Travels with JD & SuB : 2023 - Smoky Mountains & New River Gorge

We left home on Sunday October 8, 2023 and spent our first night at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. This was a beautiful campground and there is a lot to do around the park and in Lexington, KY This was an overnight stay so we didn't have time to visit the sites.

The next day we headed for Great Smoky Mountain Nation Park. We camped at Elkmont Campground. This was the third trip to GSMNP and Elkmont Campground. We spent 4 nights at Elkmont and this gave us a great opportunity to test our Lithium batteries and solar. We moved to Smokemont Campground, near Cherokee, NC. Bryson City is one of our favorite places to visit.

After 6 nights without electrical hook-ups, we were happy to see we still had plenty of power. We didn't get much solar add due to the trees and some rain. We headed to Asheville, NC traveling along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We camped at the Asheville East KOA for 3 nights. We visited the town of Black Mountain, NC for lunch a couple days finding a neat Cuban restaurant for one lunch. Our campsite was right on a small lake that had a great walk path around the lake.

After Asheville we continue North on the Blue Ridge Parkway, camping at Lineville Falls Campground. We spent 2 nights here. We hiked up to Lineville Falls. It was a pretty steep hike, with elevation gain. The reward was the twin falls and the gorge further up the trail. We drove up to Grandfather Mountain. We grabbed lunch at the lodge and then drove up to the top of the mountain. I hiked across the swing bridge and took lots of pictures.

We continued North on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Boone, NC and the Boone KOA. We spent 2 nights in Boone. We found a great brewery close to the campground with great beer and food. The next day we drove around Boone and the historic center of town. We also visited Appalachian State University. The campus was beautiful, set in the hills overlooking town.

The next day we left Boone and the Blue Ridge Parkway, headed to New River Gorge National Park. We camped at The Outpost Campground. This was one of the best campgrounds we have stayed at. It is a 5-10 drive across the single arch bridge to the New River Gorge National Park, Canyon Rim Visitor Center. After hiking around the grounds, we took the road down to the single lane bridge and back up to the campground. We grabbed luch and then took the stopping at the Thurmond Historic District, Grandview Overlook, Sandstone Falls, and Babcock State Park. We packed a lot in one day. We will be back. This is a perfect pairing with GSMNP.