A few weeks ago we went to hike around Grandfather Mountain. There are a few ways to get up here with spectacular views. There are couple free choices which require a lot of strenuous hiking, with about 3 hours to get here. One is from Profile hike parking area on HW105 and the other one is from I believe “Daniel Boone” hike parking area on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We done both of those in the past, it takes you about 2 to 2.5 hours just to get to the ridge. you can then hike on the ridge for another couple hours and enjoy some spectacular views, some with 360 access. This time we actually drove into the Grandfather park, paid $15 each, it is pricey, but it saved us at least 4 hours of hiking from the Blue Ridge or from the 105 parking.
Below photo is 180 Panorama View over Grandfather Mountain “Valley”. My first try at making panoramas. It is not bad as long as you can see it on a huge screen with details shown. On the left is the main Grandfather mountain with all attractions and their bridge. Down in the middle is the Grandfather Country Club, then Linville Ridge with its multimillion dollar estates, then Sugar mountain with that ugly white apartment building on top of it, then is Banner Elk and the Beach Mountain. To the right is the next peak we hiked after taking this photo(s). Click on the photo to see it large.