Day 4 & 5: Getting In the Swing

Day 4

After making some coffee, I checked out of my Smokemont campsite and headed to the camera store Asheville, about 90 minutes away.  The store, Ball Photo, was a small, unassuming camera located in an obscure strip mall.  When I walked in my jaw dropped.  It was filled with tons of used (in addition to some new) equipment, literally in piles.  I inquired about tripod ball heads, and an older gentleman with a thick accent (I’m guessing he was the owner) showed me a few.  I selected a new one…actually a nice upgrade to the one I had.  I looked at a few used items for fun, but they were a little expensive, and I didn’t really need anything.  Nonetheless, I had fun chatting with the guy and also a younger employee about film and processing (film is making a resurgence, believe it or not).  I could have spent longer in the shop, but it was time to move on.

The Camera Store in Asheville...pretty non-descript, right?

I needed internet to access some of maps and information, so I found this very cool coffee place (w/free WiFi) in downtown Asheville.  It's actually a double decker bus!

Since I was in Asheville I set my sights on a couple waterfalls to the east in Pisgah National Forest.  They didn’t come up in the Garmin, but I had the coordinates.  I punched in the farthest one first, Roaring Fork Falls (not related to the Roaring Fork motor drive in GSMNP), which was about a 2-hour drive away.   

Mountain colors along the way.

With about an hour left something just didn’t feel right, so I pulled into a gas station and pulled up Google maps.  Dang, I was going the wrong direction!  I must’ve fat fingered the coordinates when I entered them in the Garmin (let that be a lesson).  I re-entered the coordinates, and I still had about a 2-hour drive, meaning that I had effectively lost an hour or more.  Rats!  But, it was worth it.  The falls were very cool.

Roaring Fork Falls

Unfortunately, it was now late afternoon.  I couldn’t do anything else and thus needed to find a campsite.  The one I had in mind was only 10 minutes away and reportedly had plenty of spaces.  But when I got there I discovered it was full.  Rats again!  There was another, smaller campsite about 45 minutes away, but what was the likelihood it would be full too?  Should I take a chance?  Light was starting to fade, and I made a decision to simply head back to Asheville.  I’d find someplace to stay there, a Walmart, if nothing else.

The Garmin put me on the Blue Ridge Parkway back to Asheville.  I passed a state campground, Mt. Mitchell, and thought I might get lucky there.  After a long drive to the campground entrance (sound of clock ticking), there was another sign: campground full.  OMG.  Back to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  By now it was getting darker…and foggy!  Alright God, what else will you throw at me?  It then occurred to me that I should call Mary Jo’s cousin’s daughter, Shelley, who lives in Asheville.  We had planned to meet on Friday, and surely it would be OK for me to camp in their driveway.  Use the resources you have, right?  Cell service was terrible, but we finally connected.  After several redials, she said it was no problem staying there.  I told her that I didn’t need a bed, just a place to park.  I was tired, and after saying hello, I would actually just rather retreat to Ansel.  Being an introvert like me, she totally understood.  So, I plugged their address into the Garmin.

Before it got real dark, I noticed this scene at one of the many overlooks.  I pulled over and took a quick, hand-held panorama.  I love how the cloud layer is just setting over top the misty mountains.  (PS - This look better bigger.  Just click on the image.)

A while later she called back.  Her husband, Barry, suggested that I park at one of the warehouses he owns (he is a contactor), which are located inside a fenced area.  I said that sounded great!  He gave me the address for one of the warehouse and the combination for the lock box, which had the key for the gate padlock as well as the two warehouses, which had bathrooms!  So that’s where I spent the night!  And, it got me a little closer to my next destinations. 

Barry's warehouse (in daylight)

Day 5

I departed Barry’s warehouse area early before any of his workers showed up.  Barry said this would be unlikely, but I didn’t want to freak them out.  Found a McDonalds for coffee, breakfast, and free WiFi, then I headed for my destinations in the western section of Pisgah National Forest.  My plan at the end of the day was to stay at one of the many roadside (free) campsites I had found on a map issued by the Forest Service.  However, as I drove to one of my photo ops I never found any of these.  Per signage, you are only permitted to camp at locations posted with the camping icon, but again, never saw these but for one spot (which was not on my on my map).  So either I entered these incorrectly into the Garmin database or something had changed.  Not to worry (yet) as it was still early…so, I headed to my next spot, Sunburst Falls.  This location was even better than I had expected based on on-line images I had seen.

Sunburst Falls

Sunburst Falls is immediately adjacent to a road and discharges underneath a curved, stone bridge, creating another interesting waterfall in its own right

Now, where to stay?  Lessons learned from the day before suggested I needed to get to a campsite early before it filled up.  I wasn’t sure where to go, and I found myself back again on the Blue Ridge Parkway…with fog again.  Starting to get a little anxious, I pulled off into one of the many overlooks (not much to see, but I actually grabbed a couple shots) to explore my options.  There was a National Forest campground, Sunburst Campground, on the same road I was just on and a ways past the waterfall.  Do I dare check it out?  It’s in the opposite direction of other potential campsites, and my luck thus far suggested it would be full.  But, I decided I had to try since it was relatively close (still a 30+ minute drive).  This time my luck panned out…this was a very small campground, but there were actually 3 sites left.  I nabbed one for the whopping cost of $7 with my Senior Pass (I love the pass) and settled in for the night.

On the way to Sunburst Falls on NC 215.  It was overcast and rainy that day, which actually made for great shooting conditions & compositions.

Another image from NC 215.