Appalachian Medley

Appalachian Medley is a North Carolina scenic byway on Highway 209, running from Lake Junaluska, about 27 miles west of Asheville, to the mountain town of Hot Springs. The route takes its name from the region's rich tradition of mountain music, a fitting theme for a road that winds through rural communities dotted with historic barns and rises and falls repeatedly through the Blue Ridge foothills. Much of the drive runs alongside the Pisgah National Forest, a 500,000-acre forest spanning 12 counties, and at points closely parallels the Appalachian Trail itself as both cross the same mountain terrain. Near the byway's end, the Lover's Leap Trail in Hot Springs offers a well-known hike up to a bluff overlooking the French Broad River and the town below. Twisting through some of western North Carolina's most prominent peaks, the byway is as much about the rhythm of the drive, its curves echoing the ups and downs of old-time fiddle tunes, as it is about any single destination along the way.

• Lake Junaluska to Hot Springs (NC-209)
• Pisgah National Forest
• Appalachian Trail proximity
• Lover's Leap Trail
• French Broad River
• Blue Ridge Mountains music heritage