Sylva, N. Carolina
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.
