Summer 2015 - Wekiwa Springs State Park, Apopka, FL

Thursday, August 13^th – Saturday, August 22^nd

Wekiwa Springs State Park – Apopka, FL & Santos Campground

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The trip south included an overnight stop at an Army Corps campground on Lake Seminole in southwest Georgia. We had planned to stay there three nights, but changed our plans. We decided to go on to Santos Campground (near Ocala), one of our favorite mountain biking venues. We were able to stay there two nights and enjoy mountain biking for two days, riding when it wasn’t raining. After that we headed to Wekiwa Springs S.P., north of Orlando. We enjoyed six days there, working in our activities when it wasn’t raining. The weather actually got nicer as the week went on. We spent some time kayaking the Wekiva River and Rock Springs Run, swimming in the springs, hiking the beautiful trails and also biking some of the trails. This is one of the nicest state parks in Florida. We’ve been a few times and enjoy it so much. We also visited a local bar, Wekiva Island, nearby on the Wekiva River, which we can drive to or paddle our kayaks right up to the dock. It’s also one of our favorite activities when staying at this state park.

From there we headed home… looking forward (not) to 2-3 days of unloading, cleaning, laundry and shopping to get back into our home routine. It will be nice to spend some time with our friends whom we haven’t seen in two months. Time to plan our next trip in October!

Summer 2015 - Westpoint Lake, LaGrange Georgia

Friday, August 7^th – Thursday, August 13^th

R. Shafer Heard Campground – Westpoint Lake, Georgia

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Our path south now took us along the west side of Georgia. We had never traveled through this part of the state.  At the recommendation of friends, we stayed at this really nice Army Corps campground. The campground lies on several peninsulas around Westpoint Lake, near LaGrange, Georgia. We had reserved a specific site on the lake, so our rear picture window and front patio area looked out toward the water. We were able to place our kayaks right on the shore at our campsite. We allowed the dogs to roam off leash, as there were no other campers next to us. They loved swimming and playing in the lake.

During our six days there, we paddled around on the lake (particularly at sunset), rode the mountain bike trails and simply relaxed around camp. Kurt kayaked and fished the lake. This is one of the nicest Army Corps campgrounds that we have stayed at. This is on our go back list when traveling through this area.

We did enjoy the mountain bike trails. There were all skill levels, mostly intermediate, but with some difficult black trails. I really enjoyed the Lakeview Trail, which followed the lake shoreline, went back into the forest and offered some really nice flow areas along with some more technical challenges. The views of the lake were very nice. Kurt rode the black trails, and enjoyed some better than others.

We enjoyed our time here, but we continued our journey south towards Florida.

Summer 2015 - Ft. Mountain State Park, N.Georgia

Saturday, August 1^st – Thursday, August 6^th

Ft. Mountain State Park – N. Georgia

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We headed west through northern Georgia and the Chattahoochee National Forest along the mountain roads, finally reaching Ft. Mountain State Park after miles of uphill climbs. This park is part of the Cohutta Wilderness, way up on top of the mountain, and miles from any town. The park is heavily forested with a very nice campground. We found a spacious pull-through campsite that was completely shaded, with a view of the forest.

During our stay at this park, we hiked the amazing steep trails past cascading creeks, rock outcroppings and great views of the valleys below. The boys hiked with us up to the Overlook, where you could see for 80 miles; three states were within view, Alabama, Tennessee and N. Carolina. Also, at the top of the mountain, there are the rocky ruins of an ancient “stone wall”, which is steeped in legend.  Many archaeologists and historians have not been able to determine exactly what is was used for or who built the 855 foot wall around 500 A.D. Possibly ancient Native Americans, Welsh explorers during the 14^th century or possibly early Spanish explorers. It’s still a mystery. There is a hike up to a stone fire tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.  There were also mountain biking trails, which were as steep as the hiking trails. They were most difficult to ride, so I chose not to bike on the actual mountain bike trails. I did, however, bike the lake view trail, which was mostly flat, but wound around the lake and into the forest area. Kurt rode the main trail, which was mostly steep ups and downs. We were also warned that there were active black bears in the park. Kurt experienced this first-hand. On one hike he took the dogs, and at one point, Luca became agitated about something in the woods and started to head for it. Kurt called him back, then saw the black bear partially up a tree. He was able to get Luca back to him, but in the meantime, the bear charged toward him and the dogs. Kurt quickly picked up Luca, while Kody remained behind him when the bear came within 30 feet and growled. Kurt had an air horn that we use to scare bears and it worked, long enough for him to get to the bear spray. Fortunately, he didn’t have to use the spray as the bear then turned around and headed the opposite direction. After that we kept Luca on a leash while hiking. Other than the bear incident, we really enjoyed the beautiful trails.

The first day there, we met our camping neighbors. A young family from Clearwater, Florida with three beautiful kids. They were all very friendly and the kids were so cute. We quickly got to know them, as we visited each other’s sites frequently. Walker and Lindsay are the parents, with one son, Pickett, and two daughters, Makenna and Brynnan. The kids loved playing with our dogs and hanging out with us. Both Walker and Lindsay are teachers, and it was quite evident of their love for making everything a lesson. By the end of our stay, we promised to keep in touch and someday we will try to get together on a camping trip in Florida.

We truly enjoyed this park in the forested mountains of N. Georgia. Again, we are amazed that all these years we never ventured into these mountains, but always headed straight for the Smoky Mountains. They are all equally beautiful. We were reluctant to leave, but we needed to continue our trek southward toward Florida.

 

Summer 2015 - Bryson City, N. Carolina

Saturday, July 18^th – Friday, July 31^st

Bryson City, N. Carolina

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Bryson City is a place we have visited a few times. We’ve always loved this area, the Smoky Mountains and the small town atmosphere.  It’s been since 2004 that we were in Bryson City. Wow, have we noticed the changes! Apparently, last year TripAdvisor listed Bryson City as one of the top 10 mountain vacation spots. The downtown area has grown, more businesses and also more people visiting. I’m sure it’s good for the local economy, but it’s hard to find a parking place in town now. We’re glad our campground is east of town about 5 miles. We are staying at Country Girls RV Park, it’s not fancy (far from it), but the rates are cheap and our campsite backs up to the Tuckaseegee River. The campsite has a deck overlooking the river, and there are rapids right behind us. It is a great view!

My sister Cindy, drove over from central N.C. and visited for a couple of days. We enjoyed seeing her again, especially in the Smokey Mountains. She and Tommy had met us here back in 2004 and we enjoyed our time at the cabin and hiking.

We decided after about 5 days that we would stay here at this campground for two weeks, instead of going to Murphy, which we had planned. We just did a day trip to Murphy to look at some land. After looking at several pieces of property from Franklin to Sylva to Bryson to Murphy, we have made a decision to not purchase property up here yet. We still have at least three more lengthy trips to complete before we settle down in the mountains for the summers. So goes our motto, “Already Gone”.

Our friends, Sharon and Jim Wagner, came up to the mountains to visit us for the day. They live near the N. Carolina/S. Carolina border, so it was an easy drive. We had intended to go tubing on Deep Creek, but the weather was rainy. We spent the day just hanging out at camp, walking around in Bryson City, and then cooking a nice dinner in the evening. It was great seeing them again, it had been since 2012 that we visited them in S. Carolina.

During our stay here, we’ve been very active. Mountain biking at Tsali Trails, hiking the Appalachian Trail, hiking in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, kayaking in the Tuckaseegee River, tubing at Deep Creek and rafting in the Nantahala River Gorge. It’s been a lot of fun and the dogs have enjoyed their hikes and playing in the rivers and creeks. They also enjoy this campground, as the owners don’t really mind dogs running off leash.

Tomorrow we head south to Georgia!

Summer 2015 – Sylva, N. Carolina

Saturday, July 11th – Friday, July 17th

Sylva, N. Carolina

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This next location is near the towns of Sylva and Dillsboro. This area topography is steeper mountains, with the towns down in river valleys.  The Tuckaseegee RV Resort where we stayed is backed up along the Tuckaseegee River, providing a beautiful view out our rear window. The camp hosts at this park were very friendly and helpful. The Tuckaseegee River flows through Sylva, Dillsboro and Cullowhee in this area. These small mountain towns are nestled in the valleys and border the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

While in this area we were able to kayak the Tuckaseegee River. This river has class I and II+ rapids in this paddling section between Dillsboro and Whittier. Kurt paddled one section with my sit-in kayak to test it out and see if I would be able to run these rapids. We both did the paddle a couple of days later, but I chose to rent an inflatable single kayak, which was better designed to handle the rapids. I also chose to wear a helmet, even though it was not required. It was actually quite fun and exciting. That day the water level was higher due to a storm passing through the evening before.

We also drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway for a few miles and stopped at Waterrock Knob. We took Kody and Luca hiking on this very steep trail up to an amazing overlook. The view from the Parkway is so beautiful, showing the magnificent mountains in the distance. We also did a hike near Sylva on Pinnacle Peak, another very steep hike uphill, with a creek and cascading waterfalls running along most of the trail. I thing we even wore out the dogs on this one.

There were also some amazing mountain bike trails that we found near the Western Carolina University campus. The trails were also very steep going up to the top of the mountain, which made for a fun, downhill ride to the bottom. We really enjoyed these trails, even as tough as they were.

The Sylva area is very nice with steep mountains. We did some looking around at some land, but did not find anything that wasn’t on a steep road up to the lot.

On to our next stop in Bryson City, N. Carolina. One of our all-time favorite little towns in the mountains.

 

Summer 2015 - Franklin, N. Carolina

Thursday, July 2nd – Friday, July 10th

Franklin, N. Carolina

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We finally made the transition from Georgia to N. Carolina. Again, we took the Hwy 441 route north towards Franklin. We passed through several small towns along the way, as we rose higher into the mountains of the Nantahala National Forest. The weather is so much cooler and less humid up here in the Great Smoky Mountains!

We stayed at a lovely RV park that we had found in 2008 on a trip to Franklin before we even had an RV. River Bend RV park is along Hwy 28 (Highlands Rd.) situated along the convergence of the Cullasaja River and Ellijay Creek. This small park has only 13 campsites and is one of the nicest that we have ever stayed in. All the sites backed up to the river. We really love this area of the mountains, with its cooler summer weather, mountains, valleys and rivers. We spent July 4^th celebrating with a feast at the campground and later watching the fireworks in Franklin.

During our 9 days here, we were able to kayak the Little Tennessee River, hike the Appalachian Trail in three different places (Winding Stair Gap-north of Hwy 64, Winding Stair Gap – south of Hwy 64, and Wayah Bald Mountain). We took the dogs and they ran around the trail like crazy and played in the creeks. We have trained them to stay on the trail and close to us.

One of our missions on this trip was to scout out some land where we can setup utilities and necessary amenities to make a home for our RV for extended time periods. We spent two days and looked at 8-10 different properties with our requirements of having gently sloping to flat land, off a paved road, 1.5 – 2 acres, preferably a creek and trees. We did find a couple in the Franklin area, one in particular we instantly loved. It was back in Cowee Valley, north of Franklin, about 5 miles from the highway, with awesome mountain views. This 1.6 acre lot had everything we wanted! It was very lovely with many large trees for shade and a beautiful creek running along one side. It was already fenced and had electricity installed. We really love this one, but want to look around some other areas of the N. Carolina mountains/towns.

Next stop is in the Sylva/Dillsboro area. There will be kayaking, hiking and property searching there also.

Tallulah Gorge State Park, N. Georgia

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 Saturday, June 27^th – July 1^st Tallulah Gorge State Park, N. Georgia

The drive into N. Georgia on Hwy 441 was very different from our previous days’ travels. Here we began to see mountains and valleys, with many small towns along the way. You know you’ve changed altitudes when you see mountain laurels and rhododendron along the forests. When we arrived at the park, we found a very nice pull thru site at the edge of the campground, perfect for us. It was raining somewhat during our setup, but later it cleared up and we drove around the park and local area to get the lay of the land. This park is surrounding the Tallulah River Gorge, which is dammed just upstream of the campground. This created a nice lake with a swimming beach. We did walk the trail along the north rim to get our first glimpse of the gorge. Wow, it’s amazing to see such a deep canyon (up to 1000 feet) in the mountains!

The next day, the forecast was 60% rain, so we decided to go out for breakfast in the nearby town of Clayton. Nice mountain town with all the necessary shopping and some touristy stuff. Lake Rabun was just west of town, so we drove back on the lake side road, viewing the many huge homes and small cottages on the lake. Now we know where so many Floridians go to escape the summer heat. There were Florida vehicle tags everywhere! We relaxed in the camper until the rain passed. After lunch, we took our kayaks to the lake and paddled around for a couple of hours. The fishing there was apparently good, but Kurt doesn’t have a Georgia fishing license, so we just enjoyed the paddle on a beautiful day.

The third day we went to the ranger station to obtain a permit to hike down to the gorge floor. The weather was perfect and we struck out on the trail. The trail begins at the north rim trail, down 392 steps to the suspension bridge crossing the gorge. After that there were 890 more steps to get to the bottom of the gorge where there was a boulder/rocky river crossing. The ranger did warn everyone about the “rock scrambling” on the trail along the river (2 miles on the south side). Most of it was huge boulders that we had to climb or crawl over. As we passed three waterfalls, the scenery was magnificent.  The last waterfall was at Sliding Rock. Here you could swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall, and/or slide on your behind down the rock to the pool below. We chose not to risk any injuries and just went for a swim to cool off. Next we had to cross the river here and begin the arduous trail climb back up to the south rim trail. This was the hardest part, very rocky as the elevation changed 1000 feet in 1 mile. Wow, it was tough, but we finally made it back to camp. It was a challenging hike with amazing scenery.

The next morning it was raining, so we were stuck in the camper for a few hours. When the rain ended, we took our bikes on a rail trail that went from the park along the river. It was nice to get outside for a while. Later, Kurt took the dogs for a hike down to Tallulah Lake, which they really enjoyed.

For our last day at the park, we decided to drive up through the town of Clayton and on up to Black Rock Mountain State Park. This place was recommended as another mountain park with great hikes to the mountain peak. On a clear day, from the overlook, you can see up to 80 miles; Tennessee, N. Carolina and S. Carolina. However, the promised sunny skies were nonexistent, so we only saw clouded mountains and the valley below. It was still a great hike and at least it didn’t rain.

As we drove around the area of these beautiful N. Georgia mountains, we thought about checking out the real estate in the area for the land we are looking for. This area around Clayton and Mountain City seems like a wonderful place to spend the summers. On our way back to camp, we stopped in Clayton at a real estate office to inquire about the type of land we are looking for. One of the purposes of this trip is to find a couple of acres where we can setup utilities and an area to park our RV, or two! We will definitely consider this area in N. Georgia.

Summer 2015 - Georgia Camping

Summer 2015 – Georgia

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Saturday, June 20^th – June 22^nd

Stephen Foster State Park, Georgia (Okeefenokee Swamp)
We left home on Saturday, June 20^th, to head north toward the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina. The first night was just a one night stop to get us closer to Georgia. We stayed at a wonderful RV park in Lake City, FL. It was really nice and reasonably priced. We were even able to get a pizza delivered to our site!

The next day we headed north to the Okeefenokee Wildlife Refuge, a.k.a. Swamp, at the Stephen B. Foster State Park in Georgia. We were one of the few RVs in the park, no wonder it was over 96 degrees in the shade and humid. We picked a nice site and setup, only to realize that the flying bugs (horse flies, mosquitos, etc.) were off the hook. Kurt did kayak up the swamp into the headwaters of the Suwannee River. He was concerned about the aggressiveness and the vast numbers of gators there. This scared me and I decided it wasn’t worth the paddle, especially in this heat.  We had planned to take a boat tour in the swamp, but one of the rangers told us the boat tours were not being run this time of year, due to the heat. Well, we found out late the next day that was a lie and I was really not happy that I missed this tour. We decided it was not worth staying there the 3 nights we had planned, so we got a refund for one night.

Tuesday, June 23^rd – Thursday, June 26^th

Hard Labor Creek State Park, Georgia
On Tuesday, the 23^rd, we headed north to our next destination, Hard Labor Creek State Park. This park is southwest of Athens Georgia. We called ahead and they said there were plenty of sites available for us to arrive a day early. After arriving, selecting our site and getting settled, we checked out the park to see the layout and decide what to do the next 3 days. Our main interest here was the mountain biking, which we enjoyed all 3 days. There are 16 miles of beginner to advanced trails. Due to the mountain terrain and wooded forest, it was a challenging and fun course. The next day we drove into the nearby small town of Rutledge. The area is a step back in time, with everyday great people and stores. Our lunch was at the Caboose café. It was delicious and while there we were told of a Friday night concert in the town square/park. The musicians were a local and also a Nashville recording artist. We took our chairs, coolers and dogs with us to enjoy the gorgeous evening of musical talent! We really enjoyed our time at the park and Rutledge.