Showing posts with label Black Mountan Recreation Area. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Mountan Recreation Area. Show all posts

Friday, September 26, 2008

We're back!

Well, it was a strange and wonderful trip. I'll write more once I've had time to think about it all.

The Black Mountains are, I've decided, the most beautiful and spectacular range in the South. No doubt about it. There was a time when I thought that title belonged to the Great Smoky Mountains, but no more. There's nothing quite like the Black Mountains here in the East.

The strange part of the trip was the scarcity of gasoline. We made it there and back, with some major good luck in finding gas in a couple of out-of-the-way small towns. But when we arrived back in Charlotte, we found an entire city with no gasoline! Ah, the once-great USA. I have to laugh.

More tomorrow.

How did I ever miss this waterfall? Roaring Fork Falls. Now on my list of favorites!

On the very darned rugged Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Potato Knob behind me. One of the top fifteen or so highest mountains in the East. I must go back to bushwhack to the summit.


Bear-proof garbage cans, yes. But the bears don't know that! One tried to get into this one (located about thirty feet from our campsite) one evening while we were sleeping. He came back to our campsite the following morning, but it's hard to snap a photo while you're cowering in your travel trailer.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Out of Thousands

RETURN TO BLACK MOUNTAIN



Marks does a backflip into the South Toe River

My camspite at Black Mountain Recreation Area, circa June, 2007.

Carole and I have decided where we're going to take a brief vacation in September. We looked over a large list of places where we'd like to take our travel trailer, and settled on the Black Mountain Recreation Area in the Pisgah National Forest. I went there once before with my nephew (Mark) and his son (Harris) and my son (Andy). The campground is quite beautiful and sits beside the South Toe River and has some great swimming holes. In addition, the campground is relatively remote, very quiet, and has the kinds of bathhouses Carole likes (flush toilets and hot showers). Even though we have bath/shower in our trailer, Carole prefers to use such facilities in a campground if they're provided. It does make it easier to keep the trailer in order, I have to admit.

I like this campground for a number of reasons. For one, it's isolated and I don't have to deal with too many humans. Second, there are a number of trails leading right out of the campground with routes leading up to the highest mountains in the eastern USA. I'll be quite happy there, as I always am in such a spot.



Falls on White Oak Creek

The wildlife viewing is supposed to be top-notch at the campground, and I've encountered both deer and bear on the Crest Trail high above the campground. I'm hoping we get to see some unusual critters on the trip, when it comes in a few weeks. The only thing we have to do is wait about three weeks after Carole's surgery before we head out. After that, her doctor has given her permission to go trailer camping, as long as she doesn't overdo it.



Hypocrite slut