Motorcyclist killed in single-vehicle accident on northern end of Blue Ridge Parkway

A motorcyclist was killed in a single-vehicle accident on July 1 on the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, according to a July 2 news release from the National Park Service.

The parkway's communications center received a report just before 1 p.m. July 1 of the accident near Milepost 74, south of James River.

National Park Service law enforcement rangers and area first responders arrived on scene to find Christopher Bryan Graves, 35, of Amherst, Virginia, dead as a result of injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident, the release said.

The initial investigation indicates that Graves left the roadway in a sharp curve, came off his motorcycle and hit his head on a large, nearby rock. Graves was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, the release stated.

No other details were immediately available.

The parkway curves along some of the highest peaks in the Eastern United States, stretching 469 miles from its start at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, passing through Asheville, and ending at the entrance to the Great Smokies in Cherokee. It is the most visited unit in the National Park Service, with some 15.7 million visitors in 2022.

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According to parkway records, there were 10 deaths from motor vehicle accidents in 2020 and 11 MVA-related deaths in 2021. However, there were only four deaths from MVAs in 2022. The No. 1 cause of death as of Dec. 22 has been by suicide, with nine recorded last year, according to parkway spokesperson Leesa Brandon.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Blue Ridge Parkway motorcycle wreck kills Virginia man