Camping

After Scouts a couple of weeks ago, Eli, Briggs and I were talking about camping. Briggs' meeting had dealt with setting up a tent. We realized we had not been camping since getting to the mountains more than 4 years ago, and committed to a camping adventure. What I discovered a while back and quickly got reminded of is that in NC the State camping areas are all (at least all that I have looked at) primitive. That's different from Virginia, where the State parks and camping facilities are very, very nice. Here in NC the private campgrounds are the more refined. I suspect capitalism is involved; but that's another article. It was kind of nice in VA to know that the State Parks would be very nice. Here you really have to hunt down, research and vet camping facilities to know what you are getting. I finally found a camping facility that suited me: Bear Den Family Campground, nominally in Spruce Pine. They had drive-in tent sites and water and electricity available at each site. When we got there, it proved to be nicer than expected: the bath-house was very clean and the ancillary facilities (canoeing, swimming, basketball, etc.) were in very good shape.



We had a very nice time. Eli was especially helpful during set-up and striking camp. The past few years he has done more and more camping with Scouts and as part of his time at Rockmont. He knew what had to be done and was able to carry out jobs in ways I hadn't seen before. It was Briggs' first camping trip, and he managed to be helpful as best he could. He really enjoyed having basketball available.

The place was pretty deserted; there was a couple camping next to us, and that was pretty much it in our part of the grounds. The camp hosts were friendly but kept out of our hair. We spent the first evening exploring and trying out the pond and basketball court. We cooked over the campfire rather than gas; we took our own wood (which made loading the car tighter!). The weather cooperated, though we woke to cloudy weather. After breakfast and a little bit more exploring, we struck camp. We went gem mining at a place in Spruce Pine; the boys got some cool rocks. Then we stopped by the NPS mineral museum nearby. Finally we hit the road for home, via the Parkway. Since we had not other plans or schedule, we struck off for Mt. Mitchell when we got near it, even though it was quite evident that the view was socked in. For me and Eli that was the best part. We usually try to visit when the weather is nice and clear and you can enjoy the view. Briggs was very tired and had no interest. but toughed it out and made the ascent with us and discovered iced-up water at the summit. We got to experience it totally deserted and with 50 mph winds and zero-visibility fog.

We noticed that the Parkway between Mitchell and almost-Asheville had been repaved. A sign told us: "your recovery dollars at work." It was nice to enjoy that leg of the trip sans bumpiness.