Blue Ridge Parkway: Graveyard Fields & Rough Ridge

The Blue Ridge Parkway begins at the edge of Asheville and within 40 minutes reaches some of the best hiking terrain in the southern Appalachians. Graveyard Fields at Parkway milepost 418.8 is a high-elevation bog and creek valley at 5,120 feet — a short loop trail leads to two waterfalls, Yellowstone Falls and Second Falls, through a landscape of sedge meadow and rhododendron thickets left by a 1925 wildfire that burned away the original forest. Rough Ridge on Grandfather Mountain — 90 minutes northeast along the Parkway — offers the most exposed rocky terrain in the southern Appalachians outside of the high peaks: a steep scramble to an open granite ridge with sheer drops and 180-degree views across the Linville Valley and Black Mountains. The two hikes together cover different elevations and terrain types and represent the Parkway's best single-day active itinerary from Asheville.