NC Adventure May 2011

97tjguzzy · Jun 6, 2011

Well after a little over 1k miles we are back and I'm ready to go back. We had a fun 5 day trip with lots of sight seeing, some gravel roads, some Camry rated trails, fun camping, rain, fog, sun, and mud.

We left Wednesday evening around 6pm. It was Hot!!! in Columbia and we were looking forward to the cooler weather in the mountains. After packing for a few hours and trying to pack everything, we gave up on remembering everything and rolled out.

packed and ready for the road

thumbs up and ready for the trip

entering the state where we would spend our next 5 days

Wednesday night campspot on Wash Creek Road

Thursday Morning

97tjguzzy · Jun 6, 2011

Thursday morning we woke up and made some sausage and pancakes went on a little hiking trail near our campsite and packed up. We headed up the parkway toward Mt. Mitchell. We had awesome weather and it was super sunny but a bit cool. We decided to go ahead and grab our campsite and then head back to Mt. Mitchell to check it out and eat a late lunch up on the mountain.

We ventured off the parkway onto the long winding rutted out dirt road that leads to black mountain campground. We got one of the last 3 spots left and unhooked the trailer and headed for the lookout to have lunch. The wind was blowing and it was cool, but the mountain was Awesome!!!. For anyone who hasnt been you should really see it at least once. After having lunch and "hiking" to the top via paved nature trail we took some pics and wandered around the area. Then we decided to head back to camp and hang out in the river a bit before making dinner.

That night we made a Frito Pie in the dutch oven (thanks for the idea Pat!) and had a few beverages while we played poker under the tarp as the rain started to come down.

97tjguzzy · Jun 6, 2011

some more pictures from thursday

97tjguzzy · Jun 6, 2011

It rained most of Thursday night but we stayed high and dry in the new Tent. I am having one issue with large volumes of rain gathering in the covered area outside the door of the tent, still looking for a good solution.

We made some scrambled eggs and bacon in the cast iron skillet and packed up camp to head for the Linville Gorge area. On the way we hit fog, rain, and some sun. The dirt roads were nasty but thanks to the new flares the jeep, trailer, and occupants stayed relatively clean.

We stopped in little switzerland at the Little Switzerland Cafe and General store for some lunch. I had a smoked trout BLT and Weston and Andrea had the BBQ sandwitch which was all very tasty. We arrived at Old NC 105 later in the afternoon and the sun had began to sneak out.

We unhooked the trailer and setup the ezup tent and then headed for Old Fort for the Mountain Music Festival. This would be the beginning of few things that belonged in the FAIL thread haha. First thing we learned was that Old Fort is a one horse town with nowhere to eat as everything is closed. The railroad museum closes at 5 and the mountain music doesnt start till 7...so you have nothing to look at or eat while in the down town area. We decided to head back into Marion to find some food. We stopped at an awesome bbq restaurant but decided to find something else as they had bbQ for lunch... We ended up at "The Steak House" ...word of warning, its a hacked together western sizzling, overpriced and microwave dinner style food. We eneded up heading to a drive in nearby for some icecream afterwords to try to save the evening.

Then the rain came down...and came down and came down. We decided to head back to camp and hang out hoping to wait out the rain. Well as soon as we got out of town the rain stopped and the sun began to shine. We made it back to camp in time to hike to a few trails. Andrea was tired and had been eaten by some sort of misquitos while weston and I had yet to get bitten so she hit the sack early while weston and I enjoyed some micro brews we found in little Switzerland.

97tjguzzy · Jun 6, 2011

this was a real smoker

On Old NC 105

At camp getting ready to head to Old Fort

97tjguzzy · Jun 6, 2011

Saturday was a day with less dirt road and more sight seeing for the female in our group. Although we did manage to find a really sweet road/trail through the country that led to banner elk. We started the morning like champions by baking some biscuits in the dutch oven and frying up some sausage patties.

After breakfast Andrea joked about driving so I told her she should. We had an exciting 10 mile dirt road 5speed learning experience and she did really well. We made our way up the parkway to the viaduct that I always wanted to drive over. Then we headed for Blowing rock where we did a bit of exploring and shopping and ate lunch. That is one of the most dog friendly towns I have ever been in. Very cool place to visit. Then we drove to Banner elk for a winery tour and tasting at the Banner Elk Winery. We hung out for a while there sipping on sangria and watching our dog play with a bulldog puppy named bella.

After the Winery tour we made our way to the town of linville to go to the General Store and Grist Mill to pick up some fresh ground grits. This was an alternative to our original plan of going to mabry mill near the VA line. It was not quit the same experience, but we did get some fresh ground grits...

On our way back we stopped at the linville river and as we were driving I spyed a monster truck, so of course I had to get a picture haha. After all of the hustle and bustle of the small towns of NC we went to hike the linville falls trails to see the falls before heading back to camp to make porkchops.