Green Mountain Falls. Taking it Easy.
Blue Ridge Trip '24 #28
Back at the hotel in Boone, NC - Fri, 6 Sep 2024. 6pm
The hike to Glen Burney and Glen Marie falls earlier today took more out of us than we expected. Partly that's because all the hiking we did yesterday- starting with Otter Falls, then Waterfall Park, then Upper Creek Falls, then Linville Falls- took a lot out of us. So after doing another 600'+ ascent in the glens today left us feeling pretty wrecked. We were tempted to call it a day after a late lunch in Blowing Rock. But we couldn't just call it a day; it was too early. So we temporized with a drive-to falls to see if our energy levels might perk back up.
Green Mountain Falls is several miles west of Blowing Rock. It's a quiet little falls that's hard to find. Up on the Blue Ridge Parkway there's a well marked Green Mountain Overlook... but that's not where the falls is. There's not even a trail. It's just a place to see Green Mountain. The falls? Those are on Green Mountain Creek. Down on route US 221 there's a drive-to spot where the road crosses the creek. Other than being able to find the creek and where it crosses the road on a map, it's not marked. Our source implied there's drive-to parking spot in front of the falls.... It doesn't exist. There is parking in a wide spot on the shoulder 100' past the falls, on the other side of the road.
All that mystery for this small falls is cool because it meant we had it to ourselves to enjoy for a while. Even traffic passing by on US-221 was light, barely interrupting the tranquility of lingering at the falls. As we left, travelers speaking in heavily accented English pulled up next to our car and asked if this was Green Mountain Falls. "Well," I answered, "It's definitely Green Mountain Creek."
Back at the hotel in Boone, NC - Fri, 6 Sep 2024. 6pm
The hike to Glen Burney and Glen Marie falls earlier today took more out of us than we expected. Partly that's because all the hiking we did yesterday- starting with Otter Falls, then Waterfall Park, then Upper Creek Falls, then Linville Falls- took a lot out of us. So after doing another 600'+ ascent in the glens today left us feeling pretty wrecked. We were tempted to call it a day after a late lunch in Blowing Rock. But we couldn't just call it a day; it was too early. So we temporized with a drive-to falls to see if our energy levels might perk back up.
Green Mountain Falls is several miles west of Blowing Rock. It's a quiet little falls that's hard to find. Up on the Blue Ridge Parkway there's a well marked Green Mountain Overlook... but that's not where the falls is. There's not even a trail. It's just a place to see Green Mountain. The falls? Those are on Green Mountain Creek. Down on route US 221 there's a drive-to spot where the road crosses the creek. Other than being able to find the creek and where it crosses the road on a map, it's not marked. Our source implied there's drive-to parking spot in front of the falls.... It doesn't exist. There is parking in a wide spot on the shoulder 100' past the falls, on the other side of the road.
All that mystery for this small falls is cool because it meant we had it to ourselves to enjoy for a while. Even traffic passing by on US-221 was light, barely interrupting the tranquility of lingering at the falls. As we left, travelers speaking in heavily accented English pulled up next to our car and asked if this was Green Mountain Falls. "Well," I answered, "It's definitely Green Mountain Creek."