Saturday, July 14, 2018

Highland Lake Inn and Resort

Route
Mount Mitchell Observation Deck

NC 86 North, I 40 West, I 85 South, I 485 Outer, I 85 South, US 74 West to Flat Rock NC.
I 26 West, NC 191 South, Blue Ridge Parkway West, US 276 East, US 64 East, Local Roads to Flat Rock.
I 26 West, NC 191 North, I 40 East, US 25 North to Biltmore.
US 25 South, I 40 West, I 26 East to Flat Rock.
I 26 West, I 40 East, US 25 North to Biltmore.
US 25 South, I 40 East, US 74A East, Blue Ridge Parkway East, NC 128 North to Mount Mitchell.
NC 128 South, Blue Ridge Parkway East to Linville Falls.
Blue Ridge Parkway West, US 221 South, NC 226 South,  I 40 East, NC 86 South to Chapel Hill.
Notes
There are 26 tunnels on the Blue Ridge Parkway. On this trip, we drove through 18 of them: 10 between NC 191 and US 276 and eight between Asheville and Little Switzerland. Many years ago, we drove from Great Smokies National Park to US 19, which has five tunnels, and along the section of the Blue Ridge in Virginia that has a tunnel. This leaves me two tunnels on the parkway left.
Overmountain Victory Trail Monument
At the Parkway Visitors center at the NC Museum of Minerals, I discovered a new (to me) category of NPS recognized places: the National Historic Trails. The Overmountain Victory Trail passes through the Blue Ridge there, on its way from Virginia to Kings Mountain, South Carolina.
Results
Clinched NC 128. Mileage on US 221; NC 226; Blue Ridge Parkway.

NPS Sites: Blue Ridge Parkway, Overmountain Victory Trail