Adventure Village Camping Trip Spring 2026-- Blue Ridge Parkway Wildflowers

above:  four petaled painted rilllium blooms along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Adventure Village Camping Trip Spring 2026

 Blue Ridge Parkway Wildflowers 

Thursday April 30 through Sunday May 3, 2026

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Photos are HERE 

Blue Ridge Parkway Interactive Map 

Cathey's Creek Falls Directions 

  I tried to get camping reservations for the weekend of April 23 through April 26th the weekend prior to this trip.  Adventure Village was booked up so I took the next weekend available.   It didn't seem like a big deal since the dates for peak bloom for the flowers I was seeking were the first week of May.  I had hope and expectation at the time of the booking that the timing would be ideal.  We visited the Cherohala Skyway the weekend before this trip.   It was a real eye opener in that many Spring wildflowers were already finished blooming.  I checked with friends and they were still seeing some nice blooms so I held  out hope.

     We arrived Thursday afternoon and got set up.   We had lunch and got groceries and put things away.

We decided to ride up to the parkway to see what was around.  I decided that if the bloom was past I'd have to regroup and do other things.  Thankfully we rode up route 276 from Pisgah Forest to the parkway.  We began seeing pink shell azaleas, mountain laurel, flame azaleas, and as we climbed higher... trilliums!  Lots of trilliums.    We spent a few hours looking around before we tired and headed back to the camper.   Kenny and I have both been wrung out mentally and physically from the recent renovations of our home.  We have been striving to spend time with our children and grandchildren.

All of it taken together we realized after getting away just how exhausted we both were, and how badly we needed this break. 

        

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway we made one of our first stops at Elk Pasture Gap.  I had read old trip reports stating that it was a great place for trilliums of all colors.  I found loads of white trilliums and ones that had aged to pink. I found a few that had completely dried up leaving it hard to tell what color they were. I won't write this area off since it may need a closer, earlier look.   The trilliums were still pretty if past peak bloom. 

Photos above are of Elk Pasture Gap where Mountains to Sea Trail crosses the big intersection with SR 151.   

 Below:  We saw a lot of pretty flame azalea on and below the parkway! 

above and below are views from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the  east! 

  We hit up one area near Mt. Pisgah that was nice.  It was one of my spots marked to check.

I found lots of painted trilliums and it contained lots of weirdness.  I found many with four petals and four leaves!  

Below: a view from Stony Bald Overlook

Below: newly emerging red oak leaves. These tiny buds and those of other native trees give our Southern Appalachian mountains a unique color in Springtime!  You see lots of orange, reds, bronze, and earth tones in addition to the new bright greens. 

above: a view from the parkway at Mt. Pisgah to the west.... with rhododendron carolinianum framing the photo.  

Below: close up shot of  Carolina Rhododendron 

Below: painted trilliums in a grouping. 

Below: four leafed, four petaled painted trillium. It also has four sepals. 

Below: newly emerging painted trillium. I love the ones with the mocha foliage.

       We enjoyed the parkway for several hours, but finally headed back to fix dinner. It hit me on the way back toward Brevard that I was operating on an assumption that might be wrong.   I asked Kenny if he minded a quick side trip.  We took a chance on my low elevation trillium spot and boy am I glad we did!  Rather than being a bust I could quickly look out through the forest and see them peering from beneath the leaves.   I found them peak bloom which was wonderful news!  

Below is one hybrid trillium that is particularly pretty. It is a product of the crossing of Nodding Trillium and Vasey's trillium.  

Above: Trillium rugeli --Nodding Trillium

Below: Vasey's trillium Trillium vaseyi

Below is a look from my vantage point on the ground.  The two trilliums in the foreground are hybrids. The one in the back is not. 

I slept so well that night. Always better in the camper for some reason.  The next day was pretty and we headed back to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I had a list of spots to check and I had barely scratched the surface the previous day.  

      We started off on the Mountains to Sea Trail looking for a color complex of hybrid trilliums a friend shared with me.  I had the phone and the GPS tuned to lead us to that spot.  I could see that it looked to be between the trail and the road.   Hiking the trail was beautiful. The morning was sunny and the weather perfect.  We saw wood betony along the path and the views were pretty.  The forest just kept on being the wrong sort for trilliums of any kind.  Finally we heard the beep as the GPS let us know "You have reached your destination."  No trilliums.  Not. One.  We hiked back and tried just hiking along the road.  Nothing.  I did find some beautiful lily of the valley which was great!  I hiked well past it and Kenny went for the vehicle and met me down the parkway.    The forest was still the wrong type for any kind of trillium other than maybe Catesby's.  It was pine woods and oak with heath vegetation. Lots of pine needles, oak leaves and very dry.   My studying up on how to identify the proper environment came in handy.  Even Kenny realized this could not be the spot.  Finally Kenny said "Yesterday there was a spot along the parkway I felt we needed to look at.  There was no place to turn around and you said not to worry about it. We kept going.  We need to find that again."  So we set off to do that.

Below: tulip poplars in bloom along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Below: golden alexanders were in bloom today

Below: a view to the east of the Hominy Valley

Below: I did not find the trillium erectum color complex where it was supposed to be, but I did find lots of lily of the valley.

above: morning sunshine on the Mountains to Sea Trail. Wrong kind of woods for trilliums.

Below: sunny yellow wood betony along the Mountains to Sea Trail

      A slow drive on the parkway with eyes peeled for color, trillium leaves and the right type  rich cove hardwood  forest was in order.   We hadn't gone too far when I saw what had to be the spot.  I got Kenny to let me out.   He found a place to park the truck safely out of the way.  I had seen lots of umbrella leaf blooming there yesterday.  Sure enough this was the spot.   It was narrow and extended from the parkway up the ridge.  I spent a fair amount of time climbing around that ridge. The trilliums were all colors and were hybrids for the greater part.  A few parent plants remained true to their original form.

I saw they were past peak and definitely warrant a closer look next year at an earlier time.

I want to do this regardless if I write about hybrids or not.   

Below is a glimpse of my favorite scene from the day.  The ridge covered in sunbeams, ferns, and trilliums! 

Below are some of the hybrids I saw

Below:  This is Bent trillium Trillium flexipes

Below: white parent plant Trillium erectum

Below: beautiful, perfect umbrella leaf blossom

Below: one of the most unusual hybrids I've run across. 

Below: T erectum yellow form 

Below: red parent plant T erectum which is past peak and drying up.  

  Once we got done on the Blue Ridge Parkway today I was ready for lunch. We ate along the Parkway.  I was weary in my mind, but satisfied.  I was done with hybrid trilliums and Spring wildflowers for the season.   I was ready to move on to another area. 

  We stopped off along Rt 276 on the way down from the parkway.  We pulled over and had lunch at one of those pretty picnic spots along the river.   

above: view of the creek from our picnic spot. Looking into the woods above the road nearby I could see lots of vaseys trilliums!  It was a steep bank and while I was tempted to crawl up there I decided it wasn't a good idea.  I'm glad I waited. 

    We went back to town and did some shopping in Brevard.  Hit up some stores I'd wanted to see. while they were open.  I hit up the Hospice Home Store.  It isn't a medical supplies shop, but a thrift store to raise money for hospice care.  It was very nice and Kenny found a phone carrier clip for $1.50.   He breaks them frequently so when you get a bargain on one it counts! 

     We went by the Habitat ReStore and it was neat, but didn't find anything we wanted.

I hit up Local Color and came out with a hair barrett made by a local lady and a pair of matching earrings made by an area man.  

We stopped last of all by the Country Creations store.  It is amazing! It is set up with vendor booths.  Each one was pretty and a little different.  We found a new favorite.  We came out with a piece of perfect artwork for the newly remodeled kitchen.  

   We hit up SAFE's thrift store and loved it. We found some bargains.  Got a paper towel holder for the kitchen for $1.50.  I got a silicone sleeve for the iron skillet handle.  I found a hat and scarf for the beach or pool.  They support women who are getting out of abusive relationships and help them flee those situations.  

above:  the cabinets above the bar where we redecorated with new stuff. 

Below: the beautiful oil on canvas framed art piece we got at Country Creations.  It was a steal at $38. 

       

We went back to the camper and I had a change of clothes and a cup of coffee.    We went back out to finish up our day.  We visited nearby Cathey's Creek Falls and the surrounding area. A friend told me where to find a nearby cave and we visited that first. 

It was very cool and while it was a scramble in places it wasn't too hard.  

Below is a video of the cave

  I was going along the road with Kenny and spotted the only chunk of catawba rhodos in bloom thus far.  I went in that direction to get some pictures when something caught my eye just on the other side of some boulders.  I jumped back in surprise, but quickly calmed down. It was a 2 1/2 foot long black phase timber rattlesnake.  He was warming himself by those boulders.

He never moved other than flickering his tongue. 

Below is a video clip of the rattlesnake

We drove all the way to the end of Cathey's Creek Road. We could hear but not see Barbara Falls down in the gorge.   The forest was pretty all the way.   We saw two pink lady slippers way up on a bank where they could not be accessed.  It was straight up.  We saw groves of ferns. We saw flame azaleas and fraser magnolias in bloom in the canopy.   We went back down the road and stopped off to walk down to the falls.  It was beautiful today and despite dry conditions still flowing pretty good.

We saw one flowered cancer root in bloom as well as a couple puttyroot orchids.

We saw loads of vaseys trillium and many of them had striped backs.  They look like they were part hybrid.  I found one lone hybrid trillium on the opposite side of the stream.  I finally found the culprit.

One lone white wakerobin trillium amidst all those vaseys trilliums!   It was drying up and I was doing well to be able to tell what it was or what color.  It was a productive and fun day. Very rewarding.

Much needed reconnect with nature.  I found I much prefer the spontaneity of finding things to the lists and GPS spots.  That is where the hobby starts to look like work and robs me of my joy. 

Below: large patch of ferns along the road

Below: Cathey's Creek Falls sure was pretty today.

Below: the pool down from the falls. 

Below:  one of many vasey's trilliums today.

Below: puttyroot orchid

Below: one flowered cancer root. 

Below:  light stripes on the backs of a vaseys trillium. I saw about 50% of the trilliums had these markings! 

Below is a short video clip of Cathey's Creek Falls

 We filled our Saturday up with lots of fun.  Sunday morning we slept in a little and packed up to go home.  It was a great get away, but it was good to be home too.