354 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
laurel and the flame-colored azaleas have planted 
their standards. And in their seasons the wild flow- 
ers blossom everywhere; also the rocks are covered 
with those crisp, sweet-smelling herbs that love 
high places, and sedums and saxifrages trim the 
crevices and the ledges. 
Blowing Rock is also noted for the great variety 
of new mushrooms that have been captured there, 
though one suspects this renown is due to the fact 
that the mushroom hunters happened to pitch their 
tents here instead of somewhere else. For other parts 
of the mountains can make a showing in mushrooms, 
too. 
It sometimes rains at Blowing Rock, but there are 
other times when one stands there on the brink in 
bright sunshine and sees, it may be, four showers 
descending on different parts of the country at once. 
Blowing Rock has long been a favorite summer 
resort, and at present is most easily reached by way 
of a drive twenty miles long, up the ridges from 
Lenoir, where a short branch railroad connects with 
the main line at Hickory. 
At Blowing Rock, the Blue Ridge, as so often hap- 
pens along its course, presents a steep wall towards 
the foothills, but keeps its elevation at the top, 
extending back in a wide plateau ; hence the country 
back of Blowing Rock and the Grandfather Moun- 
tain has a general elevation of from three thousand 
to four thousand feet; that is, the valley bottoms are 
thus high, which is what gives to this part of the 
country its peculiar charm. It is the walker's para- 
