The hike is a short one with an enormous payoff. The deep green wilderness spreads east before you — mountains giving way to foothills giving way to river valleys. It is as vast a view as you're likely to get in this time zone. It makes you want to sit and ponder, contemplate, daydream.

The view is definitely worth the walk, and the walk is just 15 steps from the door of your motel room to the deck in the back.

EMAIL THIS PRINT THIS MOST POPULAR

IF YOU GO Getting there • The Pisgah Inn is at milepost 408 on the Blue Ridge Parkway just east of U.S. 276, about 170 miles from downtown Atlanta. A leisurely way to go is to take U.S. 441 to Cherokee, N.C., and the southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. From Atlanta, take I-85 North to I-985 North and merge onto Ga. 365 North, which becomes U.S. 23 North/U.S. 441 North, then merge onto U.S. 23 North, which becomes a ramp to U.S. 74 West/U.S. 441 North; merge onto U.S. 441 toward Great Smoky Mountains National Park/Cherokee/Speedway. About the inn • Pisgah Inn, P.O. Box 749, Waynesville, NC 28786. 828-235-8228, Web site. Standard room, $80 per night plus taxes; deluxe room, $90; and Pisgah Suite, $130. Restaurant serves moderately priced breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

The Pisgah Inn, at milepost 408 on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, a few sweeping curves east of U.S. 276, takes full advantage of its ridge-top location. Each of the inn's 51 rooms offers a postcard view of the North Carolina mountains; as does the inn's 147-seat restaurant.

As you might guess, the inn is booked well in advance for the fall leaf season, but check for cancellations or plan your getaway for next fall and make your reservations now.

Those staying at the inn could be forgiven for never leaving the grounds.

"Putting your feet on the railings and looking out over the mountains and reading a book is a lovely way to spend the afternoon," says Leslie Peebles, who makes the drive here from Tallahassee, Fla., summer after summer after summer.

But while you would get your money's worth just lazing on the balcony (ground level floors have patios), you would still be shortchanging yourself. The Pisgah Inn offers more than views. Like any great piece of real estate, the inn has location, location, location, an island of modern comfort in a vast sea of mountain wilderness.

Hiking trails leading to mountain peaks or waterfalls are just a short drive either direction on the Blue Ridge Parkway. A few trails, including one leading to the top of Mount Pisgah, start on the grounds of the inn.

Head downhill toward Brevard for mountain biking in Pisgah National Forest or DuPont State Forest. There are more than three dozen mountain biking trails in the national forest, some of them open only Oct. 15 to April 15 to avoid conflicts with hikers. DuPont State Forest, about a half-hour drive east of the inn, has more than 80 miles of trails that accommodate a wide range of riders from flabby beginners to hard-core experts.

And in the afternoon, you can cool off from hiking and biking by plunging into the frigid waters of the Davidson River at Sliding Rock recreation area.

Brian Womble, a McDonough orthodontist, has been using the Pisgah Inn as a comfortable base camp for outdoor adventure for 20 years.

"We hike a lot," says Womble, naming the nearby Shining Rock Wilderness Area as a favorite spot to ramble.

The Shining Rock Wilderness is 18,500 acres of rugged terrain with five peaks that top 6,000 feet, including Cold Mountain (yes, the one of the book).

Womble says his family, which includes boys ages 11 and 12, packs food for trail lunches and dines each evening at the inn's restaurant.

"We like to not go down the mountain if we can help it," Womble says.

It helps, Womble says, that the inn restaurant is as good, or better, than any in nearby Brevard or Waynesville.

The restaurant is a special passion of inn operator, Bruce O'Connell, a graduate of the Cornell Hotel School.

"The restaurant is my baby," says O'Connell. "We operate as if a brick wall stands where the view is." The food and service must stand alone, he says.

Womble and other regulars will see big changes in future visits. The inn, built in 1964, is about to undergo a $3 million renovation. The rooms will get new plumbing, updated wiring and larger bathrooms. The restaurant will get more seating, O'Connell says, if the expansion can be done without enlarging the footprint of the building. "We're not going to dig up any more of the national park," he says.

The inn is open April 1-Oct. 31 under a contract with the National Park Service.