Asheville sucks, don’t go there.
Your outdoor news bulletin for April 9, the day General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox in 1865:
Fatal Fall at Crabtree Falls
An 18-year-old Liberty College student fell to her death at Crabtree Falls Monday evening, another fatality to add to the list of at least 28 people who have died at the falls in the last several years. Nelson County Sheriff’s Office Investigators say Faith Helbig was hiking with a group of fellow students when she wandered off the trail and fell off the top of the falls around 5:30pm, calling it a “tragic hiking accident.” With no cell phone service in the area, some of the group had to hike out before calling the rescue team who were able to extract the Helbig’s body late Monday night. Signage around the falls, touted as the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi, is prominent and warns against getting too close and leaving the trail. This one hits home as Crabtree is one of the more popular hikes around our home in Charlottesville. please be careful out there during hiking season.
Asheville Not That Great, Apparently
This one also hits close to home…our second home in the mountains. According to David Landsel, a contributing editor at airfarewatchdog.org and the Huffington Post, Asheville, N.C. is one of the world’s most overrated destinations. Not just the nation, mind you, all of the Earth. Also making the list were Berlin, Costa Rica, the Caribbean, and Austin, TX in the top spot. Landsel claims that the people of Asheville “seem really annoyed by everything” and calls the “physically and emotionally fragmented mountain town” a “Hamptons with no beach.” As an alternative, he recommends going to Mt. Mitchell, the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, all conveniently around Asheville. Um, what?
Appalachian Trail Visitor Center Redesign
Just in time for the thru-hikers passing through the state, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy‘s Mid-Atlantic Regional Office will unveil its redesigned building in Bolling Spring, Penn. on Friday. Included in the upgrades is a series of new informational panels of an overview of the trail, its history, and the history of the conservancy and was made possible by a grant from the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau. The A.T. passes right through the middle of Bolling Springs and practically past the front door of the visitor center, so this will be a great improvement for hikers and visitors alike. Last year the center saw over 4,500 visitors.
