Hiker dies in fall from popular trail on Blue Ridge Parkway, NC park says

The Easter weekend began with a death along the Blue Ridge Parkway, when a hiker tumbled off a trail, according to the National Park Service.

Jie Huang, 40, died around 3 p.m. Friday, April, 18, after falling “into waters adjacent to the Boone Fork Trail,” the park reported. The trail is near Blowing Rock, about a 95-mile drive northwest from Charlotte.

“Rangers, along with Watauga and Blowing Rock EMS, responded to the scene, recovered the hiker, and performed CPR,” the park reported in an April 19 news release.

“Huang was pronounced deceased at the scene. The preliminary investigation indicates Huang died as a result of injuries sustained from his fall.”

Huang was visiting the trail from Plymouth, about a 320-mile drive east from the parkway.

Park officials did not identify the body of water where he was found.

The Boone Fork Trail is a 5-mile loop that parallels and crosses creeks, and includes multiple waterfalls, according to the Village of Sugar Mountains. The trail head is at milepost 296, about one mile from where Huang was found.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469-mile “scenic drive” that traverses mountain tops along the Appalachian Highlands in North Carolina and Virginia.

This story was originally published April 20, 2025 at 7:43 AM with the headline "Hiker dies in fall from popular trail on Blue Ridge Parkway, NC park says."