Go Westy

I live in one of the prettiest places in the country.

There are days when I almost wreck my car because I'm dumbstruck by the scene outside my windshield; this town is nicely nestled in the lush, maternal mountains that surround it. It is breathtaking in every season.

(I-mean-it-sucks-don't-move-here)

After Quizzo recently I've been heading down to the Warehouse/Shop to hang out and play darts with Adam, Jonathan, Yeatman and whomever else is around. It's the perfect endcap to a night consumed with answering inane questions over pints of microbrew. After last week's strong showing (and one in which I won my 6^th shout-out question) I was feeling energetic so I stayed at the Shop after Margarita and Yeatman left. Jonathan and I got to talking and decided we should go camping the next night. His best friend and his girlfriend were in town in their Westy camper and since Jonathan essentially lives in his it'd be a breeze to pack up and head to the Smokies in matching VWs. So after doing some tiling in the morning I met up with the crew at the shop and with a few stops to get meal makings we were off, cruising at the brisk 55 top speed of the Westy.
We first headed to a favorite spot of Jonathan's on the East Fork of the Pigeon called Garden of the Gods, where we proceeded to rock hop and scramble up continuous 12-20ft waterfalls with deep pools full of native brook trout for almost two hours. Great fun; I haven't rock hopped like that in ages. I love the puzzle it becomes, the weight distribution and foot placement; the translation of right handed movements to the left-handed brain. The river mets up with the road and we easily walked back down to the campers.

(Not Jonathan's Westy but one very similar)

By this point it was strongly dinnertime. We drove up onto the Parkway and parked at the overlook for Devil's Courthouse, where we popped the tops to the campers and cooked our meals. This is when Jonathan's modifications on his Westy really began to impress, though I was most impressed by the command to simply sit in my chair, drink my wine and not do a darn thing. We had pan-seared king salmon steaks, fresh salad, asparagus and red wine and it was delicious. Yes, that was cooked on a stove in a VW camper. And we had some classical station as background music so we almost looked classy what with our lexan wine glasses and all.

(Devil's Courthouse)

After dinner we drove a short distance to the parking area for Black Balsam Knob, a 6200ft bald in the Shining Rock Wilderness area (in comparison, Mt Marcy in NY is 5344 ft, Mt. Washington is 6288ft) where we popped the tops and set up camp for the night. We didn't get to bed til after 2am. I haven't slept in the pop-top of a VW camper since I was probably 12; it brought back some of my favorite memories of camping with my dad in my grandparents blue 1982 VW.
The sun was bright and clear in the morning and as neither of us are morning people it was nice to sort of ease into the day, to the tune of actually attempting to go back to bed after a breakfast of pancakes with strawberries and fresh coffee. Didn't work, gave up on the napping and finally left to hike Black Balsam. It has one of the best views in the Pisgah area; as a bald it's clear in all directions with views of Looking Glass, Graveyard Fields, Shining Rock, Mt Pisgah and Cold Mountain. We had a picnic lunch at the summit but the threat of rain sent us scurrying back down the trail to head back to town. This was all about 30 miles from my house.
I know that was long but I hope it did the trip justice. It was throughly enjoyable.

(The summit of Black Balsam taking from the internets as my camera is broken)