This campground is located at the base of Mount Mitchell. This past Tuesday, Rita & I joined Tim, Lori, & Sara (and Penny) for two nights of camping at this very picturesque location. The South Toe River runs through it. We met people who had made this their vacation destination for many years.
On Tuesday evening we all hiked a short distance to the dam. All except me joined Sara in the COLD water just below the dam. Sara had the time of her life. Just the night before, she swam by herself (with a belt) while taking swim lessons at the ‘Y’. The river bottom was rocky so all wore water shoes. When Sara started turning blue from the cold water, we all headed back to the campsite. Hot dogs on the grill were followed by S’mores.
On Wednesday morning, after a breakfast of French toast, bacon, cantaloupe, OJ, Milk, & Coffee, Tim drove us up a 5 mile dirt road that led to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The drive was slow as, part of the way, we followed a road grader. At the BRP we went on up to Mt. Mitchell State Park. A new overlook had been built since we were last there. Wonderful views in all directions. We hiked a 3/4 mile trail down to the picnic area. It gave us a good appetite. Later Tim retraced the gravel road back down to the campground. Tim & Sara returned to the river again. Their was an accident involving skipping rocks across the water. Sara was hit by one of the errant rocks just above her left eye. She had quite a goose egg at first. An ice pack brought the swelling down, but Lori & Tim decided to take her into Spruce Pine to see a doctor just to be safe. After lots of waiting, the doctor examined her & said she’d be fine, with a possible black eye on Thursday morning.
Thursday A.M. – Everyone in our end of the campground had been worried about Sara. I walked over to their camper & the first thing I heard was “Look Papa, I don’t even have a black eye. The doctor said I would, but I don’t”.
Everyone was relieved that she was all better.
Rita cooked up a big breakfast. Of course Sara insisted on one more swim in the river before we headed home. We checked out around 2:00P.M. and stopped for lunch on the way out at the Hillbilly Grill and Nursery.
