Hungry Mother Kildeer

Camp life

 Ruthie had not been to Hungry Mother park in Virginia. I had not been with the new trailer. Virginia parks are lovely but full of rocks marking campsite boundaries. I damaged the Scamp on one and requested a pull through site this time. The pull through was cramped and narrow. I love this park and made a point of putting a list of more easily navigable sites on my phone for a return trip. That said, camp life here is sweet and we had a great time.

First things first, we hit the town for lunch and a new battery for my failing cell phone. I saw these interesting lights made from "found objects" and sent a picture to Ben and Sydney who are currently creating "found object" art and craft for an upcoming shop.

Our next stop was the friendly folks at the local Verizon store in Marion, Virginia. I was informed by their friendly staff that I could reduce my bill AND get a free phone. So I did (I think). $200 in accessories and fees later...It is a nice phone. And the fellow helping us was great. 

Having taken care of business, we were free to explore. There are lots of lovely places to walk, in the park and also along the nearby Virginia Creeper Trail. We've done it on bikes from Damascus, Virginia but decided to trek a bit on foot this time. GPS directed us to the trail and left us at an access point behind a local shopping center. There were picnic tables, where we enjoyed a snack, that overlooked both the trail and a lovely river beside it. The Virginia Creeper refers to a local train from days gone by as this is a rails to trails project. Our walk took us through some abandoned industrial sites but mostly through woods and along the river as far as we walked. 

We took narrow back roads home through quaint, old Virginia farming communities replete with the interesting abandoned buildings that suggest their history. 

There are, of course, lovely places to walk in the park. Our favorite is the loop around the lake. An island in the lake is home to a small outdoor amphitheater. In addition to campsites and cabins, there are interesting picnic shelters to rent. Tent sites are on platforms extending out from the hillsides. There is a restaurant with a lovely setting for reunions are receptions. There is even a small conference center. 

If you are into motorcycles or sports cars, The Back of the Dragon begins just past the park entrance on Rt 16 towards Tazwell. Eleven miles of impressive curves and more impressive views, if you dare look. This aerial view is from The Back of the Dragon website. As there was no alternative way back, we did it twice. There is a lovely pull out on top. The views really are spectacular, my picture does not do it justice.

But the highlight of the trip was to be found at the lake beach. A mother Kildeer had laid 4 speckled and well hidden eggs (see if you can find them). She did an elaborate injured bird dance for some time trying to lure us away. We were so charmed by her maneuvers we did not leave as quickly as we might have. I hope she got a nap afterwards. She certainly earned it.

Ruthie had also not seen The Churches of the Frescoes in West Jefferson, NC and Glendale Springs, NC. Ben Long trained as a fresco artist in Italy after his military service in Viet Nam. He came home looking for a place to begin a new career. A motorcycle riding Episcopal priest was trying to revive two failing mountain congregations. He offered Long a place in his sanctuaries to exhibit his talents. Long has become a celebrated artist and the two congregations and the communities around them now thrive.

Church at Glendale Springs

Very glad to be safely home and contemplating our next adventure! And I wiggled out of our narrow site without any damage.

2021 Shakedown Cruise

So it's time to take the old girl out for a test run before the summer camping season begins--make sure she's fully equipped, everything works and I remember how to do stuff. Amazing what you forget in 5 months...

Thanks to COVID, EVERYBODY and his brother are out doing the same. Who'da thot every campground in the area would be full on a cold, blustery March weekend? I had Friday afternoon business in Sanford and the paddle club had planned a Saturday paddle on Crystal Lake, that place that ends in the lovely Tupelo swamp, so it had made sense to look nearby. The only place with an opening was a private campground, Freedom Farm. The paddle, thanks to the good sense of an aging paddle club, was cancelled due to cold, but that wasn't keeping campers home and I got the last spot in the area.

Freedom Farm, while listed on the Internet, is in fact, very private. They have no sign (get good directions before you go--there is no place easy to turn around when you miss it) and I am counting only 6 spots. Cash or Venmo. Full hookups but no picnic tables or fire pits or bath house. They do have a dog run. And bring your 30/50 adaptor if you have a 30a plug. That said, I am right off US 1 and have this lovely wooded view out my back window. I learned later that it is actually an equestrian center and the camp sites are mostly used by folks coming for workshops. With this information, it all made sense. I was just glad for a place to stay.

So far, we have verified that I am adequately packed with camp gear, I can still successfully back into a reasonably open campsite, everything mechanical works, and that the only failing part of this operation is my memory. Mustard, socks and dog dishes somehow missed the boat. Sigh. 

Ben and Sydney arrived early afternoon. They live about 45 minutes from here and I'd promised them a

cookout in exchange for a visit. Sydney had never visited Southern Pines Reservoir Park, just a few miles away. We walked the greenway that circles the small lake, took in the deep woods and lake views, then headed back to camp for skirt steak, air fries, asparagus and peach pie. We have all entered some phase of the vaccination cycle (I have completed it) and to be together in an almost "normal" way made the afternoon even more special. 

So I'm headed home tomorrow. Ben says the best price on propane is Tractor Supply. I'll stop by on the way home to top off (and pick up some dog dishes) and I am ready to roll. Let the season begin!

Farewell 2020

 

Out our back window

Each November, the kids and I pick an activity their dad enjoyed and we enjoy it together to remember him. We have been thwarted this year by scheduling conflicts and Jessie's bout with flu. And, of course, the threat of COVID, which wants to limit all activities outside of Zoom. There are lots of reasons that 2020 may be remembered as the year to forget. 

One of Greg's favorite places was Lake Mattamuskeet. He'd been invited to hunt there one fall during the bird migration and never got over the beauty of it. About 10 years ago, I was able to bring the kids to see this part of the state during Jessie's first fall break from college. We enjoyed historic Halifax and Edenton. And we made Mattamuskeet a treasure hunt searching for the little Methodist Churches their Gramma Kay and her husband, Angus, had in their charge during Angus's first North Carolina assignment after seminary back in the early 1950s. When I read, this fall, about the lakefront campsites at the Osprey Nest Campground, I was drawn to make a reservation. Only Ben was free to join me, but we had a good time re-enjoying our memories and making new ones.

Methodist Church, Engelhard

Methodist Parsonage, Engelhard

Kay and Angus Cameron met in seminary in New York City. Kay was from Central New York, Angus hailed from Vass, NC. They had a church in Brooklyn for a while but Angus wanted to return home and the only charge the North Carolina church could offer him was to nurture four small congregations in Hyde County. He accepted. Kay was expecting their first child. Engelhard was an adjustment for Kay. She reminisced that she was miles from the nearest hospital with a drawbridge between her and safe delivery of her baby. Steven did arrive safely and she rode out her first hurricane with him in the clapboard parsonage. Despite the challenges, it was a fruitful time for her family and their congregations. In our 35 years of friendship, Kay has regularly mentioned continuing correspondence with friends from that time. I was sad to see that the lovely old Engelhard church was badly water damaged and for sale. The parsonage appeared abandoned. However, I also learned that the congregation had merged with the Amity Methodists just up the road. Their lovely Greek Revival building looked sturdy and well maintained. Amity was another congregation in the Camerons' charge and it felt good to see them still going strong.

Amity UMC

Hyde County is very sparsely populated and very isolated. In order to use the land, the fields are bordered by drainage ditches and canals to control flooding. It is a very poor county, largely made up of huge expanses of cropland dotted with abandoned clapboard homes and new modulars. So it was a drive through the country to find Watson's Chapel, which looks active and well kept. I couldn't stop for a picture so this one is from the Internet. The fourth church we had been unable to find on our last trip, but we found it this time. 

 

Watson's Chapel

Gull Rock is particularly isolated. The church is now named United Bethany Church and we couldn't decide if it was still in use or not.

United Bethany

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was on a dead end among a few houses that did not look lived in. 

1915 Pump house, canal side

Lake Mattamuskeet is the state's largest natural lake. It averages only 2 to 3 feet deep but covers over 40,000 acres and is an important stopping point for migratory waterfowl. Each fall, birds and birdwatchers converge on the lake but in 1915, a group of entrepreneurs built the world's largest pump house and drained the lake for farming. The pump house burned 35 tons of coal an hour and averaged 800,000 gallons of water moved per minute. In the end, the venture was not cost effective and the pump house was shut down in 1932. Until the mid 1970s it served as a hunting lodge. The steel frame of the structure has been declared unsafe and the state is beginning restoration. The area around the lake and pump house is a nature preserve and Ben and I enjoyed riding the dirt roads along the drainage canals built into the lake. 

 

Nature preserve

Pump house, lake side

We did see lots of birds but none ventured close enough for pictures. There were swans, egrets, herons, Canada geese, snow geese, and all manner of ducks and birds we did not recognize.

Shrimp boats, Swanquarter, NC

After lunch, we wandered down to Swanquarter to see the ferry and the fishing boats.

The last time we were here, Kay asked if we could find a wonderful, old Live Oak she remembered in the Gull Rock area. She said it was the largest Live Oak she had ever seen. We did find it and we found it again this visit. I have mentioned how isolated and sparsely populated Hyde County is. Other than huge fields, there just isn't much there. It's easy to imagine Hyde County being the definition of "middle of nowhere" so we were pretty amazed to find the tree and find it still standing some 50 years after Kay's last memory of it.

I was working at a community college library when we took that last trip. The computer science

Live Oak near Gull Rock, NC

instructor often dropped in to chat and he asked what I'd done over fall break. When I told him I'd taken the kids to the Edenton and Mattamuskeet areas, you can imagine my surprise when he said he'd been to Mattamuskeet fishing recently near Gull Rock and had seen the biggest Live Oak he'd ever seen. It was fun to whip out my phone and show him the picture. Suffice it to say, the old tree is still there and still magnificent. 

The old houses and churches here, a few well preserved, many abandoned, tell the long history of this part of our state and the economic booms and busts that are a part of it. I'll leave you with a few more pictures, including some of the personal memories Ben and I made here. You can click on any picture to enlarge it.

Twisted Laurel

 

Rocky island in Lake Jocassee

Ruthie and I left my home October 25 in the rain and it stayed with us the entire drive to Devil's Fork State Park in South Carolina. We returned in heavy rain from Hurricane Zeta October 29, soaked through from packing up despite our raincoats. The day after we got back, the hurricane remnants blew so hard, the trailer was knocked off the plastic plates I set under the front supports in my driveway. However, the two full days we were at Lake Jocassee, the weather was absolutely lovely. (Please remember, you can click on any picture to enlarge it.)

Lake Jocassee was created in the 1970s by Duke Power in a deep gorge at the confluence of four rivers that fall clear and cold from the Appalachian Mountains. The lake has 90 miles of coastline but has only 38 private residences on it. The rest of the lake is Devil's Fork State Park and wilderness areas. The lake is known for it's clean, clear water that is almost Mediterranean in coloration. It is a favorite spot for divers, fishermen, and swimmers willing to tolerate the cold. 

Jocassee's deep blue waters

It was still misty with occasional drizzle on Monday morning so Ruthie and I decided the day would be well spent visiting area attractions and enjoying the fall colors. Ruthie had not been to Caesar's Head nor had she spent much time in Brevard. Caesar's Head, also a South Carolina State Park, is a fabulous overlook. The ridge, at an elevation of 3200 feet, plunges 2000 feet to the Piedmont below. On a clear day, you feel on top of the world. On this day, in the drizzle, mist blocked our view. Coming back from Brevard, we stopped again, hoping the sun had burned off the clouds. This time we were above the clouds, looking down on a dreamy, pillowy world. You can see just the tips of the mountains across the valley peaking up through the cloud layer--still not the view we had hoped for but maybe more beautiful.

Caesar's Head in the morning mist

Casear's Head that afternoon

From Caesar's Head, we traveled up the road to Brevard for lunch. We found steamed bagel sandwiches at this outdoor cafe, one of many outdoor seating venues provided by the town. Brevard is an artist's community with lots to see, though we were not comfortable entering any of the galleries with the
pandemic raging. 

Happy Ruthie!

When we got back to our campground, we weren't ready to settle in for the evening so we decided to take a hike on the park's only nature trail, a 1.5 mile loop through mountain laurel, endangered wildflowers, astonishing mushrooms and rich fall color. I found myself humming the Red Clay Ramblers's song Twisted Laurel as we walked the trail where the laurel lined the creek. "And the dark  water springs from the black rocks and flows; Out of sight where the twisted laurel grows".

I was thinking Monday could not be beat for beauty. I was wrong. Tuesday we took a 4 hour boat tour of the lake on a very comfortable open pontoon boat. We saw numerous waterfalls. Then the guide took us up two of the four tributaries and showed us where suspension bridges serving The Foothills Trail, a 77 mile backpacking adventure through North and South Carolina, crossed them. 

As if all this weren't enough, Ruthie had not seen Bridal Veil Falls. I can remember, early in my North Carolina residence, driving through the mountains to see this place where a very narrow, twisting US 64 (which used to be my address in Staley, NC--US 64 runs the length of the state "From Murphy to Manteo" tho Jerry Bledsoe claims that it is really "From Whalebone to Hot House") actually ran underneath a waterfall. Really. I drove it. The state has since widened the road and moved it away from the waterfall but you can still pull off and see it. Which we did. Then Ruthie took me to dinner in Highlands and we headed home to bed.

Ruthie standing in the old roadbed

As I mentioned, Hurricane Zeta followed us home. Or rather wrapped us up as we traveled. But it was seeing my trailer blown off its blocks the next day that blew me away. 

That yellow square used to be under the front foot. 
And that rear wheel chock was under the wheel before
it was popped out when the trailer shifted. Whew.

I was a  poll worker November 3 (thank you for voting, and especially for voting early). We had lots of PPE and took every precaution, but I'm self-quarantining just in case. My last trip of the year will be the week before Thanksgiving. The kids and I are going to a new campground right on Lake Mattamuskeet. I want to see the winter migration and the kids are tied up on Thanksgiving Day so we'll celebrate early. Stay tuned!