Hot weather so it's time for the mountains.
This trip was planned out to be 3 days then became 4 days and stopping at 7 NC State Parks over 690 miles. I had planned to add another 3 parks on my way home but the heat stopped me.
The week was forecast to be brutal with temperatures in the high 90's with high humidity. I had been saving the state parks in the mountains for this weather since it is 10-15 degrees lower up there. One catch though, I had to cover 180 miles in the ugly weather.
Monday I started to do a big loop.
The original plan was to visit Stone Mountain, New River Mountain, Mount Jefferson, Elk Knob, Rendezvous Mountain, Grandfather Mountain and head home. Well, a text message had me continuing on to Asheville to see old family friends. Now I can add on Mount Mitchell, Lake James, South Mountain and Lake Norman on my way home from Asheville.
Stone Mountain State Park
I left early from Cary in good 75 degree weather with a light breeze arriving around 11:30 at Stone Mountain.
This is an extensive park. Somewhere along the way I got lost and ended up in the camping area and RV Parking area which is very large. I totally missed the ring road around the top so I will have to go back and spend the night there.
On my way out a young lady was doing a survey to find out where I came from and what did I see. She was the photographer here.
The following parks were in a short distance. This whole area is very rural. Not many restaurants, or gas stations but the scenery was special. This is the Christmas Tree growing area of NC and the farms are high on the mountain sides.
This farm had what looked like large trees 8'+ and they have obviously had great weather because everything looked healthy.
New River State Park
The New River is a wonderful river coming down from WV and VA into NC. it is ideal for canoes, kayaks, flyfishing and the campgrounds are extensive. I should have spent more time here but since my trip was now extended to 4 days I felt the pressure to move on.
Mount Jefferson State Natural Area
By now I am in the upper western corner of NC next to TN. The mountains were getting bigger and these parks were not far apart. The ride up to the top of Mount Jefferson was beautiful with excellent pavement all the way to the top. Then the special part was the view off the top.
The view off the top was the clearest that I had all day. The temperature change was 5 degrees lower to around 77 and the roadway up was wide and easy with a number of switchbacks. There didn't appear to have any camping sites but plenty of picnic areas and hiking trails.
Rendezvous Mountain State Park
This park is only 2 years old and it has just been listed. The road to it is Rt. 16 which to many motorcycle riders is the road to the Back of the Dragon in VA. That is the same Rt. 16 and a very nice ride to the Park. There was only one problem! My GPS told me to turn right so I did. 3 miles of broken pavement then 2 miles of progressively narrower dirt/gravel road with 3 single lane wooden bridges with no side rails. I finally got to the end and NO PARK!
Yes that is someones driveway at the end of the road. There were 3 houses here so this little piece of roadway looks better than the one I came in on. The only option was to backtrack and continue down Rt.16 and see if there was another entrance down the road.
5 miles down the road and 2 miles of backcountry road to the real entrance another surprise.
There was a small sign to the park on a post so no picture. This was my first difficult technical climb on this trip. I had to put the bike in Enduro mode due to the 2 miles up the mountain was very steep and the fresh gravel was deep and loose. The view off the top was beautiful. The park itself has no camping yet and the lone ranger said that he was hoping that they would start primitive camping in the next couple of years. I really enjoyed the view.
That was my last stop of the day and I was off to the High Country Motorcycle Campground. When I arrived I found that I was the only one there. I had decided to take one of the Chalets so I didn't have to carry all my camping gear for one night since I was staying with friends the following nights.
What more could you want? A roof over my head, a good view and a 10 year old pack of Chili Mac with beef. If I just had a baguette it would have been perfect.
Before I went to bed the guard dog came by. That's Belle, she sat with me for about an hour.
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