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Winter’s Delights
Written By: Mary Jane McCall | Issue: Winter 2025 | Photograph By: Susan Renfro
The Plateau is home to a raft of activities that’ll get your heart pumping and invigorate your outlook. (In the words of Highlands’ unofficial commentator and eternal friend of the editor, the late Walter Taylor: “Make sure you wear two pairs of socks. And a few sips of peach bounce wouldn’t hurt.”)
So you think that now that the holidays have come and gone there isn’t much to do on the Plateau?
We say it isn’t so!
The winter season offers an entirely different perspective on enjoying the great outdoors so bundle up and enjoy this less crowded season that offers abundant opportunities for fun, exploration, and excitement.
Highlands Outpost at 7420 Dillard Road in Scaly Mountain offers snow tubing and ice skating daily, weather permitting, from 10:00 until 6:00, with extended hours on Saturdays from 9:00 until 8:00. Those extended hours also apply New Year’s week, January 1-5, and during Martin Luther King weekend, January 18-20 and Presidents Day weekend, February 15-17.
It is anticipated that Highway 106 between Highlands and Scaly will be open for at least a portion of the winter months. This is your opportunity to catch up on all the fun you might have been missing when the journey down the mountain wasn’t as convenient.
While you’re there don’t miss a chance to ride on North Carolina’s longest gravity-powered mountain coaster, the Scaly Mountain Screamer.
For more information, information on group sales, and to confirm hours of operation, call (828) 526-3737 or visit their website at highlandsoutpost.com.
After all that activity you’ll be ready to enjoy a delicious meal at their onsite restaurant, El Guacamole Loco.
Downtown Highlands offers ice skating in the picturesque Kelsey-Hutchinson Park. Open Thursday-Sunday, hours are Thursdays from 3:30 to 8:00 P.M., Fridays from 3:30 to 10:00 P.M., Saturdays from 1:00 to 10:00 P.M., and Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00 P.M. For more information visit their website at highlandsnc.org/recreation-ice-rink.
Additonal options for wintertime fun are Highland Excursions (highlandexcursion.com) and Jackson Hole Gem Mine (jacksonholegemmine.com.) You’ll want to reach out to both to discover their winter offerings.
