Blue Ridge Parkway closed indefinitely after Hurricane Helene

The entire Blue Ridge Parkway , a 469-mile stretch running through North Carolina and Virginia, is closed until further notice.

Why it matters: Prime leaf-peeping and hiking season just began.

The big picture: Hurricane Helene wreaking havoc on America's most-visited national park is a triple threat — it's rendered roads impassable, destroyed people's homes and impacted tourism during one of the most lucrative times of year.

Zoom in: The National Park Service is still assessing Helene's full impact, but in a Thursday update , the agency called the damage "significant, and in some cases catastrophic."

• The recovery efforts are so extensive that NPS employees are coming in from 32 states and D.C. to help Blue Ridge Parkway staff.
• The worst of the damage so far is from milepost 280 to milepost 469 , per NPS. That's near Boone, North Carolina, and the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.

Major Virginia hikes impacted by the parkway's closure include the famous Humpback Rocks outside of Charlottesville, McAfee Knob near Roanoke and Crabtree Falls, about two hours from Richmond.

What's next: The Park service says a timeline and cost estimate for repairs will be released in the coming weeks, but there's no reopening date in sight yet.