Our View: Seeing the mountains for the trees
After polishing its natural gems for millennia, it's no surprise that state parks in the High Country are among those most visited in North Carolina.
Our state parks did well overall in 2011. More than 14 million visitors hiked, picnicked or just absorbed the natural beauty that is home to our state parks. This number matches the record attendance of 2009, and is up from 2010. Locally, Elk Knob State Park and Grandfather Mountain State Park both saw significant increases in attendance last year — growing well more than 50 percent in visitors year to year.
Part of the reason behind the increase is an economy that makes us more inclined to visit near rather than far — forcing many of us to play in our own backyard and make discoveries that can lead to surprising finds.
Like the New Yorker who has never been to the Statue of Liberty or tossed a coin from atop the Empire State Building, many of us in the High Country have a tendency to avoid the regional seemingly familiar for the distant seemingly exotic.
But what could be more exotic than a view of three states from the peak of Mount Jefferson State Natural Area? Or scraping the sky by walking to the summit of Elk Knob on a gravel path crafted from thousands of hours of volunteer labor?
Beauty abounds in the High Country, from the Christmas trees rooted deep in our valleys to a swinging bridge perched at an elevation a mile above sea level. Visitors by the millions have found what makes North Carolina beautiful, but here in the High Country we've been in on the secret for generations.
Our state parks did well overall in 2011. More than 14 million visitors hiked, picnicked or just absorbed the natural beauty that is home to our state parks. This number matches the record attendance of 2009, and is up from 2010. Locally, Elk Knob State Park and Grandfather Mountain State Park both saw significant increases in attendance last year — growing well more than 50 percent in visitors year to year.
Part of the reason behind the increase is an economy that makes us more inclined to visit near rather than far — forcing many of us to play in our own backyard and make discoveries that can lead to surprising finds.
Like the New Yorker who has never been to the Statue of Liberty or tossed a coin from atop the Empire State Building, many of us in the High Country have a tendency to avoid the regional seemingly familiar for the distant seemingly exotic.
But what could be more exotic than a view of three states from the peak of Mount Jefferson State Natural Area? Or scraping the sky by walking to the summit of Elk Knob on a gravel path crafted from thousands of hours of volunteer labor?
Beauty abounds in the High Country, from the Christmas trees rooted deep in our valleys to a swinging bridge perched at an elevation a mile above sea level. Visitors by the millions have found what makes North Carolina beautiful, but here in the High Country we've been in on the secret for generations.