MILE POSTING--Trip 2

At Peaks of Otter the peak leaf season starts tomorrow. Leaves are turning. One brief light frost along the Blue Ridge a couple weeks ago was enough to nip the smaller trees, now brown and yellow or almost bare. Occasional maples stand out red against the green fields and mountainsides. Lots of rain this year means a less than spectacular fall show. Regardless, we have lovely weather with blue skies overhead and billowing clouds to the north.
Our first stop, Cumberland Knob, was actually in North Carolina. The interpretive sign explained that here in 1935 the Blue Ridge Parkway started when heavy equipment was left by the government to begin building the road. This was also the first recreation spot constructed along the length of the Parkway in 1937, a picnic site with hiking trails and a half-mile loop to a shelter on Cumberland Knob.
The next stop, Fox Hunters Paradise Trail, only .2 mile, offered views of the misty blue valley below. In early days fox hunters rested here by camp fires and listened to the howling voices of their hounds as they cornered the foxes.

For 20 miles Parkway repairs closed the Blue Ridge from Sparta to Laurel Springs. We followed the detour through North Carolina back country with rolling hills covered by tree farms and shrub nurseries.

Back on the Parkway yellow leaves rained down. "It's fall here," said Andy. "The leaves are farther along here than they were four days ago at home." With each little gust of warm air, a curtain of yellow dropped from the hickory, sassafras and beech trees.

Three garter snakes crossed the trail together at Jumpinoff Rock, 3165 feet. "Maybe they are keeping warm," I told Andy.

"I'm glad I wore long pants today," he answered.

We hiked the half mile uphill to the rock lookout for the panoramic valley view of hill after rounded green hill beneath us. Up on top the leaves had already turned yellow and brown.

The Lump Trail (.3 mile) climbed a grassy knoll for a 365-degree view to the spot where Thomas Dula allegedly stabbed his wife. In jail before he was hanged, he wrote the song "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dula" with the sad words, "Poor boy, you're bound to die," even though rumor suggested the wife might have been stabbed by Tom's sweetheart.

"Well," I told Andy, "I just learned something. I always thought it was Tom Dooley. I think that's the first time I've ever seen the name written down."
Cascades Trail, a beautiful loop to the mountainside waterfall, demanded a half-mile of more strenuous exertion with a whole bunch of stairs to climb. Lacey sheets of water tumbled down the rock face next to the stairs for a refreshing stop in spite of the climb.
A short walk at Tomkins Knob Over-look at 3,657 feet took us to the Jesse Brown cabin and Cool Spring Baptist Church. Here, Jesse Brown housed the travelin' preachers who came through sporadically to offer "come to meetin'" services, mostly outdoors.
The church was no more than a log shelter from inclement weather, and the one-room cabin would not have had much in the way of comfort. It reminded me of the revival meetings that Maya Angelou described in her autobiographical narrative I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Even the interpretive sign suggested that this spot would have been a community gathering place in days long gone by. Now almost nothing is left--just the roofed shell of a home, a one-room log church and a lot of graffiti.
Mile Post #294 along the North Carolina stretch of Blue Ridge Parkway marks the sites of two manor house estates donated to the federal government for parks and recreation: the 3,600 acres of Moses H. Cone Memorial Park and the 4,344 acres of Julian Price Memorial Park. After a brief visit to the Parkway Craft Center, featuring as many as 400 artisans from North Carolina, we plotted out a carriage trail walk: House to Deep Park Trail (.2-mile), Deep Park Carriage Trail (.7), Apple Barn Carriage Trail (.2), Black Bottom Carriage Trail (.5), Watkins Carriage Trail (3.3), Carriage Road (1.2), Return to car (.1).
Moses H. Cone, a self-made textile man in the best American tradition, earned the title of "Denim King" in the 1890's. Poor health lured him to the mountains of North Carolina, with a moderate climate, fresh spring water and clean air, where he build a summer estate called Flat Top Manor. The house is now used as a display museum and store for local craftsmen.

At his Apple Barn, we could smell the remains of sweet cider and fresh apples. No wonder. Cone and his wife Bertha, naturalists ahead of their time, planted 32,000 apple trees on the property. Most of the trees were from New England.
Julian Price, his neighbor in the 1900's, had founded one of the nation's largest insurance companies and purchased the adjoining land as a recreation area for his employees. When Price died in 1946, his heirs donated the estate to the government.

We took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather and walked the carriage paths until nearly 4:00 p.m., marveling at the rhododendron thickets and 100-foot hardwood trees.
Without a doubt, Boone, North Carolina, is a college town, home to 17,000 students who attend Appalachian State University. We drove around the campus and checked out the red brick buildings from outside.

"It looks like they are trying to utilize every square inch of available space," said Andy.

Cranes rose above the dorms with construction everywhere in between classroom buildings. To me the campus felt cramped and crowded, squeezed into what remained of the valley, but it commanded a pretty location at the base of the mountains.