USA Today: Blue Ridge Parkway – Technicolored trip through Appalachia


In its Travel section last week, USA Today featured the Blue Ridge Parkway via a “Technicolored trip through Appalachia.” Winding 469 miles across North Carolina and Virginia over the highest peaks east of the Rockies, the Blue Ridge Parkway is among the USA’s most famous roads. Side trips are a favorite of many of the parkway’s 15 million visitors a year. They pump about $300 million annually into the mountain towns along the parkway, according to the National Park Service. Ten areas along the parkway are closed this year because of federal budget cuts, including three visitor centers, said interim Superintendent Monika Mayr. She said the closures are spread out so visitors will not go more than 80 miles without passing an open attraction.