Motoring.
Blue Ridge Parkway is meant to serve this American pleasure. In the
course of a motor trip along the Parkway, plans should include a stop at
one of the several recreational areas for a picnic lunch. Here comfort
stations and drinking water will be found from April 15 until the first
freeze, usually mid-October. In these areas we suggest a leg stretcher
along an easy trail, or there are short trails leading from many of the
parking overlooks to selected vantage points.
Picnicking.
Picnic areas, ideal for the family group, include parking spaces,
tables, fireplaces, drinking water, and refuse cans. These areas are
designated on the maps by the Parkway emblem.
Tourist Facilities.
Gas stations are being constructed at Rocky Knob, The Bluffs, and
Crabtree Meadows. The one at The Bluffs will be ready during the 1949
travel season. Others are located within a short distance of the Parkway
on the more important State highways.
At Cumberland Knob, Mile Post 219, there is a sandwich shop operated
during the travel season by National Park Concessions, Inc. This company
will also operate the coffee shop and lodge being built at The Bluffs,
but these facilities may not be available until well into the 1949
travel season.
At the Peaks of Otter, Mile Post 86, a sightseeing bus service is
offered by the Peaks of Otter, Inc., from the Parkway to the top of
Sharp Top, one of the famous twin Peaks of Otter. Sandwiches, soups, and
other like items are sold at the bus station during season.
Tourist facilities along the Parkway are being planned only where
accommodations are not reasonably convenient in the towns and cities
nearby. For information about accommodations and points of interest in
the Blue Ridge Parkway vicinity, write to the Virginia State Chamber of
Commerce, Richmond 19, Va., or the State News Bureau, Raleigh, N. C.
[Illustration: Picnic Grounds, Cumberland Knob, North Carolina.]
Camping.
At Rocky Knob in Virginia and The Bluffs in North Carolina are trailer
sites and campgrounds. There you will find tent platforms, fireplaces,
garbage receptacles, drinking water, and comfort stations. Camping
supplies are not available. Length of stay is not limited.
[Illustration: Highland Pastures, Rocky Knob, Virginia.]
Hiking.
Trail systems have been developed in the Parkway recreational areas. At
The Bluffs there are more than 20 miles of foot trails, and in each of
the other areas from 3 to 5 miles. Grades are easy and can be walked
comfortably.
Photography and Painting.
The Parkway opens to you a photogenic and paintable country. Flowers,
mountains, valleys, streams, wildlife, and the hill farms are fine
subjects.
Fishing.
This is trout country. Rainbow and brook trout haunt many streams up and
down the Parkway. State licenses are required. Outside the Parkway
boundary State laws apply. Within the Parkway boundary special
regulations, covering creel limit, bait, and season, prevail. The season
in North Carolina lasts from April 15 through August 31, and in Virginia
from April 20 through July 31.
Golfing, Swimming, Tennis.
Facilities for this type of active sport are not provided on the lands
of Blue Ridge Parkway, but the Parkway is a convenient way to reach
resort areas where there are fine mountain golf courses, tennis courts,
saddle horses, lakes, and swimming pools.
Several State areas and forests and portions of the national forests,
through which the Parkway winds, have many recreational developments
within easy reach of the Parkway.