So my preparations and planning had all gone pretty well. I checked our SOPs (standard operating procedures) several times. I was pretty much on target with getting the goods in place. I spent some time cooking apple chutney, squash and white bean soup, and taco soup ahead of time. The Hikermobile 2.0 was gassed and the windows cleaned.
Maggie arrived on Sunday afternoon. We went through the lists again. I spent time prepacking the car. We were looking forward to another great time in the woods. This time we were going to be up high at Balsam Mountain Campground around 5,300’ so that we’d be in the cooler temps.
I got up at 5:40am on Monday morning to spend some time reading and going over lists. I got a few more items together. I packed meds and the cooler. We even took a smaller cooler for extra ice.
We got the camper hitched up and we were rolling at about 10:40–not bad. I had thought we might get away at 10:00, so the delay was nothing like it felt back in the spring trip.
We stopped at Bass Pro Shop in Kodak. I needed to grab some extra propane and some cordage. I was planning on putting up one big tarp for our ‘living room’ in the woods, but I didn’t have something that I thought would be right for a ridgeline. Bass Pro is a different kind of experience. I don’t frequent it, but sometimes they will have what one needs. Besides I also had a gift card that helped with the expense.
We knew that driving through the gorge was going to be slow. They now say it will be 2029 before I-40 is fully opened. The cost is now expected to be 1.2 Billion dollars—yes, that’s a B. They are literally moving heaven and earth to get things in place. On this trip the river down there looked little more than a creek—surely not the torrential terror that could wash away a mountain. Looks are deceiving. I’ve always said that between landslides and floods that road will be constantly under construction—there is no way to alter the landscape enough to make it as stable as we would like.
We stopped in Maggie Valley for ice and firewood. We were looking up to the mountains and seeing dark, heavy clouds. We knew it was going to be wet.
The first stop after having gotten on the Blue Ridge Parkway—another structure that is still not all the way fixed and open—was down at Oconaluftee Visitor’s Center. Our fall camp is when Maggie usually renews her GSMNP parking pass. Since it was only a little ways past our road we decided to do it and check that one off the list.
In a field before the visitor’s center we saw a groundhog standing straight up surveying its domain.
There were some beautiful views off the BRP looking towards the Smokies. We at least took a peek at every overlook. Some were not as photogenic as others. Got a selfie or two. Was good to be in the woods.
Had to stop at one point. Saw some elk below the road—about five or six. One was a male with some antlers—not really a rack. While we were stopped we heard another elk bugle. We saw him around the bend as we headed on. He watched us from the woods for a bit while Maggie tried to get a good picture.
Our first big adjustment came when we got to Balsam Mountain Campground. I had reserved #7; I had scouted this out before. I remember being told by the campground host that that was the best spot for hammock camping since there were good trees on both sides of the tent pad. My plan was to pitch the big tarp over the pad which would be our ‘living room’ and then hang the hammock just at night—two uses with one tarp.
But the biggest tree had been removed. They had switched the tent pad and the picnic table/fire ring. It was not going to work for us. Hmmm.
Richard was the campground host. I explained to him our dilemma. I saw that CS #38 across the road had some trees that would work for our tarp and some smaller, closer trees that might work for my hammock. He said he would talk to reservations and see if it was open. Honestly there were only about 5 or 6 other campers in the 40 sites that were being used. He said that it was, in fact, available. Good deal.
I took to stringing the tarp. First item—I had a step stool on the list, but it never made it into the car. So it was good we had the smaller cooler which now served to give me a little extra height that I needed to string the ridgeline. Farrimond friction hitches on each would allow me to tension it. Some amsteel loops served as prussics from which to attach bungee cords to the tarp.
I had ordered some new tarp poles since I had forgotten to get the poles when I was at Jim’s picking up the camper—lots of stuff going on and it was easy to get distracted. So I took the new poles and rigged a main ridgeline with two lower points in the middle of the sides that would give a valley down towards each of the four corners. It should be a good setup to shed rain which we knew was coming.
Oh, the other thing about the poles that bears mention is that in the ‘instructions,’ which made have been an AI creation or simply someone not very familiar with camping or English, were called ‘sky curtain poles.’ I laughed heartily at that one. And ‘guylines’ were called ‘wind ropes,’ and ‘tent stakes’ were called ‘ground nails.’ I found the whole thing amusing. Glad that the ‘sky curtain poles’ are of good quality.
After getting the ‘living room’ set up we turned our attention to the camper. We turned it around so that the entry would face away from the road. Had to reattach the awning for that. Then I used a couple more of my ‘sky curtain poles’ for height and attached the ‘wind ropes’ to some small birches. Pretty much all the by the book.
My hammock setup presented another trick to be solved. The trees were the absolute minimum spacing for my hammock and tarp to work. But I had to tie one of my ‘wind ropes’ from my tarp onto a grommet from the other ‘sky curtain.’ It made a little valley on the south side of the setup. That would prove useful later.
We had a delicious supper of butternut squash and white bean soup, pan-fried porkloin with apple chutney, steamed broccoli and fried potatoes. Eating good in the woods! We did, however, forget to bring the bbq sauce and ketchup for the potatoes. But improvising again, we found some ranch dressing and cheese that topped them off nicely.
We listened to birds. We heard red squirrels or ‘boomers’ as we call them. A little chipmunk crossed the road a time or two. We were surprised to see hummingbirds feasting on the jewelweed that was prolific—figured they had all gone south already.
It was getting late. We opted not to try for a fire. The moon was peeking thru the clouds off and on.
About 2:00am the wind really picked up—enough so that I had a couple of ‘wind ropes’ loosen up. I got up and adjusted my lines. I noticed flashes of light and wondered where it was coming from. Then I started hearing the thunder. Yep, before long the heavens opened. The storm was strong and noisy, as if summer wasn’t ready to be shown the door just yet so it was throwing a tantrum. The little valley in my tarp setup allowed the water to run off the other tarp, down my line, and then continue on till it dripped (actually it was more like poured) off the corner.
The storm got its energy back at about 5:30am. A few more hours of bluster and downpour and then it finally let up.
I had gotten up to make a cup of coffee. When I went to sit down in one of the chairs in the ‘living room’ I was surprised to get wet—like sitting in a puddle wet. One half of the tarp was leaking. I was frustrated after all my thought and attention to get this part right. Old tarps will do that I guess. The fault wasn’t my design—it was old kit. Still had a couple of dry chairs which was good.
Breakfast was sausage, eggs, and pumpkin muffin with hot coffee and hot apple cider. Tasty as always.
We spent the day mostly lounging around camp. There was reading and napping. There was time for just sitting and thinking—and time for just sitting and being.
The sky couldn’t make up its mind. Sun, clouds, breeze, shadows—all afternoon.
Supper was taco soup with chicken quesadillas with chips and salsa. Another fine meal in the woods. I had orginally thought about chicken wraps, but this way we didn’t have to worry about lettuce and other items. Simple was better.
We watched half-a-dozen deer grazing beside our campsite. They seemed unconcerned with our presence. Eating away. One of them was a fawn still in spots.
We talked about all the wildlife we had seen. Maggie said that we hadn’t seen the one she wanted to see just yet—which is always a bear. I mentioned that we hadn’t seen any wild boar. ‘Why would you say that?’ she exclaimed. Well, it was true for one thing. She was not interested in seeing any boar.
It was a good night for a fire. We sat and watched and talked about the stuff we usually talk about on these trips: how ministry was going? What plans were for the months ahead? Where would we go next year on this trip? How good it would be to get back to October ‘when we’re supposed to go camping!’
As the fire was dying down we heard something in the woods up from our campsite. We both shined our headlamps that way but couldn’t see what was moving. Eventually we heard the grunting and knew that it was boar. They were about 15-20 yards from us in the woods across the little clearing by our site. Maggie was upset that I had called that up earlier. I clapped my hands and shouted at them. Shortly, they moved on without further incident. Not the wildlife encounter that Maggie, especially, wanted.
I have to say that after the storms the night before, I slept like the dead. It’s what I call a ‘hammock coma.’ I got up once about 5:40am which is my usual awakening time, but I crawled back in the sack and didn’t get up until after 8:00am. That is highly unusal for me. It was much needed and appreciated. I had put one extra quilt in the hammock with me that I call the ‘Nap-o-matic.’ That may have made the difference!
The good news is that the morning was dry. Maggie got up and we talked about it. We knew the forecast was for more rain starting that afternoon and continuing through the night. I told her that we were out of ice and that if we had to go down the mountain to find some, then we might be better served to just strike camp. So we made the call that we would go ahead and pack while stuff was mostly dry. We didn’t have to rush, but we also didn’t want to still be packing when it started raining again.
Shortening a camp is something that we’ve done before. There are times when circumstances change and adjustments need to be made.
We elected to take a short side trip to Soco Falls. We had been there years before when we had shortened a trip because a tropical storm was going to blow in and we were camped in Cataloochee with Marcy and Stacy.
They have redone the trail down to Soco Falls. They’ve added an overlook up top. They’ve built a lot of steps and put in switchbacks. We enjoyed being at the falls. But as we were coming back up it started to rain again. All the way back to Knoxville there was rain and dark clouds and assurances that we made made the right call.
That evening we decided to go out to eat. Maggie wanted some comfort Italian. We chose to try Gavino’s. We headed that way. We got caught in another downpour—hard to see the road. But we had a great meal and enjoyed that. We reminded ourselves that we had made the right call. Better to be eating great Italian food indoors than to be sitting under a leaking pop-up or a half leaking ‘living room’ out in the woods knowing that the next morning would mean packing up soaked gear.
Daddy/Daughter Camp #12 is in the books. New campground, new adventures, new lessons learned, new memories made—just as it should be!
