“Mount Pisgah is named after the biblical mountain from which Moses first saw the promised land. When the Cherokee were the land’s only inhabitants, the mountain was named Elseetoss and what we now know as the Pisgah Ridge was named Warwasseeta. The now official name carried on to the National Forest which now surrounds the mountain and also to a ranger district within the national forest.”
I’ve hiked to the top of Mount Pisgah, and it was one of the most disappointing hiking experiences ever. It’s a rocky strenuous trail and after finally getting to the top instead of brilliant vistas you’re greeted by a graffiti peppered platform built by delinquents in the 80s and a buzzing WLOS communication tower. Yay for the outdoors!
However, I do rather enjoy the Mount Pisgah campground nearby. Ben wasn’t feeling up to par and didn’t really want to “rough it” by hiking in to a spot so we decided to car camp instead. We camped there several years ago and liked it. However, this time was a bit disappointing. All of the tent spots were taken. (What kind of crazy person camps at the highest campground on the parkway in October?!)
Thus, we had to camp in a RV spot where we were told we HAD to put our tent on the asphalt. Ugh. It was far away from the campfire and just kind of crummy. The heated bathroom made up for a TEENSY bit, but both Ben & I preferred Graveyard Fields a lot more.
On to pictures:
This little fella (or lady) chilled at our campsite for a while. It was the only (seemingly) friendly owl I have ever seen. He was small and flitted from branch to branch noiselessly. I absolutely loved him.
Where the owl had been the night before.
The sun coming up in the morning.
Water pumps are handy but I still missed the river we camped by last weekend.
It was still pretty though.
The steps up to our tent.
We couldn’t even stake the tent down. And camping on the asphalt was just terrible. Thankfully, I had two Big Agnes insulated air mattresses for us. (Ben refused to have anything of the sort but I had gotten him one JUST IN CASE. As soon as I learned we were going to be on the pavement I was so glad I did.)
Ben with the fire. We didn’t have a fire ring but this did set up have a built in grill that lowered over the fire. That was so handy for cooking!
Tobi is a good little guard dog!
I gave in and bought a new coat that would be suitable for camping (although I’m not a fan of white – it was on sale. Let the wildlife judge me for wearing white after Labor Day!) Of course, it ended up being warmer this weekend. It was in the 40s whereas at Graveyard Fields it was in the low 30s. I wasn’t complaining though, and I do love my new coat.
Showin’ us his tail feathers!
You’re camping posts sure have made me envious. And they reminded me of our camping trip in October – was it to the White Mountains? That rocked! I guess since I can’t convince my husband to camp with me in October I am glad yours will go with you.
Haha! YESTERDAY, I was just telling Ben about that camping trip! For the life of me I don’t know where we found a place to go, where we got that tent or anything else as far as the specifics go of planning the trip. I just remember driving up the dirt road, setting up very late in the day (I think it got dark halfway through), and be very thankful you told me we had to have a tent as it would be too cold to do without (since I do prefer to go tent-less.)
Oh wait – I found the blog entry about it: http://www.specsappeal.net/2002/10/06/if-theres-something-you-want-to-hear-youll-have-to-sing-it-yourself/