Jmitch need North Carolina advice

“between 6/10 - 6/15 i'll be in NC for a wedding; i plan to have almost 3 days to explore this awesome state. sadly, i won't have time for backpacking.

i plan to visit dupont state forest, dry falls, bridal veil falls. i need ideas on great places to camp sunday and monday nights. any cool state parks? awesome state or national forest campsites? i know there are lots, but any other places i shouldn't pass up while in western NC? i'd also like to visit linville. any help will be most appreciated. thanks.”

“What part of western NC? If you're in the northern part then Boone, Linville, and Blowing Rock are nice. If the SW part then Standing Indian for dayhikes, Wesser if you'd like to raft, and the Smokies.”

“What part of western NC? If you're in the northern part then Boone, Linville, and Blowing Rock are nice. If the SW part then Standing Indian for dayhikes, Wesser if you'd like to raft, and the Smokies.”

“Oops.

Blue Ridge Pkwy is great. It goes from Cherokee NC all the way to Virginia. Mt. Mitchell would be great too.

All the places I've mentioned can be dayhikes. I can give more specific info when the particular area is known.”

“The entire area around bridal veil falls is National Forest. I used to live further West of there and could point you to some specific sites, a little more off the beaten path than you might want, but all my good info is too far west for where your going to be.

Good luck and enjoy. The Cradle of Forestry in Brevard might be able to help.”

“there is a nice camp ground on top of Mt. Mitchell. You could enjoy a summer evening in the cooler alpine temperatures above 6400 feet. The campground is car camp accessible and is right near the visitor center. Plus you get an awesome drive on the BR Prkwy and lots of good daying from the Summit of Mitchell.”

“With 3 days sounds like Dupont and Linville are good bets. I can tell you how to get ot both and which are good places to hike.
YOu will love the Linville area and there are 3 mtn ranges in between linville and Dupont..of course driving direction for both areas are different. I love dupont and the ranges of waterfalls there.”

“roam

what places further west should i visit?”

“Anything around Santeetlah Lake or Little Snowbird Creek.

If I go home and look at my maps I can give you good directions to some nice spots for car camping, that you could even springboard off of for backpacking in the Snowbird area, it used to be a Wilderness Study area, but I'm not sure what the status is now.

Also, the Joyce Kilmer Wilderness is really nice - remote and usually real quiet. On the road out theres a Natl Forest Campground too.

I'll check the map at home tonight and post the road names/numbers.”

“These are both right outside the tiniest town on earth, Robbinsville, NC. Graham County, just north and slightly east of Murphy.

Remember Eric Rudolph? He was hidin out around the same areas.”

“roam, i'd appreciate that info.”

“I'd like to climb the Slick Rock trail in Joyce Kilmer. I hear that is a ball buster.”

“Fontana Dam. There is a visitors center and you can tour the plant.

You could probably spend a night or two in the Fontana Hilton Shelter there. (just take your book as proof that you are a backpacker, in case the police check.)”

“yah, it's a tough one.

I came up from the other side a couple of years ago and the view from the top is spectacular, from Hangover Lead, that is.”

“hmmm, that's be a great fall hike with the color ont he trees. Prolly wouldn't be crowded like the GSMNP will be.”

“Joyce Kilmer is a great place to go and if you drive past that entrance you have the Snowbird wilderness below heading into Tenn on the Cheolah skyway.”

“the Cherohala,

just wanted him to be able to find it on a map, if he looked.”

“lol..thanks I can never remember how to spell that.”

“too many vowels”

“yup”

“First ya gotta get to Robbinsville, NC, which is one of those places that you actually have to try to get to, you don't pass through on the way to ANYWHERE!

Take 40 West out of Asheville to Hwy 74/19, exit 27, I think right around Waynesville. Follow that till you see Fontana Lake and turn right on Hwy 28, this is right before you go into the Nantahala Gorge.

28 will take you through Stecoah and up toward Stecoah Gap, watch for the left at the top of a ridge where you turn onto Hwy 143, if you go straight, you'll go out towards Fontana Dam.

When you come off Stecoah you'll get into Robbinsville (finally). At the intersection with the Ingles Grocery Store, turn right on Hwy 129, there might be a sign that say's Maryville or Knoxville, TN there.

Follow 129 out of town, won't be far, and once you cross a couple of bridges over Santeetlah Lake, you'll start looking for a left turn onto Santeetlah Road. This road will wind back toward the North side of the lake and you'll eventually see a couple of roadside campsites, but I wouldn't try those. Follow it on out and theres a better car camp spot on either side of the road right before you get to the parking lot for the Joyce Kilmer Wilderness area.

Its remote and its not the easiest place to find (actually easier to get to from Knoxville) but it's worth it.”

“Go to Robbinsville like I said above, except when you get to the Ingles intersection, turn left and then immediately right to go up the hill. Your gonna follow Hwy 143 this time. Watch the signs and take a left at the top of the hill by the old courhouse.

You ever see the movie Nell? This was the town they filmed it in. The good guy Doc lived in the upstairs of the building your facing when at the stop sign by the courthouse and that little grocery store just across to the left is where they were shopping. The pool hall was down to the right, but the buildings were torn down a long time ago (actually they may have collapsed).

Anyway follow Hwy 143 on out of town, it twists and turns like crazy, - watch out for motorcycles.

After a ways, uhhhh, maybe 7 or 8 miles or so you'll see the turnoff for Snowbird Rd. Take the left onto Snowbird and follow it back until it splits into Big Snowbird and Little Snowbird. You wanna take Big Snowbird and it will eventually dead end. I believe you can camp anywhere you find a spot along this road, unless it's marked otherwise. At the dead end is the trailhead for the Snowbird trail system, mostly on old railroad grades and theres' some really nice waterfalls not too far back down the trail.

There's a Forest Ranger Station out on 129, (see above) to the North of Town that sells maps for both Joyce Kilmer and for the Snowbird Area.

Enjoy, feel free to email me if you have any questions, I'll try to answer best I can.”

“Oh, from Asheville, plan on spending at least an hour to an hour and a half to reach Robbinsville, and then another 30 minutes or so to get to either area I talked about above.”

“and hey Jmitch your welcome for the help!”

“thanks for the help!”

“no prob, just post a good trip report for me!”

“beautiful area and lots of great hikes... I will be revisiting that area in June myself”

“yall take lots of pics so I can have a virtual visit again.

I miss my old NC home.”

“how could you leave roan”

“Hey Jeff, when are you leaving?

I can send you that book about NC waterfalls if you want. It was a valuable source for me when I spent 10 days there a few years ago. Here's the link to what the book looks like:
North Carolina Waterfalls, by Kevin Adams

If you're bored, I have a bunch of photos that are described in the book in my webshots albums.

Also, check out this great NC waterfall website. I met "Waterfalls Rich" when I was down there. Great guy and he put out a lot of time and effort on his website.
ncwaterfalls.com

Also, here's a link to that tent campground I was telling you about in Toxaway, NC:
ncwaterfalls.com


Have a blast, and for once....PUH-LEEEEZE bring a camera! :o)”

“Woopsy.... wrong link for the tent campground.

Pounding Branch Tent Campground”

“definitely atleast drive up to the summit of mitchell and if you have time hike north on the crest trail. Great views and you get to bag bunch of peaks over 6500 feet.”

“there is also a camp ground on the summit of mitchell as well as some other amentities....”

“bump. YO MITCH!!”

“i'm leaving tomorrow (thurs) at 4 am. i'm camping thursday night at VA's grayson highlands state park, near mt. rogers. then i'll head south to charlotte for wedding stuff.

i'm camping sunday night at vanhook glade/cliffside lake in pisgah, i plan on checking lots of falls, including dupont state forest, whitewater falls, and GA's tallulah gorge.

monday i'll be heading north towards mt. mitchell and linville, and plan to camp at TN's roan mtn state park. tues morning i plan to hike roan mtn and check the rhododendron and balds. then i head home.

pennsy, i checked out your pics, i plan to see most of those falls. i'm not sure how much i'll be able to see, but it'll be good just to be down there.”

“Yo Jmitch!! How was the trip?”

“bump”

“it was awesome, went to the following: dupont state forest, whitewater falls, dry falls, bridal veil falls, glen falls, looking glass falls, cradle of forestry, stone mtn state park (NC), about 15 miles of blue ridge parkway, grayson highlands state park, tallulah gorge state park, chatooga river, gorges state park, roan mtn state park, and roan high knob. saw a lot, put 1,800 miles on my car. great experience, i was a little surprised how built up some of the smokies were, with lots of gated communities, etc. beautiful area, scenic falls. i'd like to hike along the calluja river, that looks awesome. very glad i went.”

“Woot!

Sounds like a good time!”

“yes the Developers have run rampant through the National Forest everywhere they've been given half a chance.”

“I agree that a bad day in the mountains is way better then a good day in the office.....no duobt”

“Ah there you are JMitch. Good, glad you had a great trip. NC is an awesome place.

I don't like the fact that they are developing the Nat Forests. Really bugs me!! Makes me mad!! I saw too much of that this weekend. They need to stop that. Leave the wilderness the wilderness. We don't have much left.”