Seven Devils' hummingbirds

I've said it before, but God bless Google Alerts. Without them, I would never have come across this 40-second clip of some hummingbirds in beautiful Seven Devils.

You never know what wildlife you'll see in the High Country: bears, snakes, chipmunks, wild turkeys ... and now hummingbirds.

Enjoy!

A new/old park in the works?

The town of Seven Devils was not initially created to offer the standard "perks" of being a town. (Heck, it wasn't even conceived as a town but as a resort community.) But the town has changed its destiny over the years to that of a municipality. With that comes a responsibility to offer amenities, such as good roads, police protection and parks.

That's why it's nice to see Town Manager Ed Evans and his staff looking into the idea of finding land for new parks, according to the Watauga Democrat.

The town of Seven Devils is working to buy a nearly 10-acre tract complete with waterfall for use as a community park.
Town residents have been interested in the Otter Falls area for several years, but a previous attempt to buy it fell through. 
Now, the town is waiting to see whether a grant from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund will aid in the purchase of the wooded parcel, said Town Manager Ed Evans.
"I think everybody would enjoy having this as an area where they could walk and picnic and just enjoy the scenic beauty of the waterfall itself," Evans said.
The land is located off Lillian Drive in Seven Devils, about a mile from the Town Hall. A path guides visitors through the steep forest toward Otter Falls, which drops about 10 or 12 feet off a boulder as Valley Creek sloshes downhill toward Foscoe.
...
The town is asking for $135,800 from PARTF, to be combined with a local government match of the same amount. Seven Devils should know in late May whether the PARTF grant is awarded, Evans said.
Evans said he's heard from numerous community members who have indicated a willingness to make donations toward the town's match. The town also might consider a short-term loan to secure its amount.
If the PARTF grant is not awarded, the deal likely won't happen, he said.
"Coming up with the full amount, I suspect everybody would say, we're just not in a position to do that," he said.
While they're waiting to hear, residents are already discussing how the land might be used to complement the town.
Seven Devils currently has a public area with tennis courts and a playground. Bear Paw State Natural Area also pokes into the town, but the area is undeveloped, Evans said. Otter Falls would be unlike any other public space the town currently offers, he said.

Whether it happens or not, it's still nice to see that town leaders are trying to make the area the best it can possibly be.

Hey, look! Snow!

Seven Devils, N.C., "enjoys" quite the range in elevation. This range results in some quite severe (for North Carolina, at least) weather patterns. It could be pleasant and nice in nearby Wilkesboro, N.C., yet windy, brutally cold and snowing up at Our Mountain Place, which is up near the top of Hanging Rock Mountain (and near Hawksnest).

Some good friends of ours stayed at the old Honey Bear House recently -- right when 7D was "blessed" with about 14 inches of snow(!).  Fortunately, this was good; our friends were up there to do some skiing. Hooray!

Anyway, this footage (from YouTube, not from our friends) doesn't really illustrate 14  inches of snow, but it does give a glimpse of what it would look like right around town hall.

Enjoy!

Get your winter on

The good folks at VisitNC.com have put out a great resource on winter goings-ons in North Carolina. You can view it here. A number of the hot spots are in the N.C. High Country. Among them ...

Appalachian Ski Mountain
Blowing Rock 
Appalachian Ski Mountain dates back to 1962. The resort features 12 slopes, including three terrain parks, an ice arena, ski shop, gift shop, nursery and free Wi-Fi in its restaurant. Additional offerings include night skiing; ski, snowboard, skiboard, ice skate, helmet and clothing rentals; and group and private lessons.

Beech Mountain Resort  
Beech Mountain 
At 5,506 feet, Beech Mountain Resort is the highest ski and snowboard destination in eastern North America. In addition to day and night skiing and snowboarding, it offers two terrain parks, a 7,000-foot outdoor skating rink, gear rentals, private and group lessons, food, lodging, shopping and a nursery. The resort also features an adaptive learning center where volunteers teach children and adults with disabilities how to ski and snowboard.

Beech Mountain Sledding Hill
Beech Mountain
This free sledding hill is located next to the Beech Mountain Chamber of Commerce and Town Hall and features its own snowmaking machines. Open to children 12 and under. Plastic sleds and parental supervision required.  

Hawksnest Resort
Seven Devils 
Hawksnest Resort is a family-friendly winter area that’s home to the largest snow tubing park on the East Coast as well as the longest zip-line tour in the nation. The tubing park is comprised of four areas and more than 20 lit lanes ranging from 400 to 1,000 feet in length. The zip-line course features 19 cables covering four miles and is open year-round.

Sugar Mountain
Sugar Mountain 
Sugar Mountain features 20 slopes, 15 of which are lit for night skiing and riding. The resort also features the NASTAR public racing program, a terrain park, snowshoeing, snow tubing and ice skating at a 10,000-foot outdoor ice rink. In addition, Sugar Mountain offers equipment rentals, private and group lessons, food, lodging, shopping and daycare.

A mid-November opening for (some of) the slopes

Despite all the autumn snow up in the High Country, it looks like many of the area's ski and tubing slopes will open next weekend. Opening day at Appalachian Ski Mountain is set for November 16, while Hawksnest Resort (tubing) is scheduled to open the next day. (Have we mentioned before that Our Mountain Place is right beside Hawksnest? Oh, we  haven't? Now you know!)

Of course, none of this is written in snow -- er, stone.

From Hawksnest's website:

We are targeting the weekend of the 17th to open, but it will depend on the weather.  Please watch our webcam for snowmaking progress.  We will be open daily for zipline tours, weather permitting.  Please call ahead for zipline reservations.


Sugar Mountain IS already open, according to its website:

Snowmaking in progress as temperatures allow.

THIS is a good sight to see!

We talked yesterday about the crazy weather that Superstorm Sandy has brought us. One of the benefits is the early snow on the area's ski slopes! Here's an image from the webcam* at Appalachian Ski Mountain, via Ray's Weather Center%.



*The High Country is blessed with a host of great weather-related webcams. For conditions closer to Our Mountain Place, be sure to check out the Seven Devils webcam, looking back toward town hall:

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%And no trip to the mountains should be complete without first checking out Ray's Weather Center. Bookmark it TODAY!

From peak season to a foot of snow

First of all, thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by Superstorm Sandy. The latest sounds like she has dumped quite a bit of snow in the High Country. I can only imagine what it looks like up around Our Mountain Place. I'm sure it's gorgeous -- but I'm sure it's also treacherous. Be safe, everyone.

It's hard to imagine that this was our view up there just over a week ago (via Instagram).

We had a FANTASTIC time in the High Country, made all the better by spectacular weather. (The calm before the storm, perhaps?)  Oh, screw it; here are some more great autumn photos -- all taken from our place.

We packed a lot of cool things in a couple of days. The kids loved gem mining (once again) at Foscoe Gem Mining Co. The adults had a GREAT time at the Grandfather Winery. (The kids also had fun throwing rocks into the Watauga River -- coming *this close* to hitting the poor dog that apparently lives at the vineyard.) And we had a nice time in Blowing Rock, strolling around the bass lake at Moses Cone Park, enjoying the park behind the Mast General Store annex, and even a tasty (if slow-going) meal at Mr. Original's Gyros.

In short, I'm ready to get back up there. It is, after all, ski season (already)!