Nearly 16 million visit the Blue Ridge Parkway every year. The 469-mile road through North Carolina and Virginia is the most used National Park Service site. Unfortunately, with all this use comes issues with conservation and misuse. Blue Ridge Parkway officials are now pulling the plug on a popular sledding area.

The “Sled Hill” area near milepost 294.5 in Blowing Rock, NC, is closed immediately for winter-related activities. The list includes sledding, tubing, skiing, and snowboarding. On top of that, vehicles can no longer park on the Parkway administrative access road and parts of Shulls Mill Road.

Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Tracy Swartout says the closure is to protect the area and people who are dangerously close to the roadway.

“The growing popularity of winter recreation activities in this area unfortunately can no longer be accommodated. The area was not designed for snow play or a high level of pedestrian use, and these activities, combined with roadside parking, have created a dangerous situation for park visitors,” said Swartout in their press release. “In recent years staff have witnessed multiple near misses of adults and children with passing vehicles due to unsafe conditions, high volumes of traffic, and poor sight lines. While we know that this will be disappointing to many of our winter visitors, we must take this action in the interest of visitor safety.”

Blue Ridge Parkway officials are building a fence and adding signage. Park Rangers will ticket anyone found breaking the rules.

Places to Go Sledding

While this means the end of a longtime popular area for sledding, plenty of public lands and national parks have places to enjoy the winter slopes.

Kings Canyon National Park

The Big Stump section has a snow play area where visitors can sled and build a snowman.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Sledding is a popular go-to in this northern California park. The most popular destination is near the Kohm Ya-mah-nee Visitor Center. Just a warning, park officials say sledding the number one cause of injury in the winter at this park.

Olympic National Park

The park encourages visitors ages nine and up to enjoy tubing at the Hurricane Ridge Ski and Snowboard areas. The area is open on holidays and weekends. The park is also full of backcountry areas for experienced skiers and snowboarders.

Rocky Mountain National Park

It wouldn’t be Colorado without hitting the slopes. Rocky Mountain has an area called Hidden Valley with a designated bunny hill.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

This waterfront park in Michigan is best known for its sand dunes. However, in the winter, people can bring tubes and saucers to try riding the snow-covered hills.

You can find even more sledding destinations at National Park Service areas here.

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