I headed back up Hwy 80 to the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed south towards Mt Mitchell State Park. The Parkway is still closed just after the park entrance, but is scheduled to reopen (after 2 years!) this Friday, May 15. We'll see. Anyhow, I got to the parking area at 10:30. There were chairs and a podium set up, but I wasn't sure if the festivities hadn't started yet or were already over. I didn't hang around to find out, but headed up the paved path towards the mountain summit. There I found a park ranger who had ribbon duty. He said the ceremony was starting below at 11, then the crowd would head up for the ribbon cutting. He was kind enough to allow folks under the ribbon to check out the tower - really not a tower, but more of a viewing platform which had actually been open for several weeks now.