 |
| My view from my campsite at Douthat State Park in Virginia |
The camping gods were smiling down on me when I reached Douthat State Park in Virginia. I got the last campsite available (which was only available because someone had called and canceled an hour before)! It turns out that those people have good taste in campsites because I got a spot right on the lake! After a quiet night of making spaghetti and plotting potential adventures for the next day, I got to sleep early, which facilitated my ability to get an early start the next day. I was up and going about my business when a most inquisitive and personable neighbor came over. She wanted to know about everything I owned and did and why my car was so messy! I let that last part slide since she helped me take down my tent (and the due to the fact she was three years old). After a while, her grandpa came over and struck up a conversation that ended with him insisting that I eat some of his cherries and asking if I’d like to go canoeing with them. Heck yes, I wanted to go canoeing with them! We paddled all around the perimeter of the lake while I got filled in on interesting facts about the park and general travel tips for the area. We also had time for a quick walk on the dock and a rather lengthy game of chase at the park. It was a most enjoyable and unexpected adventure!
 |
| A creek on the trail in Douthat State Park in VA |
After leaving Natalie and Ned at the campground, I went for a quick hike that led to a dip in the lake. The beach at Douthat was smallish, but very fun! In the middle of the deep water swimming area, there was a floating dock with a diving board and a slide that let you drop a few feet above the water! Let me tell you, the 8 to 12 year old boys and I had a ton of fun on that thing!
 |
| View of the Smoky Mountains from the Blue Ridge Parkway |
After quickly drying off after my fifteenth time down the middle-of-the-water slide, I got in the car and headed towards North Carolina. I took the interstate until I got within a few miles of North Carolina. At that point, I got on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Each outlook was more breathtakingly beautiful than the last! You could easily spend several days exploring this road! Luckily, due to not having a terribly detailed map of the area and not looking into the directions too carefully, I did not make it to the campground I had planned on going to (or my backup for that matter). Instead, I ended up at the top of Mount Mitchell (the highest point in North Carolina) at sunset! The combination of being at such a spectacular vantage point, the stunning sunset, and the magnificent smoky mountains (smoking to perfection) made for quite an extraordinary moment!
 |
| Sunset on the Blue Ridge Parkway |
 |
| Funny sign in Asheville, NC |
I made it down the mountain and off the parkway, which is remarkably less enjoyable and more fraught with terror in the dark (but then, aren’t most roads) and to Asheville for the night. I got up early-ish the next morning. I’ve heard many good things about Asheville and was excited to explore it for myself. I drove and walked around downtown for a while, however I wasn’t able to do much more than that since apparently Asheville does not wake up until sometime after ten on Saturdays.
 |
| Carl Sandburg's house in Flat Rock, NC |
After leaving Asheville, I headed for towards South Carolina. I stopped at Carl Sandburg’s house in Flat Rock, North Carolina. Carl sure had a nice set up in his old age! The grounds were beautiful as was the house! There was even a gazebo nestled in the corner of the garden overlooking the pond!
 |
| Mt. Carmel Campground in SC (a little piece of heaven) |
I continued to drive towards the South Carolina and Georgia border. I stopped and looked at the Richard B. Russell Dam and Lake that helps control the flooding along the Savannah River. I was looking for Calhoun Falls State Park, but wasn’t able to find it. I kept driving down 81 and stumbled across Mount Carmel Campground on J. Strom Thurmond Lake in Mount Carmel, SC. After the park rangers got over the shock that I wanted a site without electricity on such a hot day, they set me up with the best primitive site in the campground! The site was right on the lake and very private (especially considering that apparently I was the only one in the area that thought that a primitive sight was a good idea). As the park rangers had pointed out, it was a very hot day, but there was a brisk, refreshing, yet delightfully warm breeze coming off the lake, and I had my own private beach! I proceeded to spend the a most relaxing and tranquil afternoon paddling out into the lake a ways, then climbing onto my thermarest and floating back to shore! I also walked up the beach to check out the site of Fort Charlotte (well, kind of, the fort is now under the lake somewhere). After witnessing yet another breathtaking sunset while I ate dinner on the beach, I set up my tent and gazed at the stars until driving off to sleep.  |
| On the trail at Buck Hall Rec Area |
I had a leisurely morning of floating on the lake and soaking up the glorious South Carolina sun and heat on my private beach before getting motivated to hit the road. I drove to Buck Hall Rec Area in Francis Marion National Forest (just north of Charleston, SC). I got a campsite right in front of the Intercostal Waterway! I was able to go for a quick hike before dinner. I had a grand time taking in all the beautiful vegetation that is quite new to me! It all looked so prehistoric! I wouldn’t have been shocked if a dinosaur of some kind had come crashing through the brush! After hiking, I enjoyed my dinner while watching the sunset over the ocean! Not a bad way to end a day!
 |
| View of the Intercostal Waterway at Buck Hall Rec Area in SC |
awesome!
ReplyDelete