Leaving Raleigh

We left Raleigh at 9am on Tuesday morning. Thursday through Monday had all been triple digit temperature days so we were ready to leave. Raleigh summer heat is less than desirable. We headed west on 40 towards the south portion of the Appalachian mountains – close to the North Carolina / Georgia border. Prior to reaching Ashville, we turned south on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Blue Ridge parkway was built in the 30’s as an economic distribution to the not so well-off Appalachian country folks. It runs along the highest points of the Appalachian mountains for about 469 miles from Virginia to NC. We were only on it for about 40 miles, but the views are amazing. The speed limit is 45 and it looks like a two-lane bi-way. The road weaves from the western face to the eastern face as it curves through the peaks and every ¼ mile or so there is a scenic overlook.

There were small storm systems working through the mountains too so at some of the lookouts we could see the split from where it was raining to where it was clear and sunny. It took us about two hours to go the 40 miles.

There are also short tunnels every mile or so.

The blue ridge highway does not however have any gas stations. So after cruising along for an hour or so, we started looking for a gas station with the garmin. It told us there was one 5.2 miles away. But 5.2 miles in these here hills was about a 40 minute drive. The road descending from the parkway was like driving on a steep curved driveway to some billionaires mansion for 10 miles. The detour did take us to the foot of Cold Mouintain.

We left the parkway and headed south towards highlands and found a campsite at Van Hook Glade Campground in the Nantahala National Forest. It is at 3200 feet.

We asked the campground host about canoeing around the area and he sent us over to a different campsite. It was a couple from Ohio who had been coming to this site for 7 years. We sat at their fire and smoked a cigar. They gave us a map and a couple tips on where to hike, swim, canoe, eat, etc. And they gave us a MRE (meal ready to eat of sweet pork and two bales of firewood). They met dee and told us about how they had to put down their 14 year old german shepherd a couple weeks ago and that this was their first camping trip without him.