Boone, North Carolina is an incredible town. There is so much to do in and around the area. You could easily spend a week here and still have enough to do to come back for another week. Boone is an awesome college town with easy access to the Blue Ridge Parkway, plenty of shopping, restaurants, ski slopes, a theme park, and trails to hike. You definitely need to check this place out. One really cool thing about this town is there are a bunch of State Parks in close proximity. So, while we could write a couple of posts about Boone (which we will do) we are going to focus on the State Parks around Boone for this one.

For this post we are going to be focusing on the Boone State Parks of Grandfather Mountain, Elk Knob, Mount Jefferson, and New River State Parks. We know that none of these parks are technically in Boone, but they are all within 35 miles and would make for a good day trip if you are staying there.

Also, when you think of Grandfather Mountain you probably start to think about the mile-high bridge. This area technically is not run by the State Park Service. This is a privately owned attraction managed by the Grandfather Stewardship Foundation. It is an awesome spot, but for the sake of this post we are going to focus on the State Park area only.

So, where are these parks, what was our experience, and what can you actually do at them? Just keep reading!

Grandfather Mountain

Ok, this is a confusing place to find. The reason for that is because the area maintained by the State Parks is actually in between the Grandfather Mountain attraction and the trails off of the Blue Ridge Parkway run but the National Park Service. We drove by this place a couple of times until we found it. Of course when we pulled in we were kicking ourselves because it was right there the whole time! We parked at the Profile Parking Area because we wanted to take the Profile Trail. This access is right off of Highway 105 in Banner Elk. You can also park on the Parkway to access a couple of different trails.

At the Profile Parking Area you can find nice restroom facilities as well as a little Ranger Station. The Ranger on duty the day we were there was absolutely awesome. She gave us so much great information and helped us navigate everything. Once we got our stamp for our Passport Book we headed up the trail.

This trail is fantastic. We went on a Saturday in the fall so it was just beautiful. There were quite a few people on the trail but we never felt overcrowded. This trail is 3.6 miles one way and has plenty of great places to stop, rest, and enjoy nature. You go down to the valley by the river and all the way back up. This is not an easy hike by any measurement. The farther you go the tougher it gets. So, if you only want to go a mile in you would most likely be ok and still have a great time with some great views.

Elk Knob

Elk Knob is a great place to go hiking if you are in Boone and only have a couple of hours. This park is located in Todd which is right outside of Boone. Just take Highway 194 to Meat Camp (you read that right) Road. It is a fun little drive with beautiful scenery. This is one of the newer parks in the system and they are working on adding more trails. Right now, there are three main trails, the Backcountry Trail, the Beech Tree Trail, and the Summit Trail. The Backcountry Trail takes you to camp sites throughout the park and eventually to New River. The Beech Tree Trail is the Kid’s Track Trail. The highlight though is the Summit Trail.

We have done the Summit Trail on numerous occasions and have loved it every time. When you reach the summit there are incredible views from atop the 5,500-foot peak. This is definitely the highlight of this park. Unfortunately for us, every time we have hiked here it has been on an incredibly overcast, rainy day. Fortunately though, we believe that the adventure is in the journey so we still had a blast. This trail is tough. It is right under two miles to the top and you will start to feel it towards the end. It is a really nicely maintained trail though which helps a ton. This is definitely a must-do hike for anyone in the Boone area.

There is a nice little visitor’s center here. It is older and rustic but still a good place to stop, get your stamp, and talk to the Ranger on duty. It is located to the left as you enter the park.

Mount Jefferson

Mount Jefferson is actually a State Natural Area. This mountain is 1,600-feet above the town of Jefferson and is close to 4,700-feet overall. Thomas Jefferson’s family used to own land around here – hence the name Mount Jefferson. This park sits close to the Virginia and Tennessee borders. From the summit road you can see into both of these neighboring states.

This park really doesn’t have a ton to offer outside of the five trails and the overlooks. The trails though are nice and give you a lot of great views. There are some really interesting trees, rock formations, and plant life up here.

You could probably do everything that this park has to offer in about two or three hours. There is no real visitor’s center here. It is pretty much a maintenance building with a mailbox that you reach into to get the stamp. Because there wasn’t too much here, this park did not rank too high on our State Park rankings, but it is still worth the fun trip up the winding mountain roads to get there.

New River

This is one of the handful of parks that we feel like we did not get to truly experience. We would like to head back to see all that the park has to offer. Because of a time crunch we didn’t get to spend the time we wanted to. What we did experience we enjoyed. The New River is a National Wild and Scenic River and it traverses through some beautiful areas.

There are four main access points into the park – this is typical of river parks. The main access area is the U.S. 221 Access Point. This is right off of Highway 221 in Laurel Springs. The visitor’s center is located at this access point. This is a pretty good visitor’s center and you can find a lot of great info on the park here. Like we said, we only had time for a quick visit so we drove around the park and took a quick stroll by the river.

There are a bunch of places to camp, hike, and even swim at the river. This park though is known for the paddling. You can rent them at a couple of places. We can’t wait to go back and do some kayaking there.

Takeaways From The Boone State Parks

The Boone State Parks overall are pretty sweet. We had a great time exploring them and learned a lot. Here are our takeaways.

• You don’t need a whole day to visit these parks. A lot of them have trails you can hike in a couple of hours just to get away from the town.
• Remember that hiking in the mountains is more strenuous than other places, so be prepared for that.
• Pack plenty of water and even some snacks. We are always surprised when we see people walking without it and wishing they had it.
• These parks are great to have a picnic at, many with amazing views.
• Remember that driving in the mountains is more time consuming than other places. 10 miles can often take 25 minutes.

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