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Old 10-02-2010, 10:20 AM   #1
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Black Mt., North Carolina

Hi all,

Has anyone driven their RV to the NF campground at Black Mt. in North Carolina?

My sister and her husband have, but in a smaller B class. They, and we, now have 30 foot MHs and want to go. We've been told that bigger rigs than ours can make it but we've been given 2 different routes to get there by 2 different people.

Would greatly appreciate any info you have.

Thanks,
Fran
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Old 10-02-2010, 11:17 AM   #2
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I'd recommend coming in to Black Mountain Recreation Area from the north via US-19E. I suppose you're aware it's a no hookups and a first come, first serve facility.

If you've been advised to take NC-80 north from US-70 near Tom Johnson RV's in Marion I'd suggest the alternative as I posted above. NC-80 is a steep and twisty mountain road that has some tight horseshoe curves as it gets close to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I've taken my 5th wheel that way but I'm accustomed to these steep mountain roads and have a reasonable comfort level traversing them.
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Old 10-02-2010, 11:27 AM   #3
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Hitchhiker,

Thanks for the quick response.

Those are the 2 routes we we told about. It's great to have insight from someone who has actually driven it and/or is personally familiar with the area.

Based on your comments we'll be taking the northern route.

Since we'll be coming from over toward Waynesville there really isn't much difference in the driving distance.

Just for a FYI - one of the recommendations for the southern route came from the Good Sam trip router and I had entered that we'd be in a Class A. Makes me a bit leery of trusting them.

Thanks again.
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Old 10-02-2010, 03:13 PM   #4
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I think the Good Sam folks would be just looking at a 2 dimensional map and routing from point A to point B without regard for the terrain. In their defense, one could take Route 80 from the south but I think you'll have a safer and more enjoyable experience by coming in from the north.
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Old 10-06-2010, 10:51 AM   #5
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Hitchhiker,

I imagine you're right about Good Sam. I guess I just assumed, since I checked the Class A box, that they would take that info into consideration when they suggested a route. But then we all know that old saying about what assuming does.

I found my Carolina Connections from our pre-RV trip in June. Looking at their map it's easy to see that the northern route road looks less curvy.

Since you know the area so well do you have any suggestions for great backroads to explore in the Jeep, easy to moderate hikes to a waterfall or view points (my sister is recovering from breaking a bone in her foot so we can't get too carried away this trip), or anything else we shouldn't miss seeing or doing?

I forgot to answer your earlier question about if we knew this is a no hook-ups, first come first serve site. We do. My sister and her husband have camped there several times in their prior small class B. She talked to the campground host and he said that there shouldn't be a problem getting a site. But, just in case, we have phone numbers for back-up locations. We also plan to get there as early as possible. Tom and I are looking forward to our first quasi-boondocking trip. The bath house/toilets and scattered water spigots definitely remove this from the true boondocking experience but it's a way to get our feet wet and practice for the real thing.
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Old 10-06-2010, 01:45 PM   #6
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You might like Linville Falls, it's not too far from where you'll be. It's located near Mile Post 316 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, north of where US 221 crosses the Parkway.

A favorite mountain drive of mine runs the border of NC and TN, you have to go a little into TN to get on it. It may be too far from where you'll be camping to be of interest to you. It's called the Unaka Mountain Auto Tour and it cuts across the spine of Unaka Mountain with fantastic mountain views and elevations nearly a mile high.

I've attached a Tour Guide and a couple maps that might be helpful if you decide to go.
Attached Files
File Type: doc Unaka Mountain Auto Tour.doc (29.5 KB, 50 views)
File Type: pdf Unaka Driving Tour.pdf (101.2 KB, 32 views)
File Type: pdf NC 80 and NC 226.pdf (124.6 KB, 34 views)
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Old 10-06-2010, 02:12 PM   #7
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An alternative campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway is Crabtree Meadows Campground at mile marker 339.5 on the Parkway. No reservations here, too, but we've never had trouble getting a spot. Note I believe the NPS changed the name to "Crabtree Falls Campground" but most on-line resources still refer to it by it's old name.

We normally take 221 to 226 up from Marion area (with a 34' coach, its slow but do-able), we've driven 80 to 221 to Marion with the toad and agree with Richard, we wouldn't do it with the coach.

This is our favorite campground on the Parkway. There's a nice hike to Crabtree Falls from the campground, we hiked to it daily this summer with two small kids (6 and 9) and loved it. May be to difficult for someone who is recovering from that nasty sounding broken bone, however.

There's always Mt Mitchell, you drive all but the 300 vertical feet to the top and the observation platform has great vistas.

Little Switzerland and the Orchard at Altapass would be good places to see, also.

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Old 10-06-2010, 07:56 PM   #8
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Thanks to both of you for the advice and links.

Richard,

I love the looks of that auto tour. That's the sort of thing the 4 of us like to do. And I don't think it's too far at all. One of the reasons we traded my car for the Wrangler was so we can take as many of the less-traveled roads as we can find.

When Tom and I were up that way in June we went to visit a potter friend in Bakersville. He told us about a back road way to get to Roan Mt (the NC part) and from there on into TN. We stopped at Roan Mt State Park in TN and ate a picnic lunch under some huge trees and watched a couple of pileated woodpeckers argue over which tree was whose. We then took every back road I could find on the map to get back to Blowing Rock. We passed some wonderful old barns with quilt squares on them. I hope to be able to locate some of them on this trip to show my sister. Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of where they were.

Tom and I did the various hikes in the Linville Falls area in June. Beautiful place, especially if you approach it from something other than the main parking lot. I don't know if my sister and brother-in-law have been there on any of their previous trips or not.


Stewart (my maiden name, by the way),

When Tom and I were there in June we did the hike to Crabtree Falls. We'll see how my sister's foot has healed and may give it a try. It's definitely worth the walk. I'll add the campground to my back-up list in case Black Mt is full. Or who knows, we may decide to split our time between the two spots.

They have 2 weeks for the trip and we have 10-12 days. We'll split up after we try our luck at emerald mining in Hiddenite. My sister read about that in USA Weekender about a year ago and has wanted to do it just for the fun of trying. They'll go see their son and grandsons in Statesville and we'll head home to get ready for a big arts festival the first weekend in November.

I really appreciate your help.

Fran
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Old 10-08-2010, 05:34 PM   #9
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Fran,
Try My Father's Pizza in Black Mountain (My Father's Pizza & Pasta :: Black Mountain, North Carolina > Home) for some of the best pizza that you have ever eaten.
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Old 10-08-2010, 07:59 PM   #10
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Stewart,

Somehow I totally missed your orchard link on my first read-through. Checked it out today and it's on the to-do list. But I have to make myself stay away from that fudge.


Jim or BJ,

The four of us love pizza so thanks for the info on My Father's Pizza. It will be a good stop for us while we're out running around.

My file folder is getting so thick, I may have to start another one. I have it all on the laptop, but always worry that something will crash and I'll lose everything so I always take a paper copy of things, too. Tom teases me but I tell him I like to be able to flip back and forth through the pages.

Hard to believe that by this time next week we'll be ready to pull out early in the morning. (Or at least I hope that by this time of night I'm not still thinking of things I forgot to put in the RV.)

Fran
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Old 10-22-2010, 05:13 PM   #11
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Left this morning after 3 peaceful nights at Black Mtn. Thanks for all the advice. Spending tonight & tomorrow night at a KOA near Statesville so we can go to Hiddenite tomorrow and have a bit of fun mining for emeralds. There's also a hot air ballon rally here this weekend and we may try to catch the "balloon glow" tomorrow evening. Leave for home on Sunday. Been a great trip so far. We've met tons of nice, friendly RVers.

Fran
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