Day 8 4/25/2012 Asheville
A long night in the tent, as the noise from the rain, combined with the anxiety of what might get ruined from the water, didn't provide very nice conidtions for sleep. Arose quite early, as I usually do, and proceeded to fire up the sterno stove. These are basically 6 thin sheets of metal hinged together. A can of sterno is the heat source. My goal for this was too maybe do some light cooking, but primarily for my cups of joe in the morning. Being the careful and fastidious person I am, I tried it out at home before I left. It worked, ableit a tad slow. About 45 minutes. That's ok. First thing I'll get up, fire up the pot, (not a wake and bake) and take care of business.
The facilities were located very close, which was good as it was still plenty dark. Trudged up a small incline and proceed to SS&S. Nice facilities, and no quarters were required for the shower. However, that might have been prefferable. The ambient temp was probably around 45, so a nice HOT shower was what I needed. This, being a federal park, must have been a believer of the water shortage in the world, and had installed those push button controls. One temperature, and about a minute a push. Nice thing was, it was warm at the start. Bad thing was that was the hottest it was going to be. Warm. and it proceeded to cool off as the time increased. So, I was able to get a nice WARM shower, not the nice hot one for which I had hoped.
Ok, back to what I was hoping was the nice sound of gurgling from the percolater. Nope, not yet. It was getting hot, just not near the boiling point to release that needed steam. Ok, I'll putz around some more, a task I'm pretty damn good at. Still pretty damp and dark around the area, but civil daylight is almost here. Can just decipher some clouds as daylight is near.
Back to coffee. About an hour 15, and still no signs of Marlin Perkins. Soon, hopefully soon I hopefully hope. No wifi service here, so really can't do my morning routine of radar, gmail, forum, etc. Life is though in the woods!! But I was able to edit more of my images from yesterday.
I fired up the other grill, and started the bacon. Sizzling away, it was doing pretty well. Another check on Coffee. Nope, not yet. It's been at least 90 minutes. Bacon is almost cooked now, so time for the real country scramble, as I scrambled away in the skillet. The eggs were almost finished, and I was begining to think I might have to have a beer with breakfast. Not what I really wanted because dammit I want some coffee!! Caffeine withdrawl has commenced. Just as I'm sitting down I hear the faint burp of the percolater. Two hours later, the coffee is starting to perc!! Can't say it was the best coffee ever, but pretty close. I can say it was the last time to use the sterno for coffee.
Just about this time it starts to rain again! Damnation Smithers! It was just another quickie, and in about 15 minutes it had passed and blue skies were starting to show. Traveled to the nearest Walmart, which happened to be 6 miles down the BRP and picked up a bow saw for some wood Pete needed, a couple cans of propane and a propane accessory!! A single burner for me as I was not going thru my 2 hour routine again.
As it sit typing, (or as the new kids say, "keyboarding", the coffee was bubblin' away in about 10 minutes!! VICTORY!!
Back to camp, the AARP folks are up, and a Pete is only going riding. After loading up, putting on the randy chaps, We head out North, (yet seems East to me) on the BRP. The day prior as I was leaving one of the "Big Rock" pullouts, (I can't remember the correct name) a twosome of youngsters, (probably 22) appeared from the woods across the road. As the flurries were still traipsing down, I got the usual, "staying warm?" question. I inquired as to where they came from, and they told me about some really cool waterfall "about" a half mile down this trail. Both and upper and lower falls. Of course, the upper was much preffered so I thought that would be something interesting to photograph. We stopped in the little store and Mt. Pisgah, and picked up a map, and got some incorrect info on exactly where it was. She had directed me to the Graveyard falls, not what I wanted. Backtracked and found what I thought I had remembered. The entrance to the trail is marked, but very small, and didn't indicate this was a trail to any falls. Determined to find it, Pete and I started the trail. About 100 yards in, this very strange tree appeared.
Almost looks like a razorback or something. Very cool. The trail quickly commenced to a slight incline, and Pete said no way was he going any further. I kept traveling, and is I soon discovered I was a true mountain hiker! Of course, hiking in chaps is really not recommend. The trail was pretty rocky, and filled with twisted roots and jagged rocks.
I could hear the roaring of the water in the distance, so I assumed I was on the right path. Along the way I found this very mossy log. Love the many shades of green!!
The sounds of the water was increasing, so it had to be close!! Huffing and puffing now, I was going to find it!! Enough of my rambling, here it is!!
Ok, spent about 10 minutes admiring the beauty, while not as larg and awe inspiringing as I anticipated for the length and severtiy of the hike, it still made for a very nice scene. Of course, now the reverse trek awaited me. Sweating a bit, as I had the leathers, thermals and jeans on, I decided to strip down a bit. Leathers came off, and I drapped them across my shoulder. Couldn't help but picturing Ned Beatty squealing. The altitude was making this a challenge, and my heart was pounding. Made it back to the BRP, only to find one motorcycle. No Pete. It had probably been about 50 minutes from his proclomation that he wasn't going the distance. I had expected him to be there upon my return. Well, quite out of breath, I hung out for about 15 minutes. Still no Pete. No note. No nothing! By now I'm just a little pissed, but mostly disappointed. I don't have a rule book for riding, but you don't leave someone, do you?? After another 5 minutes, I said, $@^ it, I'm gone.
We had decided to head towards Waynesville, which I did, via 215. A great twisty road, but very poor conditions. Lots of patching, pot holes, and gravel. Not what I was expecting. Along the way found this little falls, and got a quick photo.
Combined with the frusration of being deserted, and the road conditions, plus almost being hit by a red neck hilly billy driving a semi crossing the centerline, I questioned why I even took this route. Questioned some other things as well. Mostly why I was even traveling with other people. But there is a reason for everything I soon discovered, as I left Waynesville on 276??? and found these falls.. WOW!!
After spending some nice time there, and even treading out across a log with my tripop and camera to get the "money shot", I headed south towards Brevard, to hook up with the Asheville highway to make it back to camp.
By my time of arrival, I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the situation of being left, and Pete offered no real signs of regret nor apologies. When I told him I waited for about 20 minutes when I returned to the pullout, he muttered something like, "well I was waiting for longer than that". I mentioned he could have left a note or SOMETHING!! Enough of that!!
Had some dinner, worked on a few images, and got to bed early. Slept well. All the way till 5:23AM!! Only up once to take care of some business!! The good ole' tent leaner!!
It is now 6:52 AM. Ready to start breakfast, and get ready for one more day around Asheville. Weather forecast is not great, but hey, have to deal with it. And Pete!
Update.....it is 3:08PM and I am sitting in Marion, NC. The storm lasted a good two hours, and about 11:00 emerged from the Camper and the sun quickly emerged. Looked good. For about 20 minutes. I had previously planned to do a ride known as the Diamond Back Lake James Loop....226A? Left the campground and returned to Mcd.....Opened the netbook and I couldn't believe it......More storms again approaching Asheville. I quickly deciphered the path, and hauled ass East to Marion; to outrun and at least wait it out. Looks almost clear now. Hopefully I'll be able to ride a bit and enjoy this day.
Hope you enjoyed the report...
