The Fourth Day - The Blue Ridge Parkway

One of the nice things about the Parkway is that they really maintain the road. I ran into several areas where the road surface was new. In others, it was older, but still well maintained. The number of potholes and areas of bad road surface were pretty low.




The newly resurfaced Parkway

Along the Blue Ridge.

Lowering skies.

Starting to clear.

Well, maybe not.

At last. The Sun.

The Fourth Day - The Roanoke Area

From a turnout along the parkway. As you can see, cloudy skies are still present.




Shortly after passing Roanoke, there was a turnoff for a trail up the side of the mountain. It was very steep, but at the top, there were some rewarding views. The road is fairly narrow and one way. This is Roanoke. The large clearing in the center is the airport.

Looking west.

Looking to the east of Roanoke from the top of the mountain.

The Fourth Day - Random Pictures

The informational sign for the Peaks of Otter. Sadly, you can't really read it.

A mining operation along the Parkway.

One of the many bridges along the Parkway.

The Third Day - Peaks of Otter Lodge

As it had rained overnight leaving my tent wet and it was threatening to rain again, I decided to get a room for the night. I stopped at Peaks of Otter Lodge and was fortunate that they had a room available.

Now here is the great thing about this lodge. I walked into the room and the first thing I noticed was that there was no television. Then I noticed that there was no phone or clock. This didn't bother me in the least bit. On the opposite side of the room from the front door that went out the back of the room to a little patio with a couple of chairs. This overlooked the lake. It was very peaceful and after walking around the lake, I found myself sitting out there reading until it got dark.


The view from the patio looking to the right.

The view of the lodge from the other side of the lake.

Part of the trail around the lake.

The Third Day - Fallingwater Cascades

I stopped at a turnout where it claimed a there was a waterfall. It was somewhere around a half mile to the falls. The top of the falls, it appears. It certainly seemed longer than that to get to the bottom of the falls. It was a bit of a hike and I saw no other people there.


Along the trail.

The upper cascades.

The lower falls.

The Third Day - Along the Blue Ridge

Unlike Skyline Drive, there are numerous roads connecting to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I decided to take a drive down one of them. It was a gravel road with a steep grade. The camera is being held level here. The road actually rises that much and seems steeper than it appears in this picture.

Back into the soup.

The Third Day - Along the Blue Ridge, Otter Lake

The Sky began to clear and I thought I might be in for some nice weather. Alas, it was just a brief encounter with the sun.

Otter Lake. I didn't see any otters.