not a happy camper

Most people who know Bryan and I know about our love for North Carolina. Typically we head South every Labor Day weekend, rent a house and enjoy the Western NC Mountains. This year I thought we'd try something different, and try to save some money in the process . . . camping! As I am the 'activity coordinator' of our household, I had planned the trip.

We decided to head to the Asheville area (instead of Boone) and stay at Mt. Pisgah Campgrounds. This is one of about a half of dozen National Park campgrounds on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I typically start packing for any trip/vacation weeks in advance (no joke). Well, I was behind for this trip; two days before we left Boy Scout Bryan had convinced me we that we were "grossly underprepared" for this trip and needed more camping gear. No way, I thought. We headed to Dick's and spent about $150 on camping gear (and this was supposed to be a cheap trip--ha!).

We arrived Friday late afternoon in the Ashville area. Apparently the address on the information I received was incorrect and there was no campground at this part of the Parkway. We later learned it was another 20 miles south on the Parkway. Anyone who is familiar with the Parkway knows driving 20 miles this can take up to an hour depending on the curves and altitude.

After arriving at the site, we set up camp. The grounds were basically soaked from a recent rain--no big deal, I thought. We knew we'd get some remnants of storms from hurricane Ernesto. As we set up our canopy it began to rain and continued to do so the entire night. No big deal, right? Wrong. Our tent was leaking on the bottom sides and not only were our edges of our tent wet, but also our pillows! Bryan, who has camped many, many times knew exactly what we got ourselves into . . . camping in the rain is old hat for him - but it somehow still managed to ruin his evening. Me, on the otherhand, I shrugged it off.

Saturday was great. Although it took almost all day to dry our tent, blankets, pillows and clothes, we managed to stay dry. We drove around the Parkway in the afternoon and went to the highest elevation on the parkway (6,000+ ft), and hiked to Yellowstone Falls--absolutely gorgeous! We realized we were camping high in sky, but had no idea we were literally "in the clouds" - which would explain why it took all day for our gear to dry out . . . the sun could barely peek through the clouds. Later that night we cooked over campfire while enjoying a glass of wine an excellent meal of grilled salmon, corn and vidalia onions - a perfect end to the day.

Sunday . . . well it mostly sucked. Allow me to explain. Breakfast was a nightmare--everything about it went wrong. While most others campers were done with breakfast and had already gone exploring, Bryan and I were still dorking around with breakfast. Afterward, we headed out to climb to the summit of Mt. Pisgah (a 750 foot rise in elevation over a distance of 1.5 miles). We thought that it was silly that the trail was makred "strenuous" - until we climbed it. It was no joke. Although there was little visibility that day when we reached the summit, it was well worth the hike. We only stayed at the summit for a short time because it started to rain--no big deal, right? We were convinced that it was only raining at summit as the campgrounds were at a lower elevation. Well, we started to worry once we hiked back down the mountain and it was indeed raining at the lower elevation. We had said to ourselves, if our gear is wet again, we are leaving, and chucked because we were sure we were okay.

Upon arriving back to our campsite, it was confirmed that everything was wet again! After about 10 minutes of deliberating over our options--we packed up and left. We estimated we could be home in 8-8.5 hours which would out us home at 12:30ish--in the AM. When we arrived home we were so glad we left. Poor Bryan had driven the entire time. He was devoted and intent on our mission home, since the weekend was largely a flop.

Monday (Labor Day) was spent unpacking, and washing everything from the mud to the campfire smell off our gear. We love the campfire smell when camping but who wants to smell it after that? Boy, did it smell!

Highlights of the trip:

1. Beautiful view of mountain and literally camping in the clouds.
2. Hiking to Yellowstone Falls
3. Hiking up to the Summit of Mt. Pisgah
4. Driving to the highest elevation on the Parkway (6,000+ ft)
5. Excellent salmon, corn, grilled vidalia meal on Saturday night.
6. Listening to Bryan and purchasing more gear @ Dick's Sporting Goods, prior to our trip.
7. Bryan not even once saying to me "who's idea was this whole camping thing?"
8. And the biggest highlight . . . spending time with my hubby!

Low-points of the trip:

1. Rain & wet pillows
2. Rain & wet pillows
3. Rain & wet pillows
4. Getting 2 violations from the campground. One for keeping food out, the other for being loud after quiet hours. We weren't sure if 3 strikes you are out . . . but at the point we recieved our second violation . . . we didn't care.
5. Smelling like campfire on the way home for 8 hours.
6. Taking all day on Monday to clean up everything.
7. Having no clue that we brought home a mouse from mountains which had enjoyed the journey home in our glove box.

Conclusion: We were very glad we went on our trip. If Saturday wasn't such a successful, fun day then we probably would have regretted it. We learned a ton, and really can't wait to go camping again. (Well . . . we are going to wait until Spring).

We will probably camp locally until we have mastered it all. You gotta remember we are more of "cityfolk", and Bryan, although he's an Eagle Scout . . . let's just suffice it to say that it has been years for him and . . . he really does enjoy the 'conveiniences' we have in our lives.

We most definitely will return to not only the Ashville area, but also the Mt. Pisgah area of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Across the street is one of the few hotels on the Parkway I'd love to try. Although it not a glamorous hotel (it is more like a motel), it has the most priceless views. They have a very nice (and pricey to my amazment) restaurant overlooking the mountains. They book quickly, though--for Labor Day weekend they are booked a few months in advance. For the mid-October foilage change they are book a year in advance!!!! I also want to check out the nearby Biltmore Estate.

Oh by the way . . . Bryan has added Asheville to the list of many places he wants to move. I'm not quite sure how this will work; so far he wants to keep our current condo in Akron overlooking the Cuyahoga River and Cuyahoga Valley National Park, while securing a second home at the Northside Lofts downtown, and now he wants to live in Asheville. Hmmm . . . I think I need to get a second job or eight.