To get the most out of your vacation days advance planning is essential fun. Enhance the time spent daydreaming about your upcoming trip by reviewing these helpful travel websites.

Area Information
A very active and well maintained website, Welcome to Maggie Valley, developed by the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce, provides a wealth of information that is updated daily. This website provides local weather reports along with links to live webcams and a critical events calendar. It also provides tips for hikes, scenic drives, and entertainment within minutes of downtown Maggie.

The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority provides an extensive overview of activities in the Maggie Valley area. Developed locally by people in the know, it links to activities that are off the beaten path as well as information about the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and local waterfalls.

Guided Hikes
A visit to Maggie Valley/Waynesville would not be complete without a visit to see the elk of Cataloochee Valley. Cataloochee Valley Tours will take you there. April through October the valley is host to a variety of natural beauty. Along with the elk you can see unique wildflowers and birds in April and May and the show of the synchronous fireflies in May and June.

Motorcycle Tours
For motorcyclists or for anyone who wants to find great loop tours in the valley check out America Rides Maps. Wayne Busch, “The Map Guy,” has covered thousands of miles to develop maps that take riders on the most scenic and challenging rides in the area. The website provides custom designed maps, tutorials, and links to Wayne’s blog.

Fly Fishing
For beginners to experience fishermen, the people at Waynesville Fly Shop are your connection to successfully fishing the Haywood County area.

This nationally maintained website Trails.com should be a go to for anyone who enjoys outdoor activities. With detailed information on trail heads and maps for hikers, bicyclists, campers, scenic drivers, Trails.com is an essential resource for planning a visit to Haywood County.

We know that for many of you this may be the first time you have stayed at a vacation rental home; so, at Mystic Mountain we make every effort to put any uncertainties you may have to rest.

Here are just a few ways we show our appreciation for your business:

Mystic Mountain Regular Updates
When you book a stay at Mystic Mountain, we keep in touch. From your initial inquiry to your check in and check out, we make sure we are there for you. We keep you in the know through each step of the process with email notifications of receipt of deposits, payments, and lease agreements. We also provide you with a variety of websites in each email to help you plan your visit.

Mystic Mountain Welcome Package
At Mystic Mountain, we want you to have all the details you need to feel secure in your decision to stay with us sight unseen. Our informative Welcome Package includes:
1. Entry information
2. Directions to Mystic
3. Important emergency contact numbers
4. Facts about the cabin that will help you settle in
5. Travel brochures to help you plan your visit

Mystic Mountain Welcome Bag
We know that many of you are traveling long distances. So, we want to make sure that if you arrive too late to hit the grocery store you have breakfast covered. In the Welcome Bag you will find everything that you need for a continental breakfast – coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and a muffin mix (you just add water and bake).

Maggie Valley provides crafters with some excellent resources that rival products found in the craft stores of large metropolitan areas.

Meet the Reviewers
To evaluate the quality of the shops in Maggie my sister Nancy with 50 years of crafting experience and I took a tour. A few of Nancy’s talents include an expertise in jewelry making, painting, and paper crafting. I was a Creative Memories consultant for five years and enjoy scrapbooking. Additionally, I have been sewing clothing and interior decor items for 30 years. With these skills on our resumes, we felt qualified to offer reviews of the Maggie Valley shops.

Scrappin in the Mountains
Our first stop Scrappin in the Mountains provided an exciting assortment of papers. Rather than overwhelming, the artfully arranged selection makes finding the perfect papers a pleasure. What fun scrapbooking your trip to Maggie with the custom designed diecuts including the iconic Maggie herself along with the Elk of Cataloochee! If you come for a Scrapbooking Girlfriend Getaway, the light and bright work area would add to the fun.

Pretty Crafty
Our next stop on the craft store tour took us to Pretty Crafty. Darlene the owner is usually on site and is extremely knowledgeable. In addition to a good basic selection of scrapbooking supplies, Pretty Crafty includes products for a variety of interests. Nancy found some great beading tools and some helpful tips from Darlene. If you have varied crafting interests or you have kids stuck for a rainy day vacation activity, Pretty Crafty should be on your vacation to do list.

Quilters Quarters
Within a stone’s throw of Pretty Crafty lies Quilters Quarters. Walk through the door of this cabin shop and you are guaranteed to be inspired. The fabrics are not only artfully displayed but creatively organized. Selecting the colors for your first or next quilt will be a joy. The extensive product line brings regular visitors from throughout the southeast to the doorsteps of Sandy and Tom Fogarty, Dianne and Diane. They eagerly take suggestions for classes and have a very strong class schedule for beginners to intermediate to experienced quilters.

With so much to do in and around Maggie Valley, visiting the craft shops would not ordinarily make it onto your vacation to do list. But, these privately owned shops emphasize quality and unique products with talented displays. Stop in when you are out and about; you won’t be disappointed.

Never underestimate the value of the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce. The visitor center provides a variety of rack cards or information cards that highlight activities from all over western North Carolina. You will find visitor guides from the traditional like the Blue Ridge Parkway to the exotic like Santa Land. There are suggested activities for visitors of every age and every interest.

And if you are feeling overwhelmed by the number of choices, Jena and Nancy are there to help. They base their information on the feedback from the guests who have been coming back to thank them for the great tourism tips that they have been sharing with Maggie Valley visitors for years now.

The ladies’ number one pick for kids in the summer – Sliding Rock.

Make sure to stop by and introduce yourselves to Jena and Nancy and explore the many resources of the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center.

Small town Maggie with a population of around 800 year round residents offers the punch of big tourists areas without the congestion.

Looking for the ideal vacation spot? Asking yourself what Maggie Valley has to offer?

How about minutes away from:

the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
the Blue Ridge Parkway,
the Pisgah National Forest,
the Elk of Cataloochee.

Don’t forget trout fishing in the Mountain Heritage Trout Waters. Check out a map of the actual fishing areas in Maggie.

Move away from the naturalist’s pursuits with the following:

Antiquing around Maggie and Waynesville.
Golfing at the lovely Maggie Valley Club or Lake Junaluska Golf Course just to name a couple of courses.
Great live productions at Eaglenest.

For a great way to check out all the details please go to maggievalley.org . Please stay with us at Mystic Mountain Cabin so you can be where the action is.

With limitless activities in Maggie Valley and the surrounding areas of Haywood County, the choices can overwhelm first time visitors. Repeat visitors also can use guidance in seeking out unique things to do in the area. A few good guide books certainly can help you make the most of vacation time. Wireless internet and a comfortable work area to plan your travels also contributes to a fun time in the Smokies.

These are a sampling of the guide books that you will find at our vacation rental cabin, Mystic Mountain Cabin.

North Carolina’s Best Wildflowers Hikes by Kevin Adams has always been my favorite. The hikes provide a variety of options for the novice to the experienced hikers. Plus it is almost inevitable that the wildflower hikes will also include waterfalls, streams, old growth forests and the like. Organized by the months of the year, you can always find a wonderful hike but April is by far the best month of all in Maggie Valley.

Best Hikes of the Pisgah has several fun hikes. We did the Lovers’ Leap hike in Hot Springs and the Max Patch hike in Haywood County. Both of these hikes provide spectacular views- Lovers’ Leap of Hot Springs and the French Broad River and Max Patch of miles of multiple mountain ranges. The only caveat with this book – you need to double check on directions to the actual trail head.

You can’t go wrong with any of these books. Purchase them in advance of your trip or stay with us at Mystic Mountain Cabin and put them to work for you after you arrive.

In Maggie Valley, the traveler will find a convergence of the Smoky Mountain National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Pisgah Forest. With so much to see and do, it can be a challenge to plan a trip that includes the best rides.

That’s where America Rides Maps comes into play. Wayne Busch, an experienced motorcyclists, decided to share his love of riding the mountains in an assortment of excellent maps designed for ease of use. These detailed maps help you not only plan your vacation but also effortlessly get where you want to go. Driving around the mountains can be challenging. These maps take the guess work out of the ride.

For as little as five dollars, you can have five of the best rides around Maggie including tours of the Blue Ridge, Hot Springs, and the Devil’s Triangle of the Pisgah. Another map provides directions to some of the best roadside waterfalls in the area. With a dozen maps to choose from, there is sure be a driving tour that will interest you.

Wayne’s blog, The Cultivated Biker, provides a wealth of information for all travelers. Check it out. You will be glad that you did.

Planning a trip to Maggie Valley or the surrounding area, you will want to have an accurate impression of the local weather in order to pack appropriately. A fun and reliable site, Ray’s Weather Center, does more than provide an accurate weather forecast of each county in Western North Carolina. It also provides wonderful photos and local conversation. You will find drop down menus devoted to outdoor activities like birding and wildflower photography.

Links to webcams and a road conditions site along with an online almanac helps take the mystery out of packing for your visit to Maggie Valley and the surrounding area.