The photo above shows a Christmas tree farm not far from Boone, NC.

This was a really good ride - a weekend getaway to the Meadows of Dan in Virginia to camp at the Willville Motorcycle Camp. I made an early call before heading out to the proprietor at Willville to make sure that I'd be able to score a campsite and he told me to just head on up and that one would be waiting. Cool! I hadn't been to the Meadows in years, even though I was born in Galax, a few miles to the west, also near the Parkway.

The ride wasn't too long - only about 600 miles, including side trips on several of the dirt roads that connect to the Parkway. The weather was perfect, with cool temps and for the most part, clear skies. Traffic seemed to be light for an early season trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Though I ride to Virginia quite often, I realized that this was the first time in 40 years that I had ridden all the way up on the Parkway. The last time that I did that, I was 17, riding up with my buddy to visit some family in the Galax area. He rode a Kawasaki 250 scrambler, and I endured the ride on a BSA 250 - possibly the worst bike ever to come out of England. It's a lot more enjoyable on the Versys, with a lot more power and comfort.
I still remember our trip very well - it was in 1969, and we were in our senior year in high school. Keith hadn't been up there before, so I led the way. Did I mention that the BSA was infamous for leaking and slinging oil? We took most of the day to reach Galax, mostly because of the annoying tendency of the Beezer to slow down to about 20 mph on every little hill that we came to, and there are a lot of big hills on the Parkway. By the time that we finally reached Galax, Keith was covered, head to foot, in oil that had slung off the Beezer, mixed well with a large variety of bugs that got stuck in the oily mess and died. We found a motel in Galax (at that time, I think that there were only two motels in the town) that still had rooms available. The lady that ran the place told us that we could have a room, but that she would lock the doors at 10, so we'd better be in by then. Unbelievably, she didn't just mean that she'd lock the door to the office - she locked us in our room! I guess the bugs and oil scared her or something. Luckily, we stocked up on beer before she locked the door, so we were able to make it through the night. It was a helluva trip!

Craggy Gardens picnic area, just off of the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Asheville, NC. The Craggy Gardens region is famous for the displays of rhododendron that carpet the mountainsides in bloom in June. On this sunny morning in late May, the picnic area was packed with families out to enjoy the day. There was also about 30 or 40 riders in the parking area, mostly Harleys, but a few 'adventure' bikes as well.

The center peak is Craggy Gardens, centerpiece of the rhododendron display. The Blue Ridge Parkway caved in right below the peak a couple of years ago and just recently re-opened. While it was closed, it was necessary to detour for miles out of the way to reach Mt. Mitchell from the Asheville area. The area to the right (south) is watershed property and there are few places to pull off the road along this stretch. Because of the restricted access, the watershed is some of the wildest country in the Asheville region.

Construction continues near Craggy Gardens, with traffic restricted to a single lane near the visitor center. It's not a bad place to get 'stuck' waiting in line, with spectacular mountain scenery all around. Several of the people waiting for the light to change hopped out to run to the guardrail and take some some pictures from a viewpoint where they would ordinarily not be able to.

The parking area at the visitor center for Craggy Gardens. Trails lead to the summit of the peak in the background, which is carpeted with a thick cover of rhododendron. I was about two weeks early for the peak bloom on this ride. This area was a favorite spot of my Dad's, and we made a lot of Sunday afternoon picnic trips to it when I was growing up. It's probably where I first gained my love for wild country, something that is stronger than ever 50 years later.

The tunnel near Craggy Gardens. I once took shelter in this tunnel during a surprise spring storm that struck the Parkway while I was riding with some buddies on bicycles to Mt. Mitchell. The Parkway was closed to motor traffic at the time while construction was being done between Asheville and Mt. Mitchell, but biking and hiking was still permitted. We made the ride to Mitchell, arriving at the parking area atop the peak a little past noon. While resting, we noticed dark clouds racing across the valley from Roan Mtn. to the north. We started the ride back to Asheville, 32 miles away, but got caught by the storm before we reached the Parkway at the bottom of the Mt. Mitchell access road. Though it was the last weekend in May, we were caught in a deluge of freezing rain, hail, some snow and then sleet. All the while, lightning was striking all around us. We had no shelter nearby, so we pushed on through the slush until we reached the tunnel in the above photo. It was still cold, but at least we had a dry place to wait out the storm. Finally the sun returned and we hurried down the remaining 18 miles of the ride to the Folk Art Center, arriving there just as the rain returned. One of the guys riding with us that day got hypothermic and we nearly lost him to the cold. If the sun hadn't made an appearance when it did, I'm not sure that he would have survived. I had told the other two riders to be prepared for any kind of weather, meaning to take rain gear and extra insulation. One did, but the other thought that a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt would suffice. It nearly cost him his life. He got to the point that he couldn't talk and only wanted to lie down to rest. We got him to run in circles inside the tunnel to help him stay warm, and when the sun came back out, we gave him our extra clothing and forced him to get back on the bike. The ride down was, luckily, warm and he recovered enough to make it up the few remaining hills. He never rode with us again, having had enough of our mountain adventures.

The Asheville reservoir, far below Craggy Gardens near Swannanoa.

Sports cars stream past as I sit by the Parkway near Craggy Gardens. There was over 20 of the cars in this group, enjoying a perfect day for riding the Parkway with the top down.

There were a lot of cyclists enjoying the Parkway as well - I must have passed over 100 riders between Asheville and the Mt. Mitchell turnoff. This is a great bike ride, but I try to avoid it during the main season - there is just too much traffic and too many drunks for it to be safe. By the way, Parkway regulations require riders to have some sort of headlamp and tail light on their bikes because of the tunnels. When I ride it, I often wait until just before a large vehicle reaches a tunnel, and then enter right ahead of them, letting them provide a 'rear guard' for me.

A view of the Black Range, which includes Mt. Mitchell, the tallest peak east of the Mississipi River. The peak with the towers on it is Clingmans Peak, which is only a few feet lower than Mitchell. Clingmans Peak is named for the same guy that Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains was named for. He was a bitter rival of Elisha Mitchell, who first determined that Mt. Mitchell was indeed the tallest peak in the east.

Ride a little, stop to take some photos, ride a little more, stop to take more photos. Sounds like a plan to me. This is the view looking south of the Parkway near Mt. Mitchell. Note the light green foliage - this high up, even though it's the end of May, the leaves are still new. Even higher, near the peak of Mitchell, the new leaves are still popping out.

The rugged Black Range, a spur of the Blue Ridge. The rugged ridgeline of the Blacks provide some of the most spectacular, and sometimes dangerous, hiking in the southeast. Many of the peaks soar above 6,000 feet. That doesn't seem like much when measured against the higher western peaks of the Rockies and Sierras, but hurricane force winds and temps of -20 degrees aren't uncommon in the winter months.

Near Linville Gorge, the square peak of Table Rock rises against the skyline. The Rock is a popular destination for climbers. The Linville Gorge Wilderness lies below Table Rock, with some of the toughest hiking in the Blue Ridge.