Blue Ridge Parkway General Management Plan & Final EIS Announced

The National Park Service released the General Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Blue Ridge Parkway today. This begins a 30 day “no action” period, after which time they’ll officially select an alternative for implementation. While there is good stuff to be found in the plan, there is at least one sad piece of news to hikers that survived the planning process: the Craggy Pinnacle trail and overlook north of Asheville will be closed under the Park Service’s preferred alternative 🙁

There is no exact timetable on the implementation of the plan. You can get more information on the plan (including the entire 700+ page document for a good Saturday afternoon read).

Scratch that – don’t read the plan, it’s too late to do anything about it. Just go hike Craggy Pinnacle as many times as possible before it’s closed!