Last night’s Bones had a case involving the “Blue Ridge Highway” and my wife and I got into a heated discussion about that road. I’m curious how many of you have been on one or the other of these roads and hiking trails in that area:
Appalachian Trail (runs from Georgia to Maine)
Blue Ridge Parkway, NC
Blue Ridge Parkway, VA
Skyline Drive, VA
others you can name
I’d like to post a poll, but I may not know enough specific pathways to list. Maybe after some responses to this thread?
In our case, we took the Skyline Drive from Front Royal to Waynesboro and paid some amount for the privilege ten years or longer ago. Nice road! We were also on the stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway for a little while near Asheville.
I have hiked a little bit of the AT in the Smokies.
I’ve driven on Skyline Dr in VA and hiked small pieces of the Appalachian Trail, also in VA. I think I’ve driven on the Blue Ridge Parkway, probably in VA, but I wouldn’t swear to it.
The BRP is excellent drive through some gorgeous country. I’ve driven the Parkway a couple of times end-to-end, both times in early May. One time was with glorious weather, the other time I had overcast, intermittent rain, and fog (which caused me to miss out on Grandfather Mountain ) I was fortunate both times to have the road pretty much to myself; I can imagine the drive would be a lot less fun in traffic during tourist season.
I’ve only hiked a short portion of the AT in the Smokies. Of the times that I was there, the best (extremely short) hike was up to Clingman’s Dome…right after a cold storm had passed though and everything was frosted over as far as you could see.
One of the points we argued about was whether or not Skyline Drive is (or maybe once was) part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Best I could determine from my road atlas and perfunctory internet searches is that they are separate stretches of road associated with the Shenandoah and various other National Parks entities. Waynesboro seems to be the separating point between Skyline Drive and one extent of the BRP.
At least one Wikipedia article lists songs and other music related to the Blue Ridge. I remember The Trail of the Lonesome Pine from my childhood.
I’ve driven and hiked on Skyline Drive VA and Blue Ridge Parkway VA. I believe both contain portions of the Appalachian Trail.
I go to the Blue Ridge Parkway in VA a couple times a year. Great drive and great scenery. Humpback Rocks is a popular hike not far south of I64. It’s a fairly strenuous hike but not too long and the big rocks at the top have spectacular views. I don’t know if I would take small children up there because there is no railing or overlook, it’s just rocks with a sheer drop all around.
If you want an easier/shorter hike there are shorter loop trails that aren’t strenuous.
But really just about any of the hikes are nice, and Blue Ridge Parkway isn’t as crowded as Skyline Drive to the North, which costs $20 for a season pass. Blue Ridge Parkway also has at least one tunnel.
I have spent many hours on the BRP and a few on Skyline drive. I’ve also hiked some of its side trails, most-notably, the Tanawa trail. I only hiked about 10 miles (along Linn Cove) of it on one of our 30-milers, but it was a delightful trail.
As a motorcyclist, I’ve paid the BRP in NC more than 25 visits and have probably travelled the entire (~270 mile) NC section more than half-a-dozen times. The lower section near Cherokee (where it begins travelling north again) has a lot of tunnels. The upper section near the VA border is less stunning (IMHO), but still beautiful. I’ve found that the roads going up-to or down-from the BRP are often more “fun” than the BRP itself.
My grandparents when I was a kid, and now my uncle, lived/lives on a road that goes up to the BRP in a small town near Asheville. We routinely took it into Asheville instead of going down to the freeway and going that way. Very curvy, twisty road with always the smell of brakes burning. I now live a few miles from it and routinely drive on it and take short day hikes on the trails off of it. I want to do some hiking in the snow this winter, too.
I have driven all of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive several times. I have hiked parts of the AT in Virginia and Pennsylvania and all of it in West Virginia and Maryland.
Sounds right to me, but I don’t think the BRP contains the Skyline Drive as the OP’s wife seems to believe. I’m under the impression that there’s no toll anywhere on BRP.
Heh–on the stretch we take several times a year to go to Graveyard Fields, I think we pass through fourteen tunnels during a ~45 minute drive. It might be sixteen, though. My daughter loves to count them.
To be fair to my wife, and others reading this thread, I’m the one who had the impression that the BRP contained Skyline Drive at least as far as when the road construction was done. 1930’s? I have yet to locate anything definitive about that aspect of the issue. Does anybody have a good link to such details? It just feels like an FDR era project or group of projects.
One pull-off on Skyline Drive has a plaque with some pictures that show how at one time you could see the Washington Monument in DC from that spot. The beautifully clear day we were there you could see maybe 30 miles – at best.
Same story in the Smokies last time I was there. Pathetic!
Skyline Drive is North of I64 in Central VA. BRP is South of I64. Afton Mountain is where they meet. The BRP has no tolls that I know of. There are also quite a few small local roads that cross under the BRP. It’s funny, last time I was there we were heading South to Glasgow VA but my GPS kept wanting me to turn onto gravel side roads off the BRP that in many cases weren’t even connected to the parkway pavement. So I would have had to drive down a tree-filled bank to get onto the roads the GPS wanted me to.
I’ve driven practically all of the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway at one time or another. One summer, 30+ years ago, my then-girlfriend and I had a very delightful vacation driving down the BRP from Waynesboro to the Smokies, driving and taking hikes during the day, and camping at night.
I’ve hiked a number of bits and pieces of the AT in Virginia. Like Bill Bryson, I’m really not impressed with the AT as a hiking trail. Even the parts in Shenendoah National Park only sporadically have good views. And other random parts of the trail I’ve hiked are even worse. The section I hiked in southwest Virginia near Damascus was indistinguishable from any path through the interior of any other Eastern forest I’ve ever been in.
ETA: And I’ve taken bicycle trips that involved stretches of the BRP, which is very accessible for such purposes, thanks to the way so many local roads connect to it.
I grew up in VA and have driven the SLD and BRP, they are different roads. I believe the current cost for SLD is $15 per car. We were there this weekend, but we have a park pass and it was also free this past weekend.
I’ve also hiked all of the AT in VA at one time or another.
ETA: there is at least one tunnel on SLD that I can think of(just south of the 211 entrance.
I’ve hiked a very small portion of the AT. As far as I know I’ve never driven on the SLD or BRP. I have driven the length of the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Catalina Highway.
I misunderstood the OP to mean any parkways/byways nationwide. Ignore the NTP and CH in mine.
Since I started the thread I hope I may be permitted this sidetrack/hijack. The issue of side roads connecting with these scenic drives makes me think of the Natchez Trace which we took from Nashville to Natchez a while back. It has that feature of connecting roads in spite of a slow speed limit.
I have meant to check if the Natchez Trace is the longest and narrowest National Park! Does anybody know one that beats it in that respect? For that matter are there other “National Park” roads worth mentioning?
Well, there are quite a few National Scenic Byways if that counts (The Blue Ridge Parkway is on the list). The first one that comes to mind is the Beartooth Highway.
Skyline Drive doesn’t really have any side roads connecting it except for the places where you can enter the Shenandoah National Park. SNP is fairly narrow and the only side roads are short ones off to parking areas or camp sites, stores, etc.
) I was fortunate both times to have the road pretty much to myself; I can imagine the drive would be a lot less fun in traffic during tourist season.