Then it’s time to hit the High Country, where the drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway reaches its highest elevation at 6,047 feet, surrounded by row after row of ridges like the flanks of Mount Pisgah and Cold Mountain, the setting for the best-selling novel. There are numerous opportunities to stretch your legs and stroll to lonely mountain streams and waterfalls. Once in the Great Smoky Mountains, realize there are more than 1,600 kinds of flowering plants within the boundaries of the park, forming the best natural greenhouse in America. A good place to stop and smell the flowers is the self-guided Harwood Cove Nature Trail that begins at the Chimneys Picnic Area.<\/div>\n
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It actually hit 55 degrees in Boston on Saturday. After the hellish winter of arctic temperatures and far too much snow, that’s a miracle. Even better now that we have one more hour of daylight now that Daylight Savings Time is underway. Needless to say, most of America is ready to say goodbye to Polar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-default-site","category-drives"],"yoast_head":"\n
Top 5 Favorite Spring Drives, Asheville to Great Smoky Mountains - Active Travels<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 5 Favorite Spring Drives, Asheville to Great Smoky Mountains - Active Travels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It actually hit 55 degrees in Boston on Saturday. After the hellish winter of arctic temperatures and far too much snow, that’s a miracle. Even better now that we have one more hour of daylight now that Daylight Savings Time is underway. Needless to say, most of America is ready to say goodbye to Polar...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/4835\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Active Travels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/activetravels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-10T15:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Home-Page-Top-Photo-add-Let-us-take-you-there-heading.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Jermanok\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Jermanok\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/4835#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/4835\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Jermanok\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/#\/schema\/person\/77b14e74586df26d3c691dca9cebca4b\"},\"headline\":\"Top 5 Favorite Spring Drives, Asheville to Great Smoky Mountains\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-10T15:00:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-10T15:00:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/4835\"},\"wordCount\":298,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/4835#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"ActiveTravels | get up & go!\",\"Drives\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/4835#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/4835\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/4835\",\"name\":\"Top 5 Favorite Spring Drives, Asheville to Great Smoky Mountains - 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It actually hit 55 degrees in Boston on Saturday. After the hellish winter of arctic temperatures and far too much snow, that’s a miracle. Even better now that we have one more hour of daylight now that Daylight Savings Time is underway. Needless to say, most of America is ready to say goodbye to Polar Vortex and hello to Spring Fever. The five phenomenal drives I describe this week should get you in the mood.<\/p>\n