Appalachians 2023
4 may - 24 june 2023
I barely had time to build this page, and it's literally a year
later. I think I lost the GPS tracks. So this is just the photos and
my notes from the notebook.
Contents:
Day 1 (4 may):
Markham to Sprague Brook County Park (New York)
9:30 Left home. Trailer's never been so full, only a bit of
storage space left.
Grimbsby (Ridge Rd) was very pleasant.
14:00 Stopped for lunch in the parking lot at the Butterfly
conservatory. Lot was almost full. Paid 5$ for 1h of parking, 70$
for the tickets. Kids had a blast.
19:00 Left Walmart after trying to buy a FamilyMobile SIM card and
activating it. Eventually I found out my phone is too old for the
USA networks. I wouldn't have guessed a Pixel 5 would become
obsolete so quickly. Walmart wouldn't let me return the card, which
was lucky because it turned out that Kim's phone is not obsolete.
20:30 Got to Sprague Brook county park. The road to the campsites
was barred with wooden barriers. I was going to turn around on the
grass, and got stuck in the mud.
Decided to try the next day to reposition the truck and back out,
perhaps after borrowing a 2x6 from one of those stupid barriers to
go over the very wet mud under the pretty grass.
There were two trucks parked in the parking lot next to where I was
stuck. They both left soon after dark, I didn't speak to the owners.
Day 2 (5 may):
Sprague Brook County Park to Willow Bay N.F. (
Pennsylvania)
I managed to fall asleep around 1AM. Got up before 7 with the light.
Assessed the situation. Lifted the trailer tongue and stuck tow of
my tongue blocks under the rear truck wheels. It didn't work. The
tires slipped on the blocks, the angle was too high.
A park guy showed up and said he can't pull me out but he'll go ask
"them". Later a nice lady came. She said she's not allowed to pull
me out but she can use the tractor to move the rock separating the
grass field from the road so that a tow truck could pull me out.
Called Sothtown's Tireman and Mike showed up while the park lady was
moving the rock (apparently pronounced "rack" around there) using
the broken forklift attachment for the tractor. Mike pulled me out
easily with a chain on my two front hooks and the winch on his tow
truck.
All the spots at the park were taken.
Drove to Colden to get a receipt. Stopped at the Walter Kummer park
for breakfast. The disk golf course there was nice.
I was doing my best not to be in a hurry.
Stopped at the Art Roscoe trailhead.
A bunch of cross-country ski trails here. Went on a bike ride after
lunch on an "easy" trail. It was easy on the bikes, but would have
been hard on skis.
Natasha rode herself with just a bit of pushing from me. Decided to
throw out the baby bike seat we brought for her.
Stopped at Red House lake for a bit. The campground was closed.
Checked out Willow Bay, then Tracy Ridge. Kim wanted to go back to
the more civilized Willow Bay. 24$/night for no amenities but closer
to the water. Decided to stay for two nights.
Day 3 (6 may):
Willow Bay N.F. (Pennsylvania)
It's nice not to be in a hurry. Sunny day. Went to the boat launch.
Made bread using the inverter. It worked really well. Used up
0.29kWh, 6% of batteries on a very sunny day. [hmm... that math
doesn't work with supposed 300Ah of batteries]. The inverter fan
never went on. I was worried the baking part would consume a lot of
power but I guess it doesn't.
Fresh water level showed full the previous night with the trailer
tilted right I thought, but I wasn't at all sure. This day it showed
empty with the front a bit higher than the rear and tilted slightly
to the left.
Spent most of the day reading, enjoying the sun. It got so hot that
me and Sasha and Nikita went for some dips in the very cold lake. It
was scary cold but we warmed up instantly when we got out.
Day 4 (7 may):
Willow Bay to Parker Dam S.P. (Pennsylvania)
Packed up, had showers, ready to go at 10:00. Wasn't sure where yet.
The sky was covered with clouds again. Batteries at 60%.
Accidentally ended up in the same visitor centre we stopped at in
2022. It was still closed, we got some maps.
The campground map didn't have opening days.
Drove to the bridge and did the RimRock hike, same as in 2022. It
poured badly for 10 minutes. Made it to the top in no time.
It rained 2-3 more times for a bit. I shouldn't have worn my winter
jacket. Got back to the trailer at 14:00.
The previous morning Kim found the trailer door open, and the
furnace was on all night. But even so we were still using the first
propane tank, which was half empty when we started the trip.
As I expected the Dewdrop and Kiasutha campgrounds were closed.
Didn't bother to check the Red Bridge campground.
Drove to Ridgway (pretty town) and filled up a cart with groceries
from a local store.
Looking at the map Kim remembered we've been to Parker Dam before.
In 2022 we just had lunch there. Decided to go camp there this time.
Went down a couple of long steep drops on the highway. On the last
one I saw that the brake controller was disconnected. I forgot to
plug the cable in. That means the trailer brakes do next to nothing.
Arrived around 20:00, and picked a site with no hookups. The fees
are confusing here. I nearly paid 28.50$ (30$ with no change) and
put 20$ in the envelope.
Day 5 (8 may):
Parker Dam S.P. (Pennsylvania)
This campground is nice, though perhaps only when it's empty. A
ranger came by and said I underpaid. Added every possible fee and
20$ turned into 35.50$. That's a lot for no hookups.
The kids went salamander hunting with a neighbour's family. Checkout
here is at 15:00, had time to decide whether to stay another night.
Went on a bike ride for an hour on abandoned/quiet roads.
Stopped at the beach just after 14:00 and realized the kids like
this place a lot. Ride to the entrance to pay 28.50$ for a second
night.
At dusk cast a few times with my floating lure to try and catch one
of the stocked trout - no luck of course.
Plugged the trailer into the neighbour's 20A outlet. Hoped will be
able to unplug it in the morning before the rangers come and bitch
about it. Batteries were under 40%.
Hoped to dump the grey tank the next day and fill the fresh one
without extra fucking fees.
Day 6 (9 may):
Parker Dam S.P. to Prince Gallitzin S.P. (Pennsylvania)
Batteries charged to 85%. It was charging at under 10A in the
morning.
Packed up to go not in a hurry.
Dumped the tanks, they were nearly empty but we've used them for a
couple of days. Filling the fresh water tank took much longer.
Drove to the Prince Gallitzin state park. The park is huge, and so
is its campground.
There was noone at the gate and couldn't figure out how much money
to put in the envelope. A couple of hours after we set up (on a
non-electric site next to an electric one) a beefy-looking ranger
showed up and he didn't know how much it costs either. He told me to
pay on my way out the next day.
Nikita spent an hour on the dock watching a couple of old people
bobber fish off their boat. Later I saw the sign saying we're not
allowed on the dock at all, and also no fishing on or near the dock.
And no swimming on the beach.
You pay for civilized camping (31.50$) and this is the sort of shit
you get. I don't know how Kim doesn't see it.
The kids were driving me nuts so we went on the other side of the
lake to play an 18-hole disk golf course. It was nice, luckily well
marked. I didn't have my phones with me.
Day 7 (10 may):
Prince Gallitzin S.P. to Rocky Gap S.P. (Maryland)
Went on a bike ride around the campground. Natasha looked like she
would need a bigger bike soon.
Stopped at Walmart in Newry. Made too tight a turn on my way out,
heard some screeching noise. Didn't see any damage. That reminded
me: this trip has been very quiet in terms of screeching. It must be
that much of those noises were coming from the unlubricated axles. I
must have packed a whole tube of grease into the 4 trailer wheel
hubs.
Went to the Rocky Gap state park. It has nice and wooded sites, not
far from a beach. Picked site 110. Went to pay and on the map it was
definitely site 111. I didn't move, they need to fix their map.
Day 8 (11 may):
Rocky Gap S.P. to Seneca Shadows N.F. (West Virginia)
All 5 of use went on a lakeside trail on the bikes. I nearly ran out
of patience with Natasha but I'm glad I didn't. The way back past
the casino is much easier. She did the whole loop with me only
pushing a little.
Decided to go to the Seneca Shadows national forest campground. On
small roads the drive is very pretty. Got lost in Cumberland again,
went the same wrong way as last year. I meant to go on the Jordan
Run Rd but missed it and went on 42 instead. It was still a nice
drive.
Drove all the loops at Seneca Shadows - none of the sites have views
of the rocks. Maybe the tent ones do.
22$ for no hookups. Thought that might stay 2 days because I was
tired, or even 3 because the weekend was coming.
Day 9 (12 may):
Seneca Shadows N.F. (West Virginia)
Didn't want to get out of bed till after 9:0. The bike ride on the
previous day must have exhausted me.
These campsites are actually very nice. Lots of mature trees, a tent
pad next to each paved RV pad. The smell is great. The previous
night I thought it might be loud with the two small highways
intersecting - but this morning there was barely any traffic.
Went down the hill to the visitor centre. Most of the maps weren't
free.
Hiked to the top of the Seneca Rocks.
It seemed to take forever. Maybe because it was 30°. The view from
the top was great (from where it tells you not to go). Ran part of
the way down. Natasha fell and scratched her leg quite a bit.
Back at the campsite went to pay for a second night and found a note
on our table saying "it's now 13:30, checkout was at 13:00"; if
we're not out by 14:00 14:00 we'll have to pay for another day; they
made a note of our licence plates. I was mildly annoyed.
The campsites are 90% booked, but the campground is empty.
The kids decided to set up the tent. But of course they didn't
actually try to sleep in it.
Rain started dripping lightly in the evening.
Day 10 (13 may):
Seneca Shadows N.F. to Spruce Knob Lake (West Virginia)
In the morning it rained much harder.
Went to the visitor centre to use their wifi. No signal here. Found
that the Spruce Knob Lake campground is nearly empty.
Filled the fresh water tank from a tap next to the showers, and
dumped the tanks next to the host.
Drove up FR112 (country route 28/10). More than half was unpaved.
Several tight turns. Single-lane the whole way. Got lucky and only
ran into oncoming traffic once - a smaller trailer. Where we passed
each other neither needed to back up.
Went on a hike, a 3-trail loop: Allegheny Mountain trail, Tom Lick
trail, and Seneca Creek trail. They were all easy, I don't
understand the difficulty ratings. The only explanation for the
"strenuous" and "moderate" descriptions is maybe: farther on the
trails it gets harder.
It was raining hard the whole 3h hike. By the end everyone was very
cold (13° outside) but no harm done. Everyone hiked like a champ. I
only had to carry Natasha over 3 creeks.
18$/night.
Tracked the hike using GPSLogger. I was hoping to add the trails to
OSM - they were missing. But I never got around to it.
At night the batteries were at 46%.
Day 11 (14 may):
Spruce Knob Lake (West Virginia)
Slept like a baby again. I wonder what it is. I don't typically
sleep better on outdoor trips. Maybe the getting-away-from-it-all
thing started to work.
A very sunny morning with intermittent clouds. The tent dried
instantly, the jeans very quickly. The soaked boots and shoes not so
well.
Lazy day. Drove to the nearby lake. Lots of people fishing there
both from small boats and from the shore. Eventually went in for a 5
minute swim.
Day 12 (15 may):
Spruce Knob Lake to Marlinton Creek and Trail (West Virginia)
Fridge was empty, batteries at 16%. Decided to try to find a grocery
store and a civilized campground (to get charged up) without leaving
the mountain range. Drove to IGA in Marlinton, and after nearly
giving up found a small private full-hookup campground in town:
Marlinton Creek and Trail. 35$.
Lovely area. Nice quiet town. The grasses near the campground
smelled amazing.
Looked for horse riding places in West Virginia. Used the phone
data. There was no signal for much of the road, possibly because of
the Green Bank Telescope we found accidentally.
Day 13 (16 may):
Marlinton Creek and Trail to Summit Lake NF (West Virginia)
Called Equiestrian Adventures - it was almost exactly on our way.
The guy said he can't take the 5 and 7 year old but I liked his
attitude on the phone.
Had showers in the trailer, went riding on the GreenBrier River
trail for a couple of hours. Nikita ran over a large black snake. It
went up into the trees/bushes:
The trail is very flat, and very pleasant even though we got rained
on on the ride back.
After 15:00 pulled out to the laundry nearby and had lunch while
that was going.
There are several free campgrounds on the way to Fayetville (where
the horse riding was). I was excited about the next few days.
The closest campground was Summit Lake. 10$ seemed fair enough.
There were surprisingly many people there, it might get filled on
weekends.
Day 14 (17 may):
Summit Lake to Gauley Tailwaters NRA (West Virginia)
Some loser with a tent next to us had his generator running all
night. I can only guess that he had an electric heater in his tent.
Batteries was at 67% this morning, not sure why. Couldn't have been
just the bread maker I used the previous night.
The kids spent 2 or 3 hours by the boat launch torturing
salamanders. Then we left. Went to the Gauley Tailwaters campground
near the Summersville dam.
Called Equestrian Adventures just before 17:00. Gary called me back
in an hour or two. Arranged fro Kim, Nikita, and Sasha (who grew a
year older) to ride at 13:00 and me on my own in the evening.
Day 15 (18 may):
Gauley Tailwaters NRA (West Virginia)
Didn't sleep well at all, and I just started getting used to great
sleep :)
Spent the morning at the Gauley river. Stopped briefly at the New
River Gorge bridge. Looks like there's plenty of stuff to do in the
area.
Got to Equestrian Adventures just in time. There's a "For Sale" sign
on it. Gary the owner said he can't find any help to keep the place
going, noone wants to work any more. I commiserated with him.
The kids enjoyed their rides on Sarge and Nibbles while I took
Natasha to check out the Stone Cliff campground. It's a very nice
drive to it, and can be managed with a trailer, but there's only one
RV site which was already taken. Also there's a very loud train
track right across the river.
Somehow I forgot to mark the Brooklyn campground on my map. That
would have been closer and it has 5 RV spots.
Natasha got a ride around the yard:
My ride was uneventful, with a couple of boring city lesbians. My
reins were too short, but I managed to give my Belgian draft horse
enough freedom.
It was the second horse ride in my life. I wish I got to trot - I
think I would have managed it without suffering this time.
Day 16 (19 may):
Gauley Tailwaters NRA (West Virginia)
Got up at 4:00. Slept a little better. Maybe it's the schedules that
stress me out so much.
Added the trip expenses so far: 200$ for gas, 257$ for camping, 620$
for other, and 676$ for food. 1750$ total. At this rate the
following 6 weeks would cost us 5250$.
Unfortunately there aren't any TD banks until North Carolina, but I
planned to call and ask whether I can use other banks' machines. I
also needed to call to transfer 3k to my american TD, since I can't
do it myself.
Learned that TD would charge me 3$ per use of another bank's
machine. Might be worth it if the other bank didn't also charge 5$
for the transaction. The canadian TD rep was useless as usual, but I
think he did the transfer. Said it can take up to 48 hours, possibly
including weekends.
I really wanted to climb this bridge. But that makes Kim very
nervous, and the one-way road makes it difficult to park in the most
convenient place. So I didn't.
Went on a bike ride on the two green trails in the New River Gorge's
Arrowhead system.
Filled propane at the intersection of highways 129&19.
In the morning I chopped up a huge fallen branch from the bottom of
the canyon and left it on top of the bench to dry. Aspen I think. It
burned really well, a day in the sun made a huge difference.
Day 17 (20 may):
Gauley Tailwaters NRA (West Virginia)
Sasha did some fishing in the morning. Another fisherman by the dam
outlet there told me a story of some years ago when they were
fishing and heard the dam alarm. He said you have seconds before the
water starts shooting out of that enormous channel with incredible
force.
The Summerville Lake Rec Area turned out to be a USACE. I should
have bought the America the Beautiful pass. Now I didn't know where
the next place that sells them would be.
Went back to the New River Gorge visitor's centre but they didn't
sell passes since they don't require them for entry. The ranger said
there are way too many ways in and lots of private property.
Went on the Endless Wall trail there and back. It was not on the
edge of the cliff like I hoped but it was a nice hike through a
rhododendron jungle. At many points you can walk over to the top of
the cliff, popular places for rock climbers. It was raining all day,
and we only saw one climber.
IN a couple of places there were solid metal ladders going from the
bottom to the top of the cliffs. We went down both of those. The
kids are pros at this.
The USACE lake office sells passes but it's closed on weekends. The
lady at the campground checkin (strangely only open between 17:00
and 21:00) said all the USACE offices? campgrounds? sell them.
Day 18 (21 may):
Gauley Tailwaters NRA to Chief Logan SP (West Virginia)
Packed up and left around 10:00. Got phone signal in Beckley. There
are so few campgrounds west of here it's strange. Couldn't risk
going to the Guyandotte USACE: I thought we were at the end of our
water supply, though the sun charged our batteries from 12% in the
morning to 25% at 17:00.
I thought we were at the end of the mountains in Beckley but that
was just a small flat area. Driving west of that is just as fun. I
wondered what the frequent signs saying "Call 1-800-SEE-TRUX" were
about, surely they need to drive trucks here to supply the stores.
[It's to complain about speeding trucks carrying coal]
Oceana is much bigger than I expected. Passed several coal mines.
They must employ a lot of people.
At 11:00 stopped by the Army Camp. Swam in the river at the
coal-covered beach, had lunch.
Several of the campsites could have fit us in but we decided to move
on to charge the batteries and refill the water.
Arrived at the Chief Logan state park around 18:30. Strange that
this campground wasn't in OSM. 42.50$ for water+electric. The state
park is huge and busy but the campground was almost completely
empty. I learned that Beckley had an old coal mine you can go on a
tour of, but I thought that city looked shitty so I didn't
feel upset about missing it.
Day 19 (22 may):
Chief Logan SP to Paragon DCA (Kentucky)
Batteries charged, the water was filled. Did some beam walking in
the nearby playground - Sasha was amazing at it. Then she tried it
on a tree growing over a creek, and plopped into the water - lucky
fall.
There are trails in this park but they seemed boring on the map. Or
maybe I was just stressed because the previous night I looked for
campgrounds and couldn't find any nearby. Paintsville Lake state
park was pretty much the only one on the way west, and I didn't want
a civilized campground.
The mountains turned into hills, but the small twisty roads were
still fun. I don't think we drove as long as 300m without passing
someone's back yard. It's surprisingly densely populated here.
Went to the Paragon "dispersed" campground. Got a site with an
awesome lake view.
Day 20 (23 may):
Paragon DCA (Kentucky)
In the morning spoke to a couple from Ohio who live full time in
their RV. They were busy attaching their car to the back of their
RV. It turns out that contraption doesn't allow backing up. They had
two kayaks that folded, made by Tucktec. They said they work great.
The kids went swimming several times in the almost-stale water, and
we all went on a bike ride on Paragon-Craney road. Lots of fish
splashing in the water, I think the yellow ones.
Just before dusk I saw someone dropping stuff into the water from a
boat. It was 4 buoys. Could have been a net, or some cage fishing
contraption.
Baked two loaves of bread. It masked the smell of something dead
blown in by the wind.
Day 21 (24 may):
Paragon DCA to Turkey Foot (Kentucky)
The nasty smell was replaced by the wonderful smell of flowers.
We've been smelling those for days by now.
Went swimming again, and left.
Natasha (like all kids) loves wind through the window:
With almost no warning ended up with our noses into the Nada tunnel.
It was scary but slowly rolled through the whole thing without
hitting anything. These photos are from the other side:
Decided to stop by the Koomer Ridge(??) campground for lunch and
consider it for the night. I didn't like that it cost 28$ per night,
and it looked like it might have an anal host.
The road to the free Turkey Foot campground was mostly paved and
uneventful until Turkey Foot road. That started with a steep
downhill, then a 75° turn off a tiny bridge, and a couple of really
tight turns in the campground loop.
There's a sign saying not to go through when flooded, but luckily
there was almost nothing flowing under there.
Day 22 (25 may):
Turkey Foot to Wilderness Road (Tennessee)
Went on a hike on the north loop - nothing fancy but a pleasant
hike.
Had to make a photo of the "don't cross this" bridge (this is not
the 75° turn one):
Tried really hard to do the 75° turn going the other way, but
couldn't fit the trailer onto the bridge. Not even close. Thankfully
turning the opposite way was an option, so I didn't need to back up
all the way to the campground.
Went to the Wilderness Road campground in the Cumberland Gap
national park. Didn't need to pay any park entrance fee. I started
to change my mind about the America the Beautiful pass.
They had lots of non-electric sites available despite the long
weekend coming up. No electric sites though.
Day 23 (26 may):
Turkey Foot to Wilderness Road (Tennessee)
Drove to the Cumberland Gap welcome centre where the kids spent a
couple of hours working on the junior ranger books.
After lunch went on these trails:
- Lewis Hollow
- Ridge
- Fort McCook
- Harlan Road
- Boone
Half of these trails were not in OSM.
The Skylight cave was very cool, the largest cave I've ever been
in. We didn't go to see the Gap cave because it was getting dark
and I read something about it only being accessible by ranger-led
tour.
I didn't damage any joints, though my knees were getting tight.
The kids were getting tired but as soon as we got back to the
trailer all their weariness disappeared.
I was too tired to look for an electrical spot for the next day.
The batteries were down to 20% in the evening. There wasn't much
sun this day, it didn't help even though the second site was not
covered by trees.
18$/night.
Day 24 (27 may):
Wilderness Road to Walden's Creek (Tennessee)
Slept in since we were all tired.
Started looking for a site and couldn't find anything reasonably
priced. Walking around the campground found one site which was
across the lane from a closed electric site, and 3 empty sites.
Neither seemed like a reasonable risk. Decided to try and manage
with the 20% juice left when one of the campgrounds called back:
Walden's Creek. 54$ with tax but I was out of options so I took it.
Boring drive, though we stopped by the "world's largest knife
store".
Did laundry.
At 22:00 went to the island in Pigeon Forge. It's like a mini Las
Vegas minus the casinos. Quite nice actually.
Booked one of the few available sites in the Great Smokey Mountains
national park: Smokemont for the following night.
Day 25 (28 may):
Walden's Creek to Smokemont (North Carolina)
Went back to the island for a couple of hours before leaving.
Stopped by the human zoo at the Gatlinburg Visitor Centre. They
didn't have any park information even though I saw a sign saying
they did.
Stopped at the next zoo Visitor Centre "Sugarlands". Bought a map
there which was nearly useless for hiking. The lady at the park
store didn't know anything about anything, which makes sense since
100% of the visitors aren't interested in anything park related.
The lady at the campground checkin was much more useful, told us
about some hikes out of the campground. We were still too tired at
this point to go hiking.
Had a very hard time getting into the pull-in spot. It was supposed
to handle up to 40', but there are trees everywhere. I thought I
might have to back up when leaving.
Day 26 (29 may):
Smokemont (North Carolina)
Paid for another night at Smokemont, another 30$. Went on the
Smokemont Loop Trail - a bit of climbing but nothing crazy.
Day 27 (30 may):
Smokemont to Paint Creek (Tennessee)
Figured I might as well fill the fresh water tank - that took no
time, I was surprised. Dumped the tanks and left.
Almost right away ended up on the Blue Ridge parkway. It's much more
pleasant than the tourist-infested 441 north of the ridge. Plenty of
parking too.
In one of the viewing areas found a lost/abandoned bitch. She looked
hungry, and must have had pups recently. Good looking dog, and so
friendly. We fed her some salami and bread. I hope she didn't starve
to death.
Went north on 209 on an endless number of twists. That was fun since
there was no traffic. The Rocky Bluff was closed with no
explanation. Someone in town said it's been closed for a decade. No
explanation on the website either. My theory is that the resort
campground in Hot Springs lobbied to have it closed.
The Houston Valley campground was also closed.
The closest campground I could find was the Paint Creek. It required
another 40km of winding road, but that turned out to have been worth
it. 10$, site on the river, and lots of kids around.
Thought that the next day might go on a hike.
Went on a quick scouting mission on my bike on the Lower Paint Creek
road. It's very nice: flat, well paved. But it's gently sloped away
from the campground, following the river downstream - which means
most of the way back it's uphill - very hard without gears.
Around 19:30 went to explore the Hurricane Gap road in the truck.
Turned off onto FS422A and started enjoying myself. Turned onto
FS422B1 just to see and backed out of it. I didn't bring the saw and
didn't feel like getting stuck in the dark. I though I might
convince Kim to go on an off-road ride the next day.
Day 28 (31 may):
Paint Creek (Tennessee)
Drove to Greensville so that Kim could do some work at the library.
Had lunch at the trailer and went on that off-roading adventure. The
rough idea was to go on trails as much as I could towards the Rich
mountain lookout tower and come back on FS31. The OpenStreetMap
wasn't as useful as I hoped. There are ways which are not on the
map. Half of the paths have long been eaten by the forest, including
some which still are on the map.
This is from the top of the tower:
I'm glad the ground was mostly dry. Some of those hills are just
steep enough that I wouldn't be able to climb them on slippery dirt.
I went on a couple of questionable paths and was fine. I did give up
eventually, ran out of stubbornness.
Day 29 (1 june):
Paint Creek to Rock Creek (Tennessee)
A guy in a truck showed up around 11 and asked whether we're leaving
and he can have the site. I guess we got a nice one.
Stopped at Walmart and spent 350$ on groceries.
Arrived at Rock Creek having seen online that it has several
first-come-first-serve sites available. Picked one.
Took the kids to the swimming pool - a shallow concrete bowl fed by
creek water. The water looked clean but there was a bit of fluff on
top, so the kids spent an hour catching tadpoles.
Nikita and I had showers.
20$ for the night.
Day 30 (2 june):
Rock Creek to Jacobs Creek (Tennessee)
Went on the Rock Creek Falls trail. A nice steady climb all the way
to the end. We started late so got back at almost 15:00.
The camp host was there in his golf cart and said we have to leave
because that site is booked for the next night. I had no interest in
a confrontation and we quickly packed up and left.
The batteries were fully charged, tanks full and empty. Good start
for the long weekend.
Had lunch in the day use parking lot.
After days of thinking about it: decided to go North-East even
though the elevation on the sites I found South-East looked much
better.
Decided to try Jacobs Creek. Great decision. All but one site were
taken, looks like many showed up just before us and took almost all
the first-come-first-serve campsites. The campground is amazing for
12$. Awesome lake to swim in, with a grass field instead of a beach.
Day 31 (3 june):
Jacobs Creek (Tennessee)
Spent all day at the lake.
Moved the trailer to another campsite which was empty but
first-come-first-serve booked for the previous night. Did that in a
hurry at 9:00.
At around 18:00 the beautiful weather quickly turned into a
torrential downpour. That lasted a couple of hours, even flowing
down the road.
Found a Walmart to make a Minecraft cake for Nikita's birthday. It
was only a 15km detour.
Day 32 (4 june):
Jacobs Creek to Fox Creek (Virginia)
Nice and sunny again in the morning. The hammock, pillow, and chairs
looked like they would be soaked for a while.
Went swimming till noon.
Batteries were at 50%. They appeared to be deteriorating quickly on
this trip. I hope they will last more than two years.
Picked up the cake at Walmart. Had lunch at the Damascus town park.
It looks like it used to be an RV park - electric hookups everywhere
and several water spigots: all locked, and "no camping" signs even
on the lean-to.
The Appalachian trail runs right through this park.
As we were eating our lunch at a picnic table: a trailer showed up
to set up for a concert at the park.
Drove to the Fox Creek horse campground. 5$, lots of space, lots of
trails. Thought that this would be worth staying a couple of nights
if the batteries managed it. 41% at 23:00. Maybe someone left the
fridge door open a couple of days earlier.
Ate the huge 1/4 sheet cake with the help of 4 extra kids from the
campground. They were at the campground with horses for a month.
Day 33 (5 june):
Fox Creek (Virginia)
9:00 Batteries at 36%.
11:45 Went on the Appalachian trail. I shuttled the car to Dickey
Gap at Troutdale highway and Comers Creek road, came back to the
campground on my bike - about 8km on the road.
Finished the hike at 17:00. Except for the first hour or so it was
an easy hike. 13km in 5 hours was much better than I expected.
The car was waiting for us at the end of our hike.
Day 34 (6 june):
Fox Creek to Greenbrier SP (Maryland)
Batteries at 37%.
Decided to do a 3-day sprint to get to Vermont, so we can have a
pleasant couple of weeks there and in New Hampshire at the end of
the trip.
Got onto the interstate and drove to Greenbrier state park. That
took less time that I expected. But fuel consumption was worse than
I expected.
Wasted about 40km going to a Food Lion that turned out to be closed,
and not getting off the interstate quickly enough.
Luckily the park still had someone at the entrance. I would have
blown a gasket if I couldn't get past the pin-coded gate.
Day 35 (7 june):
Greenbrier SP (Maryland)
Decided at the last minute (around 11:00) to stay here another
night. First one cost 35$, the second 28$.
Went to the beach - this one's only good for kids.
Drove 6km to Boonsboro to do laundry.
Day 36 (8 june):
Greenbrier SP to Margaret Norrie SP (New York)
Batteries at 96%. Leaving the dump station at 10:00.
Stopped at a TD bank in Allentown and had lunch there at 13:30.
Batteries at 99.6%. Strange given that we've been driving through
forest fire smoke all day. At 20:30 the batteries were at 95%. I
guessed they weren't going bad after all.
I87 was a toll highway, it wasn't at all clear how to pay for it
[they mailed me a bill months later].
Got off at New Paltz to confirm I really want to go to Devil's
Tombstone. Decided to go to the Mills-Norrie (or is it Margaret
Norrie?) state park instead. A state forest is just as expensive,
but has fewer amenities and things to do.
This campground is right on the river, but there's no good way to
get to it. I hoped I could find the trail the next morning when I
was going to pay for the campsite.
Day 37 (9 june):
Margaret Norrie SP to Grout Pond (Vermont)
Went to pay for the site. It was booked but I guess this campground
has the same booking problems as most other campgrounds.
Only cost me 21.50$ - that was nice. I was getting sick of the
surprise "reservation fee" they charge walk-ins in New York.
A cop pulled me over and told me to get off the TSP at the next
exit. Kim heard him say "no campers on state highways", which sounds
an awful lot like nonsense. I didn't mind getting off that boring
highway anyway.
Stopped at a bike shop in Great Barrington, spent 150$ on a
replacement saddle for my bike. I've no idea how mine broke some
days ago. Maybe from old age. [The new saddle is amazing, I'm still
loving it a year later.]
Drove past the forest road 64 campsites because there's nothing to
do there and it was pouring.
Went to Grout Pond instead, hoping to find a site despite it being a
weekend.
It's a 17-site campground, and more than half of the sites are
walk-ins, bot for some reason it was nearly empty. Maybe because of
the black flies.
16$.
Day 38 (10 june):
Grout Pond (Vermont)
Went on the Appalachian trail again. 5km each way plus 2x1km from
the top of the Stratton mountain to the top of the ski trails.
500m climb, no problem.
Got back to the campsite around 16:00. Went to the pond for a quick
cold dip, and an hour of salamander hunting.
Day 39 (11 june):
Grout Pond to Hapgood Pond (Vermont)
Batteries at 50% at 11:00.
Spent the day at the Hapgood Pond recreation area campground. 20$.
Bread making used 10% of the batteries.
Day 40 (12 june):
Hapgood Pond to Wilgus SP (Vermont)
Got groceries and drove to Wilgus state park. Cost us 35$ (10$ extra
for non-residents).
14:00 batteries at 23%.
Rented two kayaks from the park. That was a good experience for the
kids. All three of them are great at it.
Day 41 (13 june):
Wilgus SP to Storrs Pond (New Hampshire)
Batteries at 1% at 10:00. Lucky that Kim remembered we should get
the awning in. After that they were down to zero. Looks like at this
point they go into sleep mode, under 2V.
Drove to Storrs Pond (45$/day), plugged in at 12:15. Started
charging at 53A. Spent the afternoon going around the university and
at the town library.
Day 42 (14 june):
Storrs Pond (New Hampshire)
Went on a tour of the Dartmouth athletic facilities.
I spent the afternoon reading a book, relaxing despite a headache.
Played some tennis at the courts in the park.
The kids went with Kim to see an acquaintance of hers.
Had the lantern-style bug zapper plugged in overnight. It only works
in the dark and zaps mostly moths, but it gets mosquitoes as well.
Uses 23-30W. Plugged into the battery it would cost ~2Ah. Over a 12
hour night that's 24Ah, which is 8% of the batteries.
Day 43 (15 june):
Storrs Pond to Lafayette (New Hampshire)
Battery at 98%, water was still going. Filled up the tank.
Seems like we ran for 5 days on batteries on cloudy days. And 7 on
the water tank without conserving much.
Headed to the Lafayette campground (25$) so that we could go on an
epic hike the next day.
Stopped by the beach at Post Pond for a swim. It was stinky, dead
fish or something.
Went on a quick ride on the Franconia Notch Park bike path. It was
all slightly downhill the whole way so we turned back much sooner
than I planned.
Nikita shattered off a piece of of his right incisor in the
campground playground. It wasn't an emergency but everyone felt bad.
Day 44 (16 june):
Lafayette (New Hampshire)
Left for the hike at 8:15.
12:15 were at Mt. Haystack.
13:00 Mt. Lincoln
c
18:15 put Natasha on my shoulders. Rain started to fall.
Went much faster, got to the Falling Waters Trail at 18:40.
19:08 got back to the trailer.
An 11 hour hike. The distance (13.3km) was shorter than the Grand
Canyon but probably a greater elevation change (1km). Very steep
both ways.
Everyone went to sleep on time.
Day 45 (17 june):
Lafayette to Swan Falls (Maine)
All of us slept in just a bit, woke up well rested. Had to rush a
just a little because checkout here is at 11:00.
Spent the entire afternoon shopping in North Conway. That felt like
more work than the 11 hour hike.
Rained all day. Drove to the Swan Falls campground. The place looks
abandoned, noone was there. But the gate wasn't closed.
Backed into the first campsite under a lot of high, heavy dead pine
branches.
Couldn't even find out whether or how much camping here costs. It
said 20$ for boat parking.
Day 46 (18 june):
Swan Falls to Hastings (Maine)
I think the rain dripping onto the roof (especially the vents) from
the trees woke me up at 4:00. I probably got enough sleep, having
gone to bed around 22:00.
Paid 21.80$ at the office. Two people working there yet the
campground looks abandoned.
11:00 batteries at 45%.
Had a hard time finding campgrounds in the Maine mountains. Thought
that might try to find free places to stay instead.
Main Rd and Gilead Rd turned out to be really pleasant. Quiet, well
paved mountain roads barely wide enough for two trucks.
Passed a bunch of hikes, and stopped at the Hastings campground.
Accidentally pulled into one of the several reserved sites which had
noone in them, but paid 22$ anyway.
Spent the day at the campsite, there were two other kids there for
ours to hang out with.
Day 47 (19 june):
Swan Falls to South Arm (Maine)
Drove a few km to Evans Notch and hiked up to the East Royce
mountain. 500m climb over 2km. Brought the bug zapper with me to be
able to enjoy the view from the top despite the black fly swarms.
Came back to find that our site had been booked for the following
tree days and the kids' friends weren't there, so we left.
Got an email reply from the South Arm campground - they said they
have electricity provided by a generator during the day, and
interior campsites start at 32$. Decided to check it out.
17:00 batteries at 40%.
This campground is really nice. So quiet, so pretty. Well worth the
42$ for a lakeside site, though I should have driven around first to
pick the best one.
Went swimming at the tiny beach to jump off the floating square.
Day 48 (20 june):
South Arm (Maine)
Rented 3 boats for half a day. First the kids all went kayaking.
They decided to stand in their kayaks and eventually Nikita fell out
of his. Kim and I took a canoe and went to rescue him.
Tried a tandem kayak - it worked pretty well with Nikita in the
back.
After lunch we took two canoes and one kayak for a longer trip on
the lake. Found a rope swing over the water and convinced the kids
to try it.
When we got back - found that Sasha's crocs were missing. So I had
to paddle all the way back to the rope swing to get them.
Day 49 (21 june):
South Arm to Elmore SP (Vermont)
Filled with water and charged the batteries to 100%. Though
strangely it showed 92% and went up to 100% in less than one minute.
Decided to start going longer each day, to get home with a week left
to catch up on things.
Drove to the Elmore State Park (33$) seeing how the sun was out
again and they had a nice beach. Went swimming there in the evening.
Day 50 (22 june):
Elmore SP to Meadowbrook (New York)
Spent some hours at the beach again with the trailer in the parking
lot. Had lunch there and left at 14:00.
Considered going on the ferry across lake Champlain but for got to
check how much it costs or how often it runs or whether it can take
a trailer at all, so drove over the Lake Champlain bridge instead.
The stop on the Vermont side was very pleasant.
A cop routed us away from probably a fire on 9N and we ended up
going over the mountains, which was much nicer than I thought it
would be.
Unexpectedly ended up in Lake Placid. I don't know how I didn't see
that coming.
At 19:00 still had 100km to go to Cranberry Lake. After a bunch of
looking for it: found the Meadowbrook campground. Stopped there.
25$.
Day 51 (23 june):
Meadowbrook to Keewaydin SP (New York)
Everyone wanted to go home already so we didn't spend any time
exploring the area, though normally this might be a good place to
camp for a week: lots of things to do, especially east of Lake
Placid.
Stopped by a boat launch in Cranberry Lake. There's a parking lot
there which allows overnight camping: good to know for the future.
Drove to the Keewaydin state park (25$). I'm sure this was a regular
town park not long before we got there. They just put in some fire
rings and little sticks with campsite numbers. I was hoping it would
have a dump station, since we were due to arrive home the following
day, but they didn't.
Day 52 (24 june):
Keewaydin SP to Markham (Ontario)
It started raining at midnight. Pouring at 4:00. I (and everyone
else) was parked on the grass, I hoped I wouldn't have a repeat of
the first night of the trip on the last day. Got out without
trouble.
Tried to wait for the pool to open as they promised at 11, but it
didn't. Something abut the chlorine level.
Should have left the trailer in the campsite. Apparently the two
large parking spots in the "no trailer" parking lot are for buses.
Didn't bother going to any nearby campgrounds to use the dump
station: I was eager to get home and I figured might as well try the
trailer->bucket->toilet method.
Stopped a few times on the 401, and got home around 18:00.
Success!
If you have questions for me, please use this
form.
Other trips of mine.
c
