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Flat Top Tower on the Blue Ridge Parkway

    If you’ve never hiked to Flat Top Tower on the Blue Ridge Parkway, you are missing some of the best 360° views in North Carolina. The 5-mile roundtrip hike takes you through meadows on the Carriage Trail from the Moses Cone mansion – called Flat Top Manor. At the top, you can climb the fire tower for those amazing views. The hike is considered moderately strenuous, but on the lower end of moderate – easy switch backs and rolling hills through the meadow. The manor and trails can be reached at milepost 294 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Blowing Rock, NC.

    • View from the Fire Tower

    We Love Elk Knob State Park

    A beautiful June day hiking Elk Knob with Finley! The flame azaleas were in full bloom at the top of the mountain. We met plenty of hikers and dogs on the trail – it’s a great hike – slow incline – to the top and back is less than two hours. 30 minutes from Creston and shorter to Boone.

    800 acres added to Bluff Mountain Preserve

    The Nature Conservancy’s Bluff Mountain Preserve now totals 2880 acres, including rare mountain bogs.  This addition of 800 acres to the biologically diverse area will give the threatened bog turtle a chance!

    The bog turtle is the smallest turtle species in North America reaching only 4½ inches in length. The turtle is low-keeled, black, brown, or mahogany colored. You can read about the additional acres here and here.  The preserve is close to Long Hope Valley.

    To hike the property, you must contact the Nature Conservancy through Kristen Travis at bluffmountainpreserve@gmail.com.