NC Buys Grandfather Mtn for State Park

[sherrill]

I tend to agree with Walter as my feelings towards the mountain and surrounding area are the same. I have always wished that the state could have done this before all the development, but I'm looking forward.

I would encourage anyone interested to hike the backcountry trails and avoid going through the front gate. It is a unique mountain and worth the 5 bucks to explore it.

Some of my best camping memories are on the Daniel Boone Trail - one of the worst thunderstorms I've ever camped in, and a pic of my group leaning about a 45 degree angle into 50 mph wind gusts on the summit of Calloway Peak.

[BR360]

The majesty of the mountain cannot be denied...

...despite the touristy nature of the developed area AND the Blue Ridge Parkway on the south slope as "scars on the face of Nature."

Yet Grandfather is bigger than that, and once 400 yards away from these minimal tourist intrusions, the hiking trails are as satisfying to hike, maybe more so, as many places on the AT. Even with the nearby ugliness of the mountain developments and the tragic condo eyesore at Sugar Mtn.

Not defending it, but explaining...

50 years ago, when Grandfather was first developed, the road, visitor center, and swinging bridge were designed as for-profit tourist attractions. Hiking was perhaps even less a recreational pursuit then. So due to access provided by their motor-cars, hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, have relished the rugged beauty of this area. Some like myself were inspired to become conservationists.

The Mortons have been fiercely protective of NOT developing the bulk of the mountain (though I believe they did develop the valley area along NC 105 many years ago). Their recent agreement of selling it to the state for $20 million is a GIANT gift, as mountainside viewscape-land in the nearby Blowing Rock area is selling for at least $200k/acre.

The "tourist area" made enough profit to keep the Mortons from developing the rest of the mountain.

The following properties abut one another:
> Grandfather Mountain, headwaters for the beautiful Wilson Creek watershed;
> Moses Cone and Julian Price Parks (maintained by the National Park Service as part of the Blue Ridge Parkway);
> Proposed Wilson Creek wilderness area;
> Steels Creek watershed (part of Pisgah National Forest);
> Linville Gorge Wilderness Area and surrounding Pisgah National Forest;
> Lake James State Park

Totaled, this area of largely undeveloped land (with some in-dwellings) and road easements amasses to almost 250 square miles, by my rough estimation using DeLorme TopoUSA..

Many opportunities to backpack in this area and stay away for a week or more!