North Carolina travel tips

[ex-powderbroker]

Headed down to Chapel Hill for a wedding in early October. I will have two extra days to burn with the GF. Thinking about Asheville but it's 3.5 hours away. Is there anything else that's interesting... parks, beaches, mountains, towns, whatever? Chapel Hill and Durham have treated me fine on previous trips, but I feel like seeing something else might not suck either.

Searched here but I didn't find much, and I don't think Sugar Mountain will be open yet.

[GBB]

Check out Mediterranean Deli in Chapel Hill if you haven't eaten there before.

[iceman]

Well it's about 2 hours straight down 40 to Wilmington. Cool small old city in the middle of a large amount of sprawl but the beaches are nice and the whole Cape Fear area (just south of Wilmington) is pretty cool.

[Edgnar]

Asheville might be worth the trip if fall colors have started. You could check out Boone & Blowing Rock which are just a little bit closer to Chapel Hill. Some pretty good mountain biking there if you are into it. Or go to the beach. Either way is about 3 hours though.

[BackCountryNC]

I live in the mountains and don't know much about the CH area. Should be close to prime leaf season at the higher elevations if you wanted to make the drive. Asheville is a cool town. Sugar won't be open. They sometimes get open in early Nov. You're kinda in the middle between the mountains and the water.

[mrryde]

Early October is great for Mountain Biking. There is some killer riding straight down I-40 near Wilkesboro @ Warrior Creek

[Benny Profane]

The Outer Banks are awesome right now. Everybody is gone, and the water is still warm. Lodging is cheap, before they batten up for winter.

I don't know when the colors turn in NC, but, the Blue Ridge highway would be very nice with fall colors. Asheville is worth the drive. Cool town.

[OSECS]

How early in October ? First annual bluegrass festival on the outer banks that weekend (probably same days as the wedding.

Ice was right about Wilmington. Very cool little beach, outer banks this time of year is great. Asheville in the Fall ? Amazing time to be there.

[WWCD]

October in NC is awesome.
Like Ice said, Wrightsville/Willimington is really nice this time of year, and super easy to get to.
I'd go say Blowing Rock over Boone, because it's more low key and you don't have to deal with the University.
Pilot Mt and Roaring Gap are also beautiful places easy drives from CH.
Charlotte has a kayak park that is supposed to be awesome and is only a 2.5-3 hr drive.

or just stay in CH and go to Friday on the Front Porch, hang out, and ogle the coeds.

One thing to think about if considering the OBX. From CH it's a really long drive.

[ICEHOCEY77]

Allen & Son BBQ in CH.

I'd prefer to do some time in Asheville than Wilmington. Hangout in downtown, Go drive the blue ridge, and maybe go up Mt. Mitchell. Western NC is one my favorite areas to go up and just get lost in.

[Dubbs]

All the above info is accurate. I would say just figure out if you would rather do the mountains or the beach and let that be the deciding factor. There is a lot more to do in Asheville than Boone/Blowing Rock. It will be blowing up in early October. I could be biased, though. The beach is awesome that time of year too.

I can definitely point you in the right direction if you pick Asheville.

[Mazderati]

Was going to recommend the Farm House Restaurant, as I've heard good things, but the reviews on Yelp disagree.

"This is a very interesting place. The look and the setting are somehow transporting and the staff was very friendly. The problem is that the place it transported me to was Clarksburg, West Virginia in 1970 and how many times do you really need to be transported there?"

[WWCD]

The Farmhouse is definitely past it's prime, but there are tons of great places to eat around here.

First house I lived in was walking distance to both Allen & Son and the Farmhouse, and I'm still only about a 5 min drive away.

[ex-powderbroker]

Awesome tips, all. Looks like the consensus is Asheville > Boone so I'm gonna find some lodging there. Between mount mitchell and the stuff in town we should be pretty busy for the couple of days. Thanks again!

[SkiCougar]

i've been to both asheville and the outer banks + raliegh/durham in the past 2 years.

i'd suggest going to raliegh downtown - http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/ - glenwood south and the warehouse district seemed to be the best.

you can also see the durham bulls if theyre still playing and north carolina-chapel hill, nc state and duke are all within 30 minutes. seriously, if you cant find something in raliegh/durham in the fall that you like; you got issues.

both asheville and the outer banks are too far as far as i'm concerned with just 2 days; theyre both at least 3 hours away.

[ex-powderbroker]

Wedding ended up being in Wilmington, not Chapel Hill so I checked it out. Was there for River Fest, so the place was kind of a shit hole over the weekend. Lots of biker and teens. Nikki's was EXCELLENT sushi though. The fish was as good as anything I've ever had anywhere, and it felt unfair paying NC prices knowing what that would have cost in NYC. Anyway, the old downtown is cool but not quite there compared to old southern cities of Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with that, those are pretty cool places.

Also hit up some coastal towns like Myrtle Beach (shithole, but fun... 1.50 drafts and a still warm ocean)
Ocean Isle Beach (sleepy as fuck, GF's parents car, etc)

Now I'm in Asheville.

This city is tits on fire. I mean that in a good way obviously, because tits are cool, mountains look like tits, and fall is getting pretty good. Really digging the vibe up here. The drive through Charlotte was wretched and made me pretty nervous about pickups, everything being named after billy graham and other preachers, lines of people protesting abortions, and even random billboards dedicated to Farrakhan.

But Asheville is an oasis. The drive up on i40 is big mountain-esque. We were poking through a thick fog and just getting glimpses of awesome landslides, fall colors, and loving some windy steep roads after the last week of flat and straight.

The restaurant choices look to be in the dozens for good eats and I'm hiking somewhere tomorrow with perfect weather the next couple of days to be outside.

Gonna hit the tri-cities on the way back, and that's going to rule. I agree, SC. Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill (and Carboro) are all pretty damn cool and I'm looking forward to getting back.

Dubbs - Any hikes you really like in the six mile range? The GF gets a little cranky after about 4 hours but we want to get some fresh air, too.

[SB]

I was gonna say hit Linville Gorge and Grandfather Mt. on the way in/out.

[sanjuanworm]

if you are in ashevegas and want to hike...go for mt. le conte ,the alum cave trail would be nice right now w/ the fall colors..
or gooogle cades cove.. great high mtn valley with bear everywhere..
or go check out mt.mitchell its right up the road from you..highest peak on east coast..
you can drive the blue ridge parkway from asheville all the way to mitchell .....stop and hike around craggy gardens, you will see the sign on the left on the way to mitchell..
or roll up to valle crucis (that is the correct spelling) and have a cold one with me...
if you make it up this far in the blue ridge go check out roan mountain or big grasssy bald for some good hikes right off of the appalachian trail...
grandfather mt has some incredible ridge trails...

don't eat any bbq pork while in the mtns..wait until you get back down to the piedmont
sidetrack to keatons bbq (look it up) on the rowan/iredell county line..get a half chicken,spicy ...you can thank me later..

outer banks... you should save for a whole other trip..



the big red drum are just starting to move from the sound to the ocean around hatteras and ocracoke inlets..thats where i am going next week..cant wait

nc is a pretty cool state

[Hugh Conway]

guard yer pooper dood

[Edgnar]

Get out on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Pretty much every pull off will have hiking and it's a beautiful drive. Mt Mitchell would be a good place to go too.

[ex-powderbroker]

I think we are going to do the old
Mitchell trail. At 4 miles we should be able to summit with a bag of chips and a box of bandit. Can't wait!

Uncle tupelo was the shit tonight. Great food. No cops with hard ons for Yankees ruining this trip yet, either.

[Dubbs]

I haven't done the old mitchell trail so I can't speak to it. I'm sure it's a nice trail, though. All the trails up there are nice and well maintained. Another good option on mitchell is to drive to the summit and park at the north end of the lot and hike north on the black mountain crest trail to mount craig. It might be a bit longer and probably more rugged, but the view from mount craig is pretty sweet!

If you drive north on the parkway from Asheville you will also pass several other good hikes on the way to mitchell. The best are probably in the craggy area. Snowball mountain trail to hawk bill rock is a good one, though a bit longer at 8 miles. Your best chance for solitude is on this trail. The trail head is located at the first craggy gardens turn off. Another good option from the first craggy gardens turn off is to take the mountains to sea trail and head south. After a few miles you get to some cliffs that overlook the watershed. Very nice views. You can even shave a few miles off this one by parking by the split rail fence just a little south of the first craggy gardens turn off and picking up the mountains to sea trail there.

http://internetbrothers.org/2011/09/...ridge-parkway/

Hiking to craggy gardens is also a good but shorter hike. There are 2 ways to hike there. You can either start at the first pull off and hike north or stop at the second pull off with the visitor's center and hike south. It's been a while since I've done either so I'm not sure which is longer. They're both pretty easy though. Also, just a bit further up the road past the visitor's center you can hike up to craggy dome, which is one of the more prominent peaks in the area. It's a short one, but the views are amazing.

There are as many or more options if you head south on the parkway out of Asheville. The Shining Rock/Black Balsam/Graveyard Fields area is unparalleled in awesomeness and is where I first fell in love with backpacking.

Anywhere you go over 6k should give you some great fall colors, but there will also likely be a lot of leaf lookers up there too. Especially around craggy, mitchell, and graveyard fields. It's still worth doing, though, especially with the weather turning clear.

[mrryde]

Get out on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Pretty much every pull off will have hiking and it's a beautiful drive. Mt Mitchell would be a good place to go too.

Go to grandfather mountain, killer hikes and great views. The summit of Mitchell is kind of a let down since its a parking area and observation deck.

[SkiCougar]

you shouldve let us know asheville was a definitie, i had plenty of places from there. towsn, mountains, waterfalls, etc.

[TNKen]

Look up Ridgewood BBQ in Bluff City, TN. Between Bristol and Johnson City.

Leaves turning at elevation, but not around here yet. We are at about 1,700 feet.

Ken