#NC mountains

[kimberly40]

[thesingingbullfrog]

[gardenbicycle]

Cold (2022) by Charlie Fitzgerald

[noordinarysunset]

Sunrise at Linville Cove

Blue Ridge Parkway Linville, North Carolina

[nappyrootedrunner1]

Some sights and sounds from yesterday’s hike at Stone Mountain, NC.

First time out there, so I opted for the namesake loop trail that took me by the fall and up to the summit. A nice day to get in a few and take in a view!

Until next time…

[intheholler]

This is in response to your West Virginia anon.

I'm also looking to move to the region and ironically western NC is the area I dream about. I live (unhappily) in a large northern city now but came of age down south - further south, actually, but the Blue Ridge is my happy place. I never wanted to leave the south at all but found myself in a place where I ran out of opportunities and had to leave to survive. Now I feel like my mental health demands I go back that direction.

I'm pretty poor so I don't think I'm much of a threat as a gentrifier but I AM worried about being able to make a go of it. Is it still a place where a disabled, newly sober person with a high school education (I can drive a car, for whatever that's worth, though!) can move in and be ok in terms of finding an affordable place to live and a way to make a living? Is there anywhere in particular you would suggest I go?

ayyy best carolina <333

valid concerns, honestly.

to be frank i do worry about the affordability of it all for you, and anyone else really. WNC is seriously getting fucked by snowbirds and by corps coming in and shearing off ridges to build housing plants and vacation homes.

plus, the last few years, with this weird trend of SpoOkY ApPaLaChIa, there's air bnbs everywhere taking up potential homes. young rich kids keep flocking here, taking up more precious space and giving very little back. (probably bc the only place they reliably could name in appalachia until recently was asheville, but i digress.)

and because everyone's been flocking in for the last decade/two decades, prices are sky high, even in small towns.

that's before you consider the scarcity of job availability, which may also pose an obstacle for you. jobs have always been scarce here, independent of the housing issues. growing up it was all just minimum wage retail, hospitality, gas stations, stuff like that unless you live somewhere bigger, or worked at a hospital/care home.

and there's only so much of that per tiny town with lots of residents. you (plural, general, not you specifically obviously) cant find a job in town A where you live, but you found one in town B an hour and a half away. your low paycheck is gone in the gas it takes to get there n back.

meanwhile, person in town B can't find a job in their hometown cause you done took it out of necessity. so they go to town C and find one. person in town C gotta go to town D now. so on and so on.

it's just... there's just not a lot.

pair that with the recent influx of gentrifiers, and people born here are struggling as is.

god this reply hurt my heart to write. please just let appalachia rest (not you, anon. them.)

as an aside, that is so cool about your sobriety by the way. congratulations, seriously. i know im just some asshole on the internet but im proud as fuck of you and i hope you can find a healthy, happy place to live in our beautiful hills. i'm partial to areas like clyde, sylva and cullowhee personally <3

[spideracres]

First time making sourdough focaccia.

[tijipi]

[s-d23]

So sad for the western part of our state. My husband has literally worked 16 hours days since Friday after working 40 the first part if the week, trying to trees off lines. They're are lineman where he is now all the way from Canada. He's not in the western part of the state still nearby but it's horrible. Here in the foothills schools are still out. There is still people without power. Praying for western NC 🙏

appalachia is devastated. towns i loved, towns i visited all the time, are gone. not damaged, GONE. they are leveled to the ground. there is nothing left but rubble and ruin. people are dead. appalachia is poor to begin with and relies on tourism for a lot of its income, and multiple of those tourist locations are just...gone.

my town is okay, but it's flooded and wrecked. trees are blocking all but one way out of our neighborhood. power lines are hanging limp in the roads. we've been without power for over 24 hours and will continue to be without power for likely another 24+. disabled people and poor people are GOING to die from this. gods save appalachia.

[kimberly40]

The House of Mugs in Collettsville, North Carolina is located in Caldwell County. The House of Mugs (AKA the Collettsville Cup House) is a true labor of love created one nail and mug at a time.

At the very end of an unpaved country road stands a cozy home, completely covered in coffee mugs. The owners, Avery and Doris Sisk, created their quirky attraction almost by accident. It started over 15 years ago with a box-lot of 15 mugs picked up at a flea market. It seemed like a good décor decision at the time, so they hung them up.

More and more have been added over the years, and now – at least 20,000 mugs later – Avery and Doris have created a destination. Their cabin in the woods is dripping in cups and mugs of all kinds, the gates and fencing too.

The Sisks are both artists as well as collectors, welcoming and happy to show off their home. If you catch them on the porch you’ll likely be invited inside to see their other collections of dolls and police memorabilia too, but it’s the cups and mugs are what draw people in. Most have been collected by the Sisks themselves, but some have been added by the tourists who stop, something the Sisks encouraged. If you can find an empty nail, you’re welcome to leave one too.

Know Before You Go:

There's no charge to see the Sisk's collection, but donations are welcome. To see the Cup House, follow NC Route 90 north/west out of Collettsville for about half a mile and turn left onto Old Johns River Road. Follow for about 2 & 1/2 miles to a gravel road turn-off on the right. Bear right onto the gravel road and follow all the way to the end. No GPS out there, but locals will generally know where the Cup House is, in case you need to ask for directions.

[thesingingbullfrog]

Cold and snowy in the NC mountains today.

[s-d23]

NC EBT

23 counties in NC that were affected by hurricane Helene will receive 70 percent of their EBT allotment for September this month. This is for households that received FNS in the month of September. This benefit is automatically applied to your card and should already be there as of 10/6.

All NC FNS recipients can purchase "hot" foods for the month of October with their EBT, only in NC. This is not for fast food or food in restaurants. Spreading the word for those who may not be aware.

[g00pyjes]

i had the luck to get out of the mountains the other day. whatever you're reading on the news about asheville, it is worse. most (if not all) of the city has no running water, and those that do are told not to drink it. not even well water is safe to drink. thousands of people are trapped in their homes or left entirely homeless. entire towns are destroyed.

it was the beginning of tourist season in the mountains a couple days ago. due to the destruction, most of asheville (a tourist city) will be lacking in their income or entirely out of work.

if you want to volunteer, volunteer. help hand out food or participate in wellness checks on people who may be trapped.

if you want to donate, donate to local charities (we recommend BeLoved Asheville) as big corps (red cross, fema) have been known to embezzle. you can also donate necessities (diapers, water, hygiene products) or non-perishable foods to donation centers or first responders. common clothing items (socks and underwear) can be donated as well. firefighters especially could appreciate more long padded socks as they walk through disgusting waters to save people.

do NOT make this into your next new political statement. people are dying and neither party is helping them. nobody is talking about it outside of the towns it's happening in.

do not let them disappear. do not let entire cities, thousands of people, fade from memory as if we never existed.

the pictures do not do it justice. sides of the roads have broke and fallen. mudslides and landslides have rendered the longest interstate in NC unusable. bridges have collapsed. anyone in west nc/east tn have been strongly advised to NOT LEAVE. the roads are closed for everything except emergencies. we're stranded. we're under a boil warning. dams are at risk of breaking and there is more to come. mountain towns weren't built for weather like this. pray for us.

[noordinarysunset]

Land Harbours Lake Linville, North Carolina

[nappyrootedrunner1]

Sights and sounds from yesterday’s 7-mile trek…