Large boulders tumble across Blue Ridge Parkway, prompting multi-day closure in NC
A 14-mile section of the Blue Ridge Parkway has been closed in the North Carolina mountains due to a rock slide, according to the National Park Service.
The slide was discovered early Wednesday, March 9, between Mount Mitchell and Craggy Gardens Visitor Center, officials said in a release.
A photo posted on Facebook shows a pile of large boulders that tumbled down in the slide.
“Debris from the slide — which contains several larger rocks requiring special equipment to remove — is expected to take several days to clean-up,” National Park Service officials said.
The closure starts at milepost 355 (near Highway 128) and continues through milepost 364.5, including the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center, officials said.
Rock slides are not unexpected along the popular tourist attraction in the Spring.
“The nightly freezing and daytime thawing of water on rock faces can make slopes unstable,” park officials wrote on Facebook.
The parkway spans 469 miles through Virginia and North Carolina, and attracted 15.9 million visitors in 2021, the park service reports.
Its southernmost sections includes both tunnels and miles of road cut into the sides of Appalachian mountain peaks.
Mount Mitchell, which is near the start of the closure area, is 6,684 feet, making it “the highest peak in the eastern United States,” the National Park Service says.
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