Straight away from Asheville we headed to the forest with our friends for some camping!  The Pisgah National Forest was originally a part of the Biltmore Estate but was sold by Edith Vanderbilt in 1914. Sitting at over 500,000 acres, there’s plenty of exploring to do! Our drive to Pisgah included more of the same tropical storm we experienced in Asheville. I’ll be the first to admit it, the mood heading out for Pisgah was less than stellar. One of the couple’s hadn’t done much camping and we couldn’t have asked for worse weather to do it in!

Thankfully when we arrived Wednesday early evening the rain had let up for a moment. We quickly grabbed our gear and headed for our campsite, about .25 miles from the car. There was quite a bit of rushing around to get the tents set up, as we knew the rain would be approaching again any minute. Tropical storm Alberto opened up it’s gates right as we finished setting up camp. I wish I was exaggerating when I say it was the hardest rainfall I had ever witnessed! Our little tarp shelter we set up needed the roof cleared of water about every 60 seconds. At first, we sat and watched the rain, smiling at our poor luck, trying to make the best of it. Then Brian and I realized our tent pretty much had a small river running under it. We decided that we had to move the tent, even in the pouring rain. Once our tent was situated on a bit dryer ground, we went back to the tarp to cook dinner.

Our campsite, after we moved it.

Our dinner consisted of ready rice and salmon. We cooked in silence as the downpour was a little difficult to talk over. It was really nice to have a warm meal though! All of us went to our tents after dinner to try and dry out and get some rest.

The following morning we had some sunshine, making breakfast a way more enjoyable meal than the previous nights dinner! After coffee and food, we drove a short distance in the park to the Looking Glass Rock trailhead. The hike was nearly 7 miles through the forest, the trail winding up to a gorgeous sheet of granite that drops off into the vast forest below. Due to all the rain, the granite was pretty wet and slippery. We sat in a safe place and enjoyed our lunch while soaking in the sunshine that we hadn’t seen in the past week! After hiking down we drove back to our parking lot which also happened to be the trail head for John Rock, the hike we were doing next!

The view from Looking Glass Rock

The start of our hike was sunny and warm, but we stayed cool underneath the cover of the trees. There were a couple creek crossings that gave us a bit of trouble, I think it would have been much easier if it hadn’t rained so much in the past few days. There were some distant rumbles of thunder, but we kept pushing on because the hike was a bit shorter than our previous one. About halfway into the hike I nearly stepped on a 4-foot rat snake that was in the middle of the trail. How does one nearly step on a snake you ask? I thought it would have been impossible also but this trail was covered in roots, so the snake looked just like the roots all over trail! Surprisingly I didn’t scream, but I was a bit shaken up just at the sheer surprise! We got to the top of John Rock, sweaty but ready for some more amazing views! Our group stepped out onto the rock, another sheet of granite, just as a huge lightening bolt struck a little too close for comfort. As bummed as we were about having to leave the views so quickly, we knew we needed to get down to safety.

The view from John Rock, the parking area is at the bottom of photo

Even with all the thunder and lightning, it never rained! We enjoyed dinner outside of the tarp shelter and sat and chatted well into the evening. The following morning we packed up camp and headed out! There was so much more to see in Pisgah, but for a short visit I was really happy with all that we did! Next time we will come and stay a bit longer!

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