Pisgah National Forest and Asheville, NC: June 9-11, 2020 - In Which I Go Camping With My Dear Friend, Clayford

There are only a few activities one can do right now under The New Normal.  Outdoor things are generally considered safe, which is why dear Clayford and I decided to go camping for a bit in early June.  Since he's only able to travel so far in the radius from his base - per army rules - he picked a place near Asheville whose address was, genuinely, just "Pisgah National Forest".

It was a great little spot, though, somewhat near the town of Brevard.  I got there around 6pm after a seriously delayed drive in, so needless to say, he got there first and had everything already set up:

Our first activity was to wade in the water; a great opportunity to try out my new water shoes:

We trudged through the creek and hiked a bit on the trail running along it, then headed back to the campsite.  A taco dinner followed, and then, as it became dark, we set about making the fire:

Continuing with the camping stereotypes, we then made s'mores and just enjoyed the evening.  As the fire died, it began to look a bit like a city does from an airplane at night:

I also got a surprisingly decent low-light photo of the trees against the night sky:

The next morning it began to rain a bit, so we had to make breakfast on a quasi-level stump in a dry spot just off the campsite:

before departing for the day's adventure, which was a hike still within Pisgah on the Art Loeb trail, to Black Balsam Knob.  The view, I was assured, was spectacular.

The view did not cooperate that day:

Eventually, the barest of mountain peaks crept through the mist:

but then the pouring rain began.  There was just no winning!

We called it quits and made our way to our stop for the night, Clay's brother's house in Asheville.  We showered, dried off, changed into fresh clothes, and began anew in mid-afternoon with a stroll around the town of Asheville:

I even walked by the church where On Goes the River premiered a distant three years ago!

A quick stop by a Harris Teeter - objectively the best grocery store in all the world - to get food for that night's cookout, and then we returned to the house and fired up the grill:

We also admired the sunset from atop the hill where the house stood:

And that was that!  The day ended with a soft couch to lay my head on, a definite step up from the hard ground of the night before.  Clay and I took it slow the next morning, leaving for our respective destinations sometime before noon.  He headed back to base, but I had one more destination to get to before I'd return home.