a few weeks before mother’s day, unsure of what i wanted to do to celebrate myself (and the birthing of three children), i was poking around some state parks to see what camping options were available. much to my surprise, gorges state park had one last campsite opening, so i snagged the reservation, not really 100% i would keep it, but just as a possible option.
as the date got closer, anna expressed interest in joining me, and in a surprise plot twist, i allowed it. while we were packing our gear, a stowaway snuck aboard. she was for sure she was invited and showed very little interest in getting out of the car. i felt bad, but she hasn’t ever tent camped and i’m not sure how she would behave.
anna played hooky from school so we could get a head start, but ironically woke up pretty sickly, so she wouldn’t have gone to school anyways. but, she was still game to camp, so off we went. in proper 90s co-pilot style, she came armed with an arsenal of cds, starting our road trip with the perfect vibes. we stopped in asheville to do a little shopping and get lunch at taco billy’s, one of our fave spots.
we still had a little bit of time to kill before we could check into our site, so after asheville, we detoured to hendersonville, to stroll around their cute little mountain town main street. it was a lot like all of the other mountain towns, gift shops, ice cream and fudge shops, weird novelty shops, fancy pants art galleries, and other dumb tourist traps. the main reason we chose hendersonville though, was to visit the appalachian pinball museum. after paying $13 each to play all of the games, we realized we really don’t love pinball that much, nor are we very good at it. but, it was cool.
and then finally, we rolled into the park. our campsite was sort of lame. a big gravel tent pad area, with nowhere to hang the cot. we set up pretty quickly and got started making dinner (burgers and veggies). it was pretty warm, so we opted not to have a campfire, and just chilled, side by side in my camp loveseat, reading and enjoying the sounds of nature. just kidding. we listened to our neighbor on one side lecture and berate her husband(?) for a solid hour. it was brutal. on the other sides of us, there were several families with small children. a lot of crying. screeching. aggressive gentle parenting. yelling across sites by the adults. barking dogs. it was, well, it was camping in a state park on mothers day weekend, i guess.
i woke up extra early and got started on my coffee, which as everyone knows by now is my favorite part of camping and the best coffee that you’ll ever taste. (turns out, if you get up at 430 am in a warm cozy bed at home, you’re not super likely to sleep much longer than that in a cold tent on a mattress that slightly deflated overnight). anna slept in a bit, but when she awakened from her beauty slumber, we prepared a hearty carbohydrate laden breakfast to power us through our planned hike.
then we packed up and hit the trails. the park is filled with waterfalls and the hike we chose took us to four of them, including some of the most well known and picturesque. it was pretty easy too, about 4.75 miles and 1100′ elevation, but it was all spread out throughout the hike, down and up, down and up. with lots of stream crossings, which we can’t help but take all the pictures of.
the first waterfall we encountered was rainbow falls. probably the prettiest. some folks had gone down to the bottom and came back completely soaked, so we felt like the view from the overlook was enough for us.
the next stop was turtleback falls. aptly named. we scrambled onto a rock to sit, rest, take in the views, photograph random toys, and have some snacks of various nutritional content (and i’m just now realizing that we should have had them at rainbow falls, but alas, i missed the opportunity).
the last waterfall on this main part of the trail, and the point where we turned around, was drift falls. i’m pretty sure technically we were trespassing, but we didn’t come all that way to not get a pic.
to get to the final waterfall, on our hike back, we took a little detour that turned out to be a little sketchy. the trail was not very well marked or maintained and we had to keep check alltrails to make sure we weren’t lost. but then we popped out at the bottom of staircase falls, and had the place all to ourselves. such an occasion calls for more snacks and more relaxing and more photos.
we trudged our way back up and out of the thick woods and went back to camp for a quick lunch. just when it started to drizzle, we packed up to check out the visitor center and then left the park to walk around a dollar general. anna needed more actual tissues (remember, she is sick). and i needed gum. oh, and anna needed reese’s pieces. we killed as much time as we could and then went back to the campground to take showers. we made some coffee and tea and sat in the rain under our umbrellas, updating our weather apps every few seconds to see when it would stop.
when there was a break, we got a fire going, and tried to dry off a bit. then, as i made dinner, the rain began again. it was on and off all evening. we managed to keep the fire burning and we able to stay warm and dry with the aid of the umbrella, but it was still not ideal.
once we had enough, we piled into the tent crossed our fingers for a dry night of sleep. then it rained allllll night long. and we did not stay dry. my pillow was wet. the sides of the tent were wet, so anything touching the sides got wet. my side of the mattress was damp. it was not the best. in the morning, still quite drizzly, we made the executive decision to throw all the wet gear in the car and go home. we stopped at a local diner for breakfast and so so so much coffee. and strong cell signals. 🙂
and then, three hours later, we were home. safe and sound. and with a lot of gear to be unpacked, dried out, and put away. happy mothers day to me.