I got a week off from work next week and am thinking of going to Asheville. I drove through there when I was 4 (I am now 18) fell in love with it, and would love to go there. What is to do there? What State or National parks would you suggest? What good mountain trails are there? How high (altitude) are the mountians?
I live in Wisconsin, and would there be any routes to advoid because of road constrution?
Thanks,
Ben
Asheville is about 100 miles from here and me and one of my friends affectionately call it Assville because it seems like everywhere you look there are droves of beautiful young women* (it’s a college town). Other than that there’s the Biltmore house (largest privately owned house in the world last time I checked, used in Richie Rich and many other films), and finding nature-esque stuff to do there should be no problem at all. The mountains aren’t too high.
[sub]*Please don’t label me a pig, I’m 19 years old and when I go somewhere with awesome looking girls at every turn of the head I tend to make note of it.
renigademaster,
Asheville is a great town. Terrific downtown, great resturants and clubs.
As far as traffic, they’re working on I40 west of Asheville, you might want to check here for advisories.
The local paper is the Asheville Citizen-Times
Have fun.
An ex-girlfriend of mine lives there and works at Biltmore. Loves it. I thought the town was nice, but a bit rustic for my taste. For some reason, we didn’t actually go out and do a whole lot. Saw downtown, and went to Chimney Rock, which I highly recommend.
I live in Asheville.
The highest mountain near Asheville is Mt. Pisgah and it is about 5700ft. There’s a good little hike you can do to the peak of Mt. Pisgah that takes about a half an hour from the parking area near the Pisgah Inn. Mt. Mitchell is also within an hour’s drive and it is about 6400ft. It is the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi. There is also Cold Mountain of National Book Award fame at about 6000ft.
There are more parks than you can shake a stick at. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the country, and is only about an hour from Asheville. There is also the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is 469 miles of federal highway with protected land on either side that runs along the blue ridge. Stunning views on both sides and it runs right through Asheville. Chimney Rock Park is also near Asheville. That is where Last of the Mohicans (the one w/ Daniel Day-Lewis) was filmed.
Other stuff to do includes:
Asheville Tourist baseball. They are the A team for the Colorado Rockies. It only costs $5. Thursday night home games are Thirsty Thurdays and beer is only a dollar. (Not that that would matter to someone who is 18)
Asheville Ultimate. Can you throw a frisbee? Can you run? Come out and play ultimate on tuesdays and sundays. It’s free.
Freak spotting. Asheville is a freak magnet. You can sit downtown one afternoon and see more white guys with dreadlocks than you knew existed. If your lucky, you can see the cops pepper spray kids drumming in Pritchard Park.
Antiqing. Do you like antiques? Sometimes it seems that Asheville has more antique stores than people. Most of these stores are little more than organized landfills with outrageous price tags on everything, but if that’s your thing, this is the place.
Biltmore. Mentioned above.
And much more.
Send me an e-mail if you need more info.
Thanks alot for the help.