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!