Blue Ridge Parkway photos
Haw Creek Valley overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, N.C. The parkway stretches 469 miles.
(Mike Belleme / For The Times)The Blue Ridge Parkway, America’s most popular national park, is a 469-mile country road through Virginia and North Carolina. In fall the colors amaze. All year, Appalachian culture fascinates.
The idea behind the Blue Ridge Parkway, authorized in 1936, was to sculpt an epic country road that would unfurl amid the knobs, hollows, notches and gaps of Virginia and North Carolina.
This view looks toward Linville Gorge near Marion, N.C.
Linville Falls can be found on a short detour off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Linville, N.C.
(Mike Belleme / For The Times)From left, Lisa Tami, Linda Widmer, David Widmer and Patrick Tami take in the view of Linville Falls in North Carolina.
(Mike Belleme / For The Times)Deer roam along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Linville, N.C.
(Mike Belleme / For The Times)Taylor Medlin of Raleigh, N.C., visits the Orchard at Altapass in Spruce Pine, N.C., to pick apples.
(Mike Belleme / For The Times)Visitors walk along a path at the Orchard at Altapass in Spruce Pine, N.C.
(Mike Belleme / For The Times)Hikers hit a trail at Crabtree Falls near Marion, N.C.
(Mike Belleme / For The Times)Fall colors paint the Blue Ridge Parkway.
(Mike Belleme / For The Times)A section of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)