One of the prettiest places Sweetums and I ever visited with was the Linville, N.C., area. We didn’t go into the tiny village but we did enjoy a couple of its surrounding natural attractions: Linville Falls and the view from the Lin Cove Viaduct.
There’s a hike to the falls, less than a mile one-way, and visitors come out at a beautiful area with two falls. But they aren’t the main attraction. Visitors then hike to one of the highest points on the mountain to get a view across Linville Gorge at Linville Falls. Even though you can only view it from far away, it is impressive and the surrounding scenery is beautiful,
The North Carolina tourism bureau says: “It is a spectacular three-tiered waterfall plunging into Linville Gorge, the ‘“Grand Canyon of the Southern Appalachians.”’ The Falls Trail distance is 1.6 miles round trip and easy. The Gorge Trail distance is 1.4 miles round trip and strenuous. The Plunge Basin Trail is 1 mile round trip and moderate.”
You can get information at the visitor’s center at mile marker 316 or visit this website for a map.
We also drove along the Lin Cove Viaduct, which has one of the most breath-taking views we’ve seen anywhere. It is a 1,243 foot long concrete bridge that allows motorists to drive through Grandfather Mountain without disturbing nature.
The National Park Service says: “To protect the fragile habitat of Grandfather Mountain, Parkway planners designed the Linn Cove Viaduct. This award-winning complex concrete bridge is a symbol of pride to landscape architects and engineers for its marriage of beauty with utility and habitat protection. Visitors here will gain an appreciation for the care that was taken in construction of the entire Parkway.”
It was built in 1983.
