Bass Pool.

Kousa Dogwood.

A 5-mile drive through the deerpark takes us along the French Broad River to the Winery, where there is a film and exhibits regarding the conversion of the estate's dairy buildings into wine making facilities. We leave the Biltmore Estate at 6:45pm after a long and absorbing day.

 

Chimney Rock State Park is about 25-miles from Asheville, the 1,000-acre park is located at Hickory Nut Gorge, on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our route there takes us along a narrow, winding road, with some steep climbs that crosses the Eastern Continental Divide at 2,880-feet - we cross this meandering contour a number of times in the day.

 

The outcrop of rock that gives the park its name towers 1,200-feet above Hickory Nut Gorge. Access to the top of the rock is by 430 steps, or a lift - an option that we use.

 

A haze hinders the view of Lake Lure in the gorge below, and of the mountains on the other side of the valley. There are good views of the rock itself from a vantage point called the Opera Box.

Commencing at a lower level, a pleasant 1.4-mile walk climbs 200-feet through a dense hardwood forest and gets us to the foot of Hickory Nut Falls. This 404-foot waterfall is the highest in the eastern United States, plunging majestically from a hanging valley way above us. The fall was the backdrop for the climatic scenes in the film The Last of the Mohicans.

Our route continues in a generally southwest direction taking us through the thickly-wooded Pisagh Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The narrow, winding road climbs and descends several peaks. At about 2:30pm we stop at the Nantahala National Forest Overlook at Blue Valley (below). Shortly afterwards, we cross from North Carolina into Georgia.

About 20-miles further south we reach Tallulah Gorge State Park. Here there is a most impressive and modern Interpretation Center. From the centre we walk along well laid-out trails to view the gorge (the deepest canyon in the country after the Grand Canyon) from a number of overlooks, and from where the main highway crosses the Tallulah River.

 

(left) Overlook Number 1

 

(right) Overlook Number 3

 

 

At 5:20pm, after about 90-minutes at the state park, we recommence our journey to Atlanta, reaching the Hampton Inn at 7:15pm. We eat at a Piccadilly Cafeteria three miles from the hotel where we have a good value meal in a slightly scruffy location.

 

 

It is a very short drive from the hotel to Stone Mountain Park, which contains the largest exposed granite outcropping in the world. The weather is poor with rain and low cloud - the rain continues for much of the day.