Appalachian Summer Camp

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Are your kids looking for something fun to do for the summer? Then send them to the Urec Camp at Appalachian State University. There is one more week left of camp, it’s July 23-27th. Students from rising 1st to rising 9th grade can enjoy this exciting and enjoying camp at Appalachian State University. The Urec camp staff is ran by the students of Appalachian State University, they provide a safe environment where the kids will enjoy variety of fitness, sports, outdoor and leadership activities during the camps. For more information about the camps and the activities go to the Urec website.

Beech Mountain Bike Race

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The town of Beech Mountain invites everybody this weekend on July 21 to the brews and views bike race. This is the second annual brew and views festival, the bike championship race’s last for three days. The Festival includes 40 craft brews, music from three bands, professional and amateur mountain bikers compete for Championships. This festival is for all age groups, activities for kids includes games and inflatables, paint facing and a chance to win a specialized youth mountain bike. Some of the craft beers involved in the tasting are; blowing rock Summer Ale, Shock Top, Southern Tier Hop Sun and plenty more. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the gate.

Adopt a Parkway

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Adopt-a-Street, Adopt-a-Highway, Adopt-a-Stream and similar volunteer programs help decrease government costs and foster a sense of community pride and ownership. Along the Blue Ridge Parkway, families, businesses and organizations can adopt an overlook. There is more than 270 Overlooks that are considered for adoption. The requirements are to mow grass, sweep sidewalks and parking areas, clean signage and have a three year commitment to do all of these things. Already 133 are adopted during the first year. So that leaves with just a little over 50% overlooks left for adoption, ranging from Mt. Jefferson to Linville for the local folks around Ashe and Watauga County.

Droughts Ending by Big Storms

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In the Southeast droughts about this time really can hurt the economy and especially farmers. But statistics have shown that during the big droughts in the summer either a tropical hurricane or a tropical cyclone hits. It’s great that it can end a drought but can come with great consequences. One reason why is because the ground is already dry and fast flooding can happen quickly. As much as 41 percent of droughts occurring in the southeast from 1955-2008 were ended by the storms. In Ashe County, we are in the lower percentage of droughts ending by storm. Big storms like this can cause up to millions and billions of dollars in damage. Right now, here in the High Country, the previous rain has helped out and hopefully will continue to keep the local farmers happy and growing strong.

Fun Hike with a Wonderful View

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Grandfather Mountain offers one of the most beautiful scenic trails in Western NC. It has a couple of trails that can reach about 1000 feet over the mile high swinging bridge. If you like a long hike and still take you to the top of Grandfather Mountain you can take the profile trail. The profile trail starts off the road at NC 105. The trail length is 3.1 miles long, It starts with rolling pathway through seasonal wildflowers then crosses the Watauga river, the lower part is considered fairly easy. The Upper part of the trail gets steeper but with rest stops with stone and log benches on the way up, the trail is strenuous but comes with a great price with the wonderful views. The profile trail ends when you arrive at the Calloway gap trail. At the top of Calloway gap there is two different ways to get to the very top of the mountain. These trails can have hard obstacles to overcome to get to the top. For example there are 4 or 5 different ladders and cables to climb sheer cliff faces. You do have to pay a hiking fee if you plan on going to the very top, but if you just want to hike the profile trail then hike down there is no fee. If you have not experienced these trails and you love the outdoors then you need to give Grandfather Mountain a visit.

New Things to do in the High Country

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In Boone NC located just minutes from downtown is the new mountain bike park. The trails are made for beginners to advanced riders, with trails that are singletrack, rocks, jumps and flow. There are three shelters, picnic area, and an adventure playground. If you like to help out in your community then come to Rocky Knob bike park on “Dirty Thursdays” and help keep the trails maintained.

Also in Boone NC the Appalachian community has added a female sport call roller girls. It is a full contact sport that involves skates. The derby league is based in Boone and has a mission to encourage female athleticism, community awareness through activities, and charity involvement.
The new Blowing Rock Art and History Museum opened up in downtown Blowing Rock that promotes visual arts, history and heritage of the mountains. The Museum has nearly 30 collections of the popular pastime, and a commemorating the Civil War in western NC.

Restaurants in the High Country NC

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Some of the new Restaurants in the High Country are Cracker Barrel, Woodhaven, Five guys, J&J’s chop house, Frontier BBQ. These are some of the new restaurants that have been built recently in the High Country. Cracker Barrel and Five Guy’s is located in Boone off of the Hwy 321, Cracker Barrel is a chained owned restaurant that serves country cooking through breakfast, lunch and dinner. Five Guys is also a fast food chained restaurant that is known for their large servings of hamburgers and fries. Woodhaven and J&J’s chophouse is located in Jefferson NC. Frontier BBQ replaced the name of Pappy’s BBQ in Banner Elk NC. Some of the other most popular restaurants in the High Country are the Dan’l Boone Inn off of Hardin Street in Boone NC. It serves up delicious family style meals for over 50 years now. The Game Keeper which is located in between Blowing Rock and Boone off of Shulls Mill Road. The Game Keeper is ranked top 100 U.S. Restaurants as ranked by over 7 million open table reviews. Game Keeper is not your ordinary restaurant they serve fresh game meats and fish grilled over a wood fire with seasonal vegetables. These are just a few of many great restaurants in the High Country, come out to support and enjoy these restaurants.

False Real Estate Tax Rumor

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The National Association of Realtors has some tax advice for users of the internet: Don’t believe everything you read. There has been a recent flare-up of chain emails purporting that, come Jan. 1, all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% federal sales tax. The problem: That’s not true. The basis for the rumors is the new 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income, which will take effect next year (Sec. 1411). That provision provides the rumors with a kernel of truth: A very small number of taxpayers will pay a surtax on gain from the sale of a principal residence. The new tax will only apply to single taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) in excess of $200,000 and married taxpayers with a MAGI in excess of $250,000 if filing a joint return, or $125,000 if filing a separate return. Those taxpayers will pay the tax on gain from sale of a principal residence, but only on the amount of gain that exceeds the thresholds in Sec. 121 ($250,000 for single taxpayers; $500,000 for joint returns).

 

If you have any other questions regarding real estate here in the NC and VA High Country feel free to contact Josh Johnson at any time.  He is your source of information within the High Country Association of Realtors in the beautiful North Carolina Mountains.  You can email him at Josh@AsheMountainProperties.com or reach him on his cell at 828-406-4495.