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If you are northbound on the Blue Ridge Parkway
and would like to visit
Roan
Mountain during the rhododendron blooming season
(sometime in June but it does vary from year to year), here's how to get there. (You can
return following the directions, below, in reverse.) Just before the entry drive to
Linville
Falls is the cross-over of US-221 (milepoint
317.4). Turn left onto US-221 and follow it north toward Crossnore and Pineola. You will
pass the intersection where NC-194 joins US-221 (from the left). Continue through
Crossnore to the intersection where NC-194 departs (again on the left). Follow NC-194 now
to its intersection with US-19-E. Continue on 19-E, now, through Elk Park, into Tennessee
and over the mountain to the intersection of TN-143. Turn left onto 143, follow it up the
mountain, back into North Carolina and the entry to the Roan Mountain Rhododendron Garden
on your right.
If you are southbound on the Blue Ridge Parkway
and would like to visit Roan Mountain, there is a neat back way in. (You can return
following the directions, above, in reverse.) At about milepoint 291.9 US-221 and US-321
cross the Parkway. Take US-321 'north' through
Boone into Tennessee, past Watauga Lake (on your right) to the intersection of
US-19-E. Turn left on 19-E and continue to the intersection of TN-143. Turn right onto 143
and follow it up the mountain. Just after you reenter North Carolina is the entrance to
the Roan Mountain Rhododendron Garden on your right. Bring your camera.
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