Salt and SummitA local's North Carolina guide

High Country

Blue Ridge

Beech Mountain, Boone, Blowing Rock, and Banner Elk. Four Blue Ridge towns, plus the public land you actually drive to.

Last updated October 15, 2026.

Boone is the Watauga County seat and the supply town, at a published 3,333 feet. You'll find the groceries here. Blowing Rock is the smaller resort village on the ridge, with the Parkway at its edge and a breeze that named the town. Banner Elk is the Avery County college town in the valley between Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain. Beech Mountain publishes its elevation as 5,506 feet and calls itself the highest incorporated town east of the Rockies.

Three ski areas sit in or beside these towns: Beech Mountain Resort in Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain Resort in the Town of Sugar Mountain next to Banner Elk, and Appalachian Ski Mountain in Blowing Rock. The Blue Ridge Parkway, Grandfather Mountain, and Linville Falls are the shared day trips. The Parkway closes sections in winter. A scenic drive and an icy road are not the same plan.

The Town of Sugar Mountain and the town of Seven Devils are neighbors without their own pages in this edition. They get named when a resort or a road would otherwise land on the wrong town. ZIP codes are optimistic. Town lines are not.

Avery and Watauga CountyBeech MountainA summit town at a published 5,506 feet, with a ski resort inside the limits and trails above 5,000.Watauga CountyBooneWatauga's county seat and the High Country's supply town, with Appalachian State in the middle of it.Watauga CountyBlowing RockA small resort village named for a cliff where the wind can toss light objects back up.Avery CountyBanner ElkAn Avery County college town between two ski mountains, and home of the Woolly Worm Festival.