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Spectacular Day Trip
A “self guided driving tour” with
a Fire Mountain Gourmet Box Lunch can make for a heaven
of a day in the Southern Highlands.
Leave Fire Mountain
mid morning, with Fire Mountain Gourmet Box Lunches
in tow, and spend
the day exploring one of the three “self guided
driving tour” options below. Return mid to late
afternoon for rest prior to your evening activities.
Staff will go over
each “self
guided driving tour” option with you so that
you will make the best choice for your needs and desires.
That same staff member will map you for the entire “self
guided driving tour” and give you the map.
Each of the three “self guided
driving tour” options following is truly spectacular.
Each was developed and culled by our staff from years
of exploring and guiding our guests into the spectacular
nature of western North Carolina.
This Fire Mountain package makes for
a very exciting day!
Mountain Waters Scenic Byway
Take the Mountain Waters Scenic Byway
for one of the most unbelievable drives of your life.
Beyond description. Along the way you will go to the
tower on top of Wayah Bald where the Appalachian Trail
and the Bartram Trail cross for a magnificent mountaintop
view gourmet lunch. You will travel along man-made
Nantahala Lake which is the largest and “highest
in elevation” in the Eastern United States. Then
you will drive through the Nantahala Gorge, one of
the most breathtaking gorges in the mountains of western
North Carolina, where you will glide for miles immediately
adjacent to the Nantahala River that runs through it
and by numerous spectacular waterfalls.
“Secret Road” in the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
This tour will take you
through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a one
way 24 mile long “secret road” known by very
few people. This road is only open from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m.
each day May through October of each year. You will drive
the very last portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway that was
built, and have a spectacular mountaintop view gourmet lunch
at Waterrock Knob on the Parkway. You will also tour a “not
known to the public” portion of the Cherokee Indian
Reservation and will visit the Oconaluftee Village at the
southern entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Quite an unbelievable day!
The “secret road” in early Spring (May –
June) with wild flowers in bloom is most spectacular and
beautiful.
Standing Indian Area
The Standing Indian Mountain
peak, at 5,499 feet in elevation, is along the Appalachian
Trail and the name came from the peaks resemblance to the
Standing Indian. This tour takes you through the Standing
Indian Area along the headwaters of the Nantahala River
in these very high elevations. You will have your gourmet
lunch at Big Laurel Falls on your way past Pickens Nose
to the fire tower on Albert Mountain that you can see from
the top of Fire Mountain. From Albert Mountain fire tower,
which is also on the Appalachian Trail, you will be offered
panoramic views of North Carolina and Georgia. You will
return thought the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory which is
an experimental forest in cooperation with scientists throughout
the nation that help determine the effects of human use
on forest growth and ecology. This tour puts you in the
heavens all day long.
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