A FREE Daily Visitor Guide for the North Carolina Mountains and 50+ NC Mountain Cities

Thursday, September 30, 2010

NC Mountain Events this Weekend

The Fall Leaf Season in the mountains kicks off with American Craft week, Corn Maze activities, pickin' apples in the orchards, Ghost Trains and pumpkin patches. Any mountain time is a magical time, but there is something "extra" in the air as rich greens of the summer melt into reds and yellows against cool blue skies. Changes begin in the highest elevations and flow down to the waiting plateaus and valleys throughout the month of October.

1-10 CITIES THROUGHOUT THE MOUNTAINS American Craft Week
1 - 31 BLOWING ROCK Ghost Train Halloween Festival
1-10 ASHEVILLE American Craft Week Demos at the Folk Art Center
1 ASHEVILLE Pickn’ and Poetry on the Porch
1 BOONE Friday Art Crawl
1 SWANNANOA Swannanoa Shindig
1 ASHEVILLE Asheville Downtown Galleries Art Walk
1 ASHEVILLE 2010 Biltmore Concert Series Kathy Mattea
1 - 2 LAKE LURE 14th annual Vintage Tin Car Show
1 - 3 MARION Overmountain Victory Trail Encampment
1 - 3 BRYSON CITY PeanutsTM - The Great Pumpkin Patch Express
1 - 3 OLD FORT Oktoberfest
2 FLAT ROCK Summer Music Series in Flat Rock
2 ASHEVILLE Art in the Park
2 ASHEVILLE Blue Ridge Pride
2 WILKESBORO Brushy Mountain Apple Festival
2 OLD FORT Thunder Car Show
2 BLOWING ROCK Art in the Park
2 HENDERSONVILLE Art on Main
2 COLUMBUS 2nd Annual Columbus Farm Festival
2 - 3 WAYNESVILLE 5th Annual Haywood Open Studios Tour & Gallery Exhibit
2 - 3 BRASSTOWN (near ANDREWS, HAYESVILLE) Folk School Fall Festival
2 - 3 BEECH MOUNTAIN Autumn at Oz
2 - 5 BURNSVILLE Music in the Mountains Folk Festival
2 - 31 MARION Mountain Glory Quilter's Show

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The Ghost Train Halloween Festival begins this weekend in Blowing Rock

October 1 - 31 in BLOWING ROCK NC the Ghost Train Halloween Festival provides safe and spooktacular fun for the entire family. Voted as a top 20 event in the southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society. Friday and Saturday nights only (park open for daytime Wildwest Adventure Friday-Sunday). New this year: The Freaky Forest!Advance tickets required, limited number of guests admitted nightly! Print-at-home tickets available on-line.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Mountaintop Retreat offers Fall Leaves and Waterfalls

Are you ready for Fall leaves and breath taking waterfalls? BRADLEY CREEK LODGE AND VACATION RENTALS is a mountaintop retreat in Brevard NC with 2 bedroom 2 bath lodge suites or a 2 bedroom guest cottage. The retreat amenities include on site waterfalls, a fire pit, gazebo, a stone Celtic meditation area, large observation deck, porches, game room and conference area. Enjoy the serene mountain views!$140 night, $840 week. Availability in October - BOOK NOW before it's all gone!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Fall Color Prognostication Society (FCPS) provides weekly Leaf Reports

The Fall Leaf Season has begun in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina! This year the FCPS will be providing weekly updates covering the mountains in North Carolina, from the Virginia border in the north, to Murphy and Joyce Kilmer in the far southern regions of NC. The unusually hot temperatures of the summer have left an element of unpredictability in what is otherwise anticipated to be good fall color this year.

The Fall Color Prognostication Society (FCPS) includes Dr. Jim Costa, Director of the Highlands Biological Station in Highlands, Drs. Kathy Mathews and Beverly Collins, both in the Biology Department at Western Carolina, Dr. Jonathan Horton, in the Biology Department at UNC-Asheville, Mr. Jesse Pope, Chief Naturalist and Education Specialist at Grandfather Mountain and Dr. Howard Neufeld, from the Biology Department at Appalachian State University.

September 22 Fall Leaf Report:

Boone NC and the high Country: The dominant color on the landscape is still green, with just a hint of orange/yellow and red at higher elevations. Read more...
Grandfather Mountain: By next Friday, there should be some good colors to talk about at the higher elevations, with the widespread peak around the second weekend in October (9th -10th). Read more...
Asheville and the Parkway: Tulip poplars are either turning yellow or going directly to brown, while at higher elevations, the birch and maple are starting to turn yellow. Read more...
Smoky Mountains areas (Cullowhee): Dogwood and sourwood are just starting to turn red while Sweet birches are turning yellow along the roadsides. Read more...
Highlands area: Sourwoods are definitely turning, as are the dogwoods and Virginia creeper. Read more...

The Blue Ridge Parkway at 469 miles long is the nation's longest scenic rural parkway. Now 70 years old it is administered by the National Park Service and host to approximately 20 million visits annually. It connects the Shenandoah Valley National Park with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. Along the route are opportunities for lodging, dining, camping, hiking and simply enjoying breathtaking views from easily accessible overlooks and picnic areas. For additional information visit :The Blueridge Parkway Association

The River Arts District is open year around with the opportunity to meet artists in their studios. Schedules are available online. This unique area along the French Broad River is home to more than 165 artists with working studios located in 18 turn-of-the-century industrial buildings. The artists of the River Arts District welcome you into their studios to talk with them, see their latest artwork, watch demonstrations, and experience for yourself the magic hidden inside the time-worn factories and warehouses along the French Broad River.

Chimney Rock Park is named for a 500 million-year-old giant granite monolith overlooking Hickory Nut Gorge. Visitors are awed by the breathtaking view that spreads 1200 vertical feet beneath them and 75 miles across the Carolinas. The now state owned park encompasses 1,000 acres offers the best of the mountains in one place with spectacular 75-mile views, hiking trails for all ages, a 404-foot waterfall, a variety of special events and much more. Chimney Rock NC

The National Scenic Byways Program is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. The program is a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. Since 1992, the National Scenic Byways Program has provided funding for almost 1500 state and nationally designated byway projects in 48 states. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation recognizes certain roads as All-American Roads or National Scenic Byways based on one or more archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic qualities.

Tsali Recreation Area is an outdoors lover's paradise. Probably the most popular features of Tsali Recreation Area are the 39 miles of trails suited for mountain bikers and horse-back riders, as well as hikers. The 4-loop system offers a variety of landscapes. You can climb 1-foot wide rugged paths or travel flat, well-beaten roads. The four trails--Right, Left, Mouse Branch, and Thompson Loops--meander through mixed pine and hardwoods on a peninsula stretching into Fontana Lake. Near Bryson City NC and Robbinsville NC.