I have been fortunate to travel all over the southern Appalachian mountains. While I have never traveled more than a few states, or even hours, away from Georgia there is still plenty of beauty to be found.
My favorite place in all of these areas lies up in North Carolina. It is a place I have visited many, many times on my trips up and down the famed Blue Ridge Parkway. They call it Flat Rock, and it sits at Milepost 308 on the parkway in Avery County, NC. Sitting in the shadow of the great Grandfather Mountain you can find one of the best sunset locations anywhere in the southeast.
I especially love visiting this area during the spring when the flowers begin to bloom. It usually kicks off with countless blackberry and blueberry bushes that dot the exposure. Later in the summer these will be a delicious snack for local wildlife (and me) but early in the year it just adds white flowers to the view.
Once mid to late May arrives a truly fantastical thing happens: the rhododendron bloom. It’s no secret that Rhododendron Catawbiense is one of my favorite flowers (Flame Azaleas take the #1 spot). The pink/purple blooms show up for just a few days every spring all at once making for huge groves of pink flowers dotting the higher elevations of the southern Apps, including Georgia. Combine these flowers with a premier sunset spot and you have a recipe for a million dollar view.
Each night adds new blooms to the mix as others fade. The bloom usually lasts for a week at most so you have to catch it carefully. But while it does you can’t beat it.
Some years you may even get lucky enough to see another flower bloom side by side with the rhododendron: mountain laurel. Our mountains here in Georgia are absolutely covered in mountain laurel, but as you go up in elevation it becomes a bit less common as the slightly more hardy rhododendrons choke them out. There are still plenty to be found dotting the landscape, however, especially in exposed areas. Flat Rock is no exception. Most years the laurels bloom just after the rhododendron, with maybe a little overlap but not much. This year, however, a few of the bushes bloomed early giving the rare opportunity to catch both the rhodo and laurels side by side.
You simply can’t beat this location during the early rhododendron bloom, or in my opinion any other time of year. In a couple weeks it will be overshadowed by the phenomenal blooms on Roan Mountain, Craggy Gardens and Max Patch but the bloom season always begins here. So next time you are up on the Blue Ridge Parkway be sure to check out my favorite place and, if you time it right, maybe catch some gorgeous flowers and a sunset.
I’ll see you on the trail…
