Grandfather Mountain State Park — Attraction in Banner Elk

The more time I spent in North Carolina the prettier it got and the views from here were no different. You must know that this road is extremely smooth and has different spots where you can pull over. This road has extremely tight turns and is steep I believe somewhere around a 7 or 8 percent grade for the entirety. There is a I believe you could call it a Information Center and Restaurant half way up that you can stop at, when you continue up near the top I liked that they had someone stopping traffic so traffic coming down the mountain could do so safely. You then reach the top and someone will point you in the direction you need to go to park your vehicle. Once you park you are free to start walking over to the Mile High Swinging Bridge or you can to the hiking trail that takes you to the peak I believe. I did not do the hiking trail since I wasn’t wearing proper gear for me. We walked up the stairs towards the swinging bridge. We did not initially walk over the bridge I was taking in the views so far and people were not following the sign that stated only 40 people at a time were allowed on the bridge. Once we were able to walk onto the bridge you can look down at the chasm below. It is windy on the bridge and it does sway so keep that in mind. Once you make it across the bridge you have several different location on the rocks were you can sit and just take in the views. When you cross back over the bridge you can walk back down and the main building there at the top you can buy a souvenir like I always do. Once you start your decent you need to be very careful the road is narrow and extremely steep like I stated early. Low gear or first gear is highly recommended. We were in a 2018 Toyota Camry and first and second gear did very well on the way down. Like I said there are several spots to pull over and let your brakes cool but i don’t recommend riding your brakes that will lead to brake fade. I hit my brakes a total of 8 times some due to control speed other times was because of vehicles coming down in front of me. I highly recommend visiting this state park it is very beautiful just always have safety in the front...

This along with Linville falls are my top two destinations on the parkway.

I was very pleasantly surprised here. Reading online about the parkway I was lead to believe it was just the mile high bridge and so when I arrived and learnt there is so much more I was amazed by how much there was to do here and you could easily spend a whole day here.

I booked tickets online which easy to do (and possibly your only option right now due to COVID precautions). You arrive and there is a relatively painless drive in admission booth. They will hand you an information handout and an audio tour CD. NOTE: My car does not have a CD player and so could not listen to the audio CD. HOWEVER the tour is available on YouTube and so I recommend downloading it on YouTube for offline use before you go. I had just about enough signal there to download it and it was worth doing. The tour takes you up the mountain and gives you some information about what you can see accompanied by some pleasant music. It isnt essential but it's a nice addition.

Half way up there is a visitor center with otters, an eagle, some cougars, a black bear, and elk, in a mini zoo type arrangement.

The fudge shop was a little smaller than I expected, and there is also a museum and restaurant which I actually didn't visit as I didn't allow myself enough time for my visit.

At the very top is the bridge which is handicap accessible, a gift shop, and some trails. The view is worth the visit and the bridge is a novelty.

Overall, worth the visit, the entrance price isvery fair, just make sure you give yourself...

One of my absolute favorite state parks I’ve ever visited! Wow what a treasure! The Park Rangers and state park team has done such a wonderful job. The bathroom facilities were spotless, the trails were very well maintained despite treacherous terrain, the signs were all up to date and trails well marked, the campsites are BEAUTIFUL (one even includes a pulley system setup for keeping food from bears), and the views were epic!

This is an example of how to maintain a park. I was fortunate enough to meet one of the Park Rangers named Luke. Another inspiring Ranger that clearly cares about what he does and takes pride in his job. When I ran into him he had just cleaned the bathrooms and locked up. He offered to let me in even though they were closed and they were literally spotless. He then told me some of the history about the park and was extremely informative. I sincerely appreciate this dedication to preserve our public lands and can’t think of a more important job.

I did the profile trail to Calloway Peak. It took me 3hrs to reach the top taking my time and 1.5hrs to make it down hustling. Go well prepared if you plan to summit I took more water than I thought I needed but I used it all due to how steep it was. Also if you have ankle problems like me come prepared with high top boots and trekking poles the top half is steep and difficult.

Also the Eagle Scouts built a beautiful bench to take a break about halfway up profile trail at the first viewpoint of...