We got there about 2pm on Friday, set up camp, and went on a hike to Sam Knob. Sam Knob is in the Black Balsam area, which is a gateway to the Shining Rock Wilderness. It is 6050 ft high and offers spectacular views.
Saturday we spent in the Asheville area, first going to Black Mountain and checking out a tailgate market where local farms offered their products. We bought eggs, dried shiitake mushrooms, grass fed lamb chops, bread, honey, wild raspberry preserves, and fresh goat cheese (chevre), 1 flavored with chipotle peppers and the other with candied ginger. All of it was locally produced and very high quality. It's nice to buy food from the people that produce it.
From there we went into Asheville where we had lunch, wandered around downtown seeing the sights, shopping, and sampling the local beers at the Thirsty Monk, a great bar that offers American micro-brews upstairs and Belgian beers downstairs.
We had an early supper at a Mexican place, and headed back to camp.
Sunday we drove up the parkway to Mt Mitchell. We went for a hike on the Potato Knob Fields trail that starts just inside Mt Mitchell State Park. It winds around Potato Knob to a field with great views of the Burnett Reservoir north of Black Mountain, with the Blue Ridge Parkway below.
We then continued to the top of Mitchell and checked out the new observation tower. The old tower that was built in 1960 was torn down and replaced with a new one, and the trail to the top was paved to allow easier access. Mt Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi at 6684 feet.
After that we drove north through Micaville, Burnsville, back through Asheville and out to Pisgah.
Monday we had omelettes made with the eggs, mushrooms, and chipotle goat cheese, and toast made over wood fire coals. After that we took another hike one one of the trails at Mt Pisgah to the picnic area and back, before packing up and moving across the Parkway to the Pisgah Inn for our final night.
One new thing at the Pisgah campground is the addition of hot showers. It is the only one of the National Park campgrounds on the Blue Ridge in North Carolina to have showers, but I hope they add them to others. The showers in the tent loop are the only ones finished, but the ones in the trailer loop should be finished soon.
We returned to Jacksonville on Tuesday after a wonderful weekend.
I have posted some pictures in the album.
PS - We also saw 2 teardrops, 1 was a Little Guy that pulled into the campground as we were packing. We waved and he waved back but drove on by. It looked like he may have driven through the campground and left.
The other was a woody that we saw on the Parkway just north of Mt Mitchell. He was headed south so I only got a quick look. It looked like the cabin was taller than most, with a vertical section about 10 inches high above the hatch with a window in the center. I don't think I've seen it in any of the albums here.
Thanks for sharing the pictures..........
