Archive for the ‘Outdoor Sports’ Category
Off the Blue Ridge Parkway, behind the Arboretum, is a great locally known forest called Bent Creek. Locals love to walk the trails, jump in the creeks or gathered pools of water, and walk their dogs with comfort. We love it there. It’s a little known secret to visitors of the area I am pleased to share with you in hushed tones. There are miles and miles of walking trails, also dirt bike trails. Just about any outdoor sport can be exercised there. It’s originally created as an experimental forest, the first one in the southeast actually, so it’s quite reverred and protected.
It’s only just minutes from the Asheville pet friendly cabin you will be staying in. From the cabin take 240 to I-26 going towards Spartanburg. Get off at the first exit and turn left on Brevard road. Follow the signs to the Arboretum. When you get to the front, go left onto the parkway and follow it til you are exactly behind the Arboretum. You’ll see lots of cars parked there.
North Carolina’s newest state park, Chimney Rock, is only 25 miles southeast of Asheville, or about a 40 minute drive from the Asheville Pet Friendly Cabin you will be staying at. The pups will love walking the trails with you. They are not allowed at the top of the rock.
I’m not sure which is more fun to do; the trails around various places within the park, the elevator to the top of Chimney Rock, guided rock climbing, children’s programs or just the spectacular view from the top of the rock. There are all kinds of fun shops to visit up and down the road to the entrance to the park. Don’t forget to stop for an ice cream cone on the way in or out. Oh, go ahead, treat yourselves, do both!
My neighbor takes her horses out to ride at Dupont State Forest. Another hikes there on a regular basis. There are so many activities one can do there, including mountain biking. There are miles of multiuse trails, waterfalls and lakes straddling Henderson and Transylvania counties. DuPont’s trails are used by hikers, bikers, horseback riders, fishermen. The scenery is spectacular and if you ever wanted to feel you were in the frontier, this is it. You can go for miles and not see another person, still have that all alone in nature appeal.
From your Asheville Pet Friendly Rental Cabin it’s about 30 minutes away. Take your pups with you and hike til you all drop. Prepare your picnic at the cabin and take off for the day. You can set it up anywhere. Just be sure to walk out with your garbage. Take poop bags with you too. You’d want to keep it pristine.
If you’re looking for something fast, fun and skill-free to do this weekend, try snow tubing. Wear warm clothes that are waterrepellent or bring clothes to change into. It’s suitable for any age, small med or large size, And oh my gosh is it fun!!!!! Do you like to tube a river? Well, it’s nothing like that. LOL Your feet stay over the tube, you just go down hill at a good speed, it’s probably more like sledding but even more! After sliding down the snow-covered hill, a magic carpet takes visitors and their giant inner tubes back up the hill.
You can eat at the ski area or have snacks at the tube run. I personally like to pack a lunch and head out from the Asheville Vacation Rental Cabin. That way you don’t have to stop tubing too long. A big thermos with lots of hot chocolate is in order for this sport. There are a number of places that you can tube at here in the mountains, the closest one to your rental cabin is Wolf Ridge.
Well if you’re going to come to the mountains in the winter and hope for snow, you will want to know the snow fun or ski “places” to go. There’s Appalachian Ski Mountain in Blowing Rock. There is also the Beech Mountain Resort on Beech Mountain. Another is the Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley. Then there’s Hawksnest between Boone and Banner Elk. Another is Sapphire Valley on US 64 West between Brevard and Cahsiers. Sugar mountain is another. Closest to your Asheville Rental Cabin is Wolf Ridge in Mars Hill.
Simply make your vacation plans to stay in an Asheville mountain cabin, get all settled in, then take day trips out to the various places mentioned. Some will not be accessible if the roads are really bad. You won’t want to travel too far on these mountain roads in the snow and ice anyway. Worse case scenario, you can do all your snowboarding, snow shoe walking, snowman building, right here at your cabin.
It is said when all you have is lemons, make lemonade, these folks live what it means. When it’s really snowy and cold and you can’t do anything else in the mountains, as soon as the ice forms on the rock walls in various places in our mountains, ice climbers come out from the woodwork. It’s a little scary to me, but if you are an adventurous soul, this is perfect for you. I personally have had enough of the cold, ice, snow of this season, but like I said, they make lemonade. After traipsing around all day climbing ice walls, there’s nothing like cozying up to the fireplace in your rented Asheville pet friendly cabin. Here are some of the places not too far from your cabin that you may want to try:
1) The wall on NC215, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Devils Courthouse. If the parkway is closed, take US64 to Rosman to NC215.
2) Graveyard Fields. There is a wall on the parkway near Milepost 418, across from the Graveyard Fields trailhead parking lot. (Climbers are allowed only when the parkway is closed to vehicles).
3) Winding Stair Gap on US 64 near Franklin.
4) Doughton Pasrk, near Milepost 245 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
5) Along US64 near Franklin.
There are so many really really neat things to see in the Smokies. All the great lookouts along the side of the road allow you to pull off the road to feast your eyes on the views without running off the side of a mountain while looking. :O)) The views are absolutely breathtaking, even with the smokey haze that rests amongst the mountains.
From your Asheville vacation cabin, take I-40 heading West. As you drive along the road, notice when you get past Waynesville you can actually see the shift from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Smokies. The drive West is gorgeous, the vegetation lush and the ascending and the descending and the twists in the road increasing in frequency. The road runs through the Smokies. Get off anywhere and you are standing in Smoky the Bear country.
Several animals are being reintroduced into the Smokies successfully. One is the Elk. Elk once roamed the southern Appalachian Mountains and elsewhere in the eastern United States. They were eliminated from the region by over-hunting and loss of habitat. The last elk in North Carolina was believed to have been killed in the late 1700s. In Tennessee, the last elk was killed in the mid-1800s. By 1900, the population of elk in North America dropped to the point that hunting groups and other conservation organizations became concerned the species was headed for extinction. The experimental release of Elk into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park began in February, 2001 with the importation of 25 Elk from the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. I am happy to report the experiment in the Smokies has been a total success and the Elk are thriving and reproducing and the herd is growing.
It’s not far at all from the Asheville cabin you stay at. Simply get on I-40 going towards Tennessee and there will be many opportunities to exit to get into the park all along the road. Once you get beyond Waynesville, you can feel the change from the Blue Ridge to the Smokies. It’s quite interesting.
If you would rather sit inside an air-conditioned vehicle while touring the Smokies, navigating the loop at Cades Cove is a must. Here you might see the two most prolific mammals in the park, the white tail deer and black bear. Other common sightings are wild turkey and the ground hog, and other wildlife as well. When visiting Cades Cove, you will drive along an 11-mile loop that follows many of the curves and courses that settlers forged years ago. Cades Cove is a lush valley surrounded by mountains and one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smokies. The Cove takes visitors into another time, experiencing history in each building and wilderness around every turn.
It’s not that far from your Asheville Cabin, just about an hour beyond Cherokee. It’s a day trip for sure but it is so worth it. Just to see the wilderness and the wildlife in all this undisturbed beauty is so exciting. The trail of cars often have to stop so that the wild animals can cross the road.
It’s a wonderful time of the year……. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…… oh I could just go on and on and on. Afterall, it’s winter, and guess what???? It’s snowing!!!! In the mountains!!! Woohooo!!! Break out the snow shoes, skis, snowboards, galoshes, heavy coats, you name it, it’s time to go play in the snow.
When you go to Asheville and stay in your Asheville cabin rental, assuming you can get out the driveway and you can leave behind your snowboarding down the hills on the farm, you have lots of choices to go off and ski and come back and drink hot chocolate in front of the fire in the fireplace. There are a few close to the cabin. Try some of these:
Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley
Sugar Mountain
Wolf Ridge in Mars Hill
Asheville Parks Outdoor Adventures