Drop What You’re Doing and Take a Trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway

This is a guest post by Trekalong intern Katie Butts.

With 8-10 million visitors a year, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the most widely-visited and well-known parks in the country. Equally scenic, yet less well-known, are the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive, a 575-mile strip of highway extending across the Blue Ridge Mountains on the eastern side of the Appalachians.

Skyline Drive takes visitors 105 miles from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap, near Waynesboro, Virginia, while the Blue Ridge Parkway extends through the remainder of Virginia and North Carolina, providing a picturesque road connecting the Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah National Parks.

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive advertising is prohibited, producing nothing but breathtaking scenery on your trip. For cyclists in particular, Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway provide ideal opportunities for day, weekend, or extended trips. The road is a scenic highway, which means a maximum speed of 35 mph on Skyline Drive and 45 mph along Blue Ridge Parkway, significantly minimizing  the dangers of biking on the road.

The Blue Ridge also provides idyllic camping locales. Whether your next outdoor adventure involves hiking, boating, fishing and cycling, the Old Dominion has a park or campground to fit your needs. If you’re looking for a quiet respite from your busy life or an enriching and unforgettable family vacation, the Blue Ridge Mountains make for a great destination.