This Land, Your Land

Bluffs Lodge and the coffee shop at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Doughton Park may not reopen after closing for the season, according to the Blue Ridge Parkway Journeys blog.

"Economic conditions and planned road closures due to guidewall restoration will likely keep the favorite-destination lodge and coffee shop closed for the foreseeable future," the blog says. "The operating concessioner (lessee), Forever Resorts (Scottsdale, Arizona) has indicated that they will not be renewing their lease arrangement with the park service next year."

The 24-room Bluffs Lodge closes for the season November 1, the blog says. Construction work on stone walls in the Doughton Park area is expected to be completed in the spring of 2012.

Blue Ridge Country magazine, in its December issue, explains how Parkway concessionaires find it hard to make money. The National Park Service's contract requirements make the concessions unattractive, so the NPS hasn't even sought new bidders in recent years.

Because of Forever Resorts' withdrawal, the NPS is in fact seeking "expressions of interest" through November 8 in operating Bluffs Lodge and the coffee shop, plus concessions at Julian Price Lake, the Crabtree Falls gift shop, the Mabry Mill restaurant and gift shop, Rocky Knob cabins, the Peaks of Otter lodge, restaurant and country store, and the Otter Creek restaurant and gift shop.

As Blue Ridge Parkway Journeys and Blue Ridge Country both say, the withdrawal of a concessionaire leaves the future of the affected Parkway facilities totally up in the air.

As the meadow at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Crabtree Meadows Recreation Area fades into history, the National Park Service has changed the park's name to capitalize on the area's 70-foot waterfall.

Crabtree Meadows Recreation Area has been renamed Crabtree Falls Recreation Area, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported recently. The park is at Milepost 339.5 near Spruce Pine.

Many visitors are unaware of the 2 1/2-mile Crabtree Falls Loop Trail and Crabtree Falls, the newspaper says. The 253-acre recreation area also has a campground, picnic area with grills, and restaurant and gift shop.

For more information, contact Crabtree Falls Campground at 828-675-5444