I was amazed last night by how dark it is up here on top of Mount Pisgah. Without much of a moon for most of the night and overcast skies it was as dark as one can imagine. I awoke to the sound of a Robin singing away and announcing the start of day.
I leave camp and continue to head north on the Parkway. My first stop is the Folk Art Center in Asheville. It’s amazing to see the artistic talents of the local people going back 200 years or so leading up to today. They had live demonstrations of a basket maker and a carpenter making nesting boxes. I picked up Parkway map and guide book finally to help find my way. I also picked up a CD of mountain music to listen to on my way down the road.
I made a quick lunch and moved further up the Parkway arriving at Linville Falls in the mid-afternoon for a little .5 mile walk down to the upper falls. This was my first chance to ‘hike’ as it were since surgery a little over seven (7) weeks ago. I took a very slow pace and periodically stopped for a brief health check. There is some elevation change but not so much that I can’t handle. It was nice to feel my trail legs coming back in short order as well.
One little pet peeve of mine while traveling, especially in tourist areas is the number of people who either can’t read or feel they deserve special treatment and park in the “RV/Bus” Parking Area. When I arrived at Linville Falls there were only a couple of RV spaces left as all of the other spaces were occupied by cars and pickup trucks. This is rude people, and makes it so that the rest of us can’t stop to visit.
After Linville Falls I go just a bit further north and head into Boone, NC for the night. I find a nice little campground where a large number of sites are creek side. Lots of little cabins too tucked back into the woods so this would be a good place to spend a mountain week and it’s close to town including several tourist attractions. Can you say Tweetsie Railroad?