If coming north on parkway away from Asheville toward Boone, then Crabtree Falls is just great. If you can get as far north as Linville and can get out to Gingercake Road the best (i mean it) hiking is along the East Rim of Linville gorge. Go to the Table Rock Parking Lot and either climb Table Rock - or even better, head south to the Chimney's area. Spectacular Gorge scenery. Takes a while to get there from Asheville - maybe 2.5 hours, but the hiking is pretty easy and the best video/photos in Western NC (IMHO).
Hey Rich. Funny thing about the filming of the Brown Mountain Lights is that there almost hasn't been a camera made that can focus in the profound darkness that usually surrounds them. There are lots of vids that are supposedly the lights - but in the end they just look like fuzzy blobs that you can't make out. Tech needs to catch up I suppose.
