The Tanawha Trail, stretching from Julian Price Park to Beacon Heights parallels the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenand ...

Grandfather Mountain Grandfather Mountain is a mountain, a non-profit attraction, and a North Carolina state park near Linville, North Carolina. At 5,946 feet (1,812 m), it is the highest peak on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, one of the major ch ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Tanawha, the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

word for fabulous hawk or eagle is an appropriate name for this trail that offers hikers views of distant mountains. Completed in 1993, the Tanawha Trail, like the final section of the Parkway it mirrors, is unique in construction. The trail traverses a fragile and ancient

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

and leads hikers through a surprising range of biological and geological terrains. Some sections tunnel through thickets of

laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

and

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

. Others dip down into remote hardwood coves and then ascend into evergreen glens. Boulder fields and cascading streams punctuate the landscape. Sections above the

Linn Cove Viaduct The Linn Cove Viaduct is a long, concrete segmental bridge which snakes around Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina. Completed in 1983 at a cost of $10 million, it was one of the last major construction projects on the Blue Ridge Parkwa ...

and along Rough Ridge are strenuous, but overall the trail is an easy to moderate walk. The many accesses from the Parkway let hikers choose as long a section as they like. To preserve this delicate area, hikers are encouraged to stay on designated paths, bridges, and boardwalks. Most of the Tanawha Trail is also incorporated as a part of North Carolina's

Mountains-to-Sea Trail The Mountains-to-Sea State Trail (MST) is a long-distance trail for hiking and backpacking, that traverses North Carolina from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks. The trail's western endpoint is at Clingman's Dome, where it connects t ...

(MST), which transverses the state from the

Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...

to the

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...

History

The Tanawha Trail was completed in 1993, and was explicitly designed to be hiked.

Navigation

Throughout its length, the Tanawha Trail is

blazed Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail. A bla ...

with a hawk feather printed on small, metal signs. Most of these signs also display the Mountains-to-Sea Trail's white dot, where the two trails are combined. Junctions with side and connecting trails are signed; however, the other trails might not be blazed.

Camping

Camping is not permitted on the Tanawha Trail; however, many

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

opportunities do exist. The north-eastern trail-head is within Price Park's

campground A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...

, which is open from May to October. The south-western trail-head is close to the

Pisgah National Forest Pisgah National Forest is a National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. The Pisgah National Forest is complet ...

, which allows

dispersed camping Dispersed Camping is the term given to camping in the United States on public land other than in designated campsites. This type of camping is most common on national forest and Bureau of Land Management land. Designated campsites often offer se ...

along the MST. The Tanawha Trail also provides the principle access to

Grandfather Mountain State Park Grandfather Mountain is a mountain, a non-profit attraction, and a North Carolina state park near Linville, North Carolina. At 5,946 feet (1,812 m), it is the highest peak on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, one of the major c ...

's eastern trails, which have designated, primitive campsites.

Route

The south-western trail-head is at the parkway's Beacon Heights Overlook. Shortly past the overlook, the MST joins with the Tanawha Trail, after it ascended Beacon Heights from the

. From there, the combined trails follow wooded lands alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Linn Cove Visitor Center. From the visitor center, the Tanawha Trail passes underneath the

and ascends steeply up stone steps past an enormous boulder wall. The trail levels off and enters a shady glen thick with birch and beech trees. Beyond the cascading water of Wilson Creek, the trail crosses a clearing filled with huge rock formations. The trail here, accented with flat rocks, is like a flagstone path. The trail then climbs sharply to Rough Ridge and over a long boardwalk. Here the view into the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

is unobstructed because of the unusual low-growing and fragile mountain-heather ecosystems. It also offers an outstanding glimpse of the Linn Cove Viaduct and several mountains, Grandmother Mountain,

Hawksbill The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is large ...

and

Table Rock Table Rock may refer to: Canada * Table Rock, Niagara Falls, a former rock formation ** Table Rock Welcome Centre, a retail center near the site of Table Rock, Niagara Falls United States * Table Rock (Ada County, Idaho), a hill near Boise, Idah ...

. The trail continues on through a stately

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

and hemlock forest into a wooded glen reminiscent of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. Its rocky landscape is filled with poplars,

yellow birch ''Betula alleghaniensis'', the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the pa ...

, and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

. Past Raven Rock, the trail tunnels through mountain laurel and

. This sheltered section then gives way to a more open area with a rock garden where large ferns cascade out of immense boulders. More thickets of rhododendron lead to the junction of the Daniel Boone Scout Trail, one of

's many trails. Not much further away, is the junction with Nuwati Trail, another state park trail. Hiking or camping on Grandfather Mountain requires a permit. The Tanawha Trail passes several small cascades and crosses Boone Fork Creek. Around the creek are junctions with the Asutsi Trail and the Upper Boone Fork Trail. Also, a self-registration, permit box for Grandfather Mountain is located near the Asutsi Trail junction. The trail winds in and out of rhododendron and laurel thickets, joins with an old logging road, and passes through a hardwood forest. In the last section leading to Price Park, the trail breaks out of the woods into open fields. Here, it parallels and crosses Holloway Mountain Road, passes apple orchards, an old grave site, and pasture land, which in spring, is blanketed with numerous wild-flowers. The pasture land is active, and features cattle which are not separated from hikers. Although docile and avoidant of humans, there have been incidents where injuries have resulted from conflicts with livestock, and signs along the trail entrance near this area warn of the cattle and what to do around them. They may typically be seen grazing or resting in the shade provided by mountain laurel plants. in Finally, the trail briefly joins the Boone Fork Trail and departs with the MST, before ending with a short walk into Price Park's campground.

References

External links