a Chickasaw chieftain, fearful of a white man’s admiration for his lovely daughter, journeyed far from the plains to bring her to The Blowing Rock and the care of a squaw mother. One day the maiden, daydreaming on the craggy cliff, spied a Cherokee brave wandering in the wilderness far below and playfully shot an arrow in his direction. The flirtation worked because soon he appeared before her wigwam, courted her with songs of his land and they became lovers, wandering the pathless woodlands and along the crystal streams.
One day a strange reddening of the sky brought the brave and the maiden to The Blowing Rock. To him it was a sign of trouble commanding his return to his tribe in the plains. With the maiden’s entreaties not to leave her, the brave, torn by conflict of duty and heart, leaped from The Rock into the wilderness far below. The grief-stricken maiden prayed daily to the Great Spirit until one evening with a reddening sky, a gust of wind blew her lover back onto The Rock and into her arms.
From that day a perpetual wind has blown up onto The Rock from the valley below. For people of other days, at least, this was explanation enough for The Blowing Rock’s mysterious winds causing even the snow to fall upside down.
Brown Mountain lights
From the vantage of the blue ridge parkway near blowing rock, you can look south across the Catawba valley, this is the area of the Brown mountain lights. The lights are said to have been seen in the area for at least the last 200 years, seen in various colors like blue, white, orange and red. They appear to rise about fifteen feet from the ground and disappear, sometimes reappearing. Often attributed to automotive or train lights they appear most often during the fall season. They have been seen as a single light and also in groups of hundreds.
I was really hoping to get a view of these lights, after all, it was fall, and I was at the northern point of their range. Unfortunately, once I got down to a good vantage point along the blue ridge parkway it started to drizzle. The rain obscured the view of the valley, even getting out of the jeep it was hard to see very far. I stayed maybe a half hour hoping to catch a glimpse but ultimately admitted defeat, and headed back to the campsite.
Rain Rain
Even after having my tent rained on all night and having to pack all my gear while it was still wet I had a good time. Any view from a village that sits at 3500 feet is going to be magnificent. Camping next to a mountain lake with views like Julian price lake has is going to give you unforgettable memories. Add in a couple legends like I did, and honestly, you couldn’t ask for a better weekend getaway.
Thank you so much for reading, make sure to follow on your preferred listening app and check out all of the social media platforms at tales trails and taverns. Have a great weekend and do as I do, take a hike and find your spirits.
