The Tanawha Trail, stretching 13.5 miles (21.7 km) from Julian Price Park to Beacon Heights parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, in the United States. Tanawha, the Cherokee word for fabulous hawk or eagle is an appropriate name for this trail that offers hikers views of distant mountains. Completed in 1993, the Tanawha Trail, like the final section of the Parkway it mirrors, is unique in construction. The trail traverses a fragile and ancient ecosystem and leads hikers through a surprising range of biological and geological terrains. Some sections tunnel through thickets of laurel and rhododendron. Others dip down into remote hardwood coves and then ascend into evergreen glens. Boulder fields and cascading streams punctuate the landscape.
View of the Linn Cove Viaduct from an overlook on the Tanawha Trail.
The Tanawha Trail as it passes underneath the Linn Cove Viaduct.
Julian Price Memorial Park
Julian Price Memorial Park is a park of 4,200 acres (17 km2) at the foot of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, named in honor of Julian Price. It is at milepost 297 on the Blue Ridge Parkway and directly adjacent to the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. Together these parks comprise the largest developed area set aside for public recreation on the Parkway. The park is managed by the National Park Service which received the lands from the Jefferson Pilot Standard Life Insurance Company shortly after Price's death when they received it through his will. The grounds are also known for the fact that the nation's largest National Lumberjack Association rally is held here annually.
Price Lake