Gorges State Park is the only North Carolina State Park to be in the path of totality. The drive from Black Mountain to Sapphire is about 60 miles and we’ll head out no later than 6 am to stake out our spot in the park.
That should be a fun trip. Stop by Lake Lure, it’s nice.
I enjoy traveling from Charlotte to Johnson City.
Little Switzerland is the best. The off-road places is my forte’.
I hit every county in Arizona back in the day. I miss that place.
If you can hike down to it before the eclipse begins, I’d imagine Rainbow Falls in the Nantahala National Forest, adjacent to Gorges State Park, would be a sight to see in a total eclipse. Back in the day when I was in school up there, we hiked down there under a full moon to see a full circle “moonbow,” and it was stunning. You could potentially see a full circle rainbow in the mist from the falls, then the moonbow, then the rainbow again, with all manner of color shifts as the eclipse progresses. Not a terrible hike, well maintained trail with railed overlooks, so I wouldn’t think it would be dangerous, not in the daylight at least.