Making A Check List

Over the week, we completed our cleanup and presented a list of maintenance issues to make the campground ready for guests. We were hoping the bathhouse would be finished and the campground opened before we leave but it’s not looking good.

Park Rangers have asked us to travel the surrounding communities looking for things that campers might be interested in doing while visiting the area. So far, we have identified a great Laundromat with wireless internet available in Marion. There are more than enough fast food restaurants as well as quite a few more casual dining options including what was our favorite, Golden Corral. Maybe it was the night we went or maybe the cooks were having a bad night. Suffice it to say, neither Carl nor I enjoyed the food. We’ve traveled to Morganton and attended the movies. In both towns, there are WalMarts and Food Lions for reasonable food shopping. We are too early in the season for many of the touristy kinds of things although the Linville Caverns did open last week.

Each day we get a bit more of the camper back in shape. Carl has been busy repairing hatch cover latches, replacing the water filter and tightening things that have loosened over the years, while inside, I’ve been removing several months worth of dust and generally getting things shipshape although with only 24 feet, there isn’t much ship to shape. We do, however, have one job neither of us is looking forward to and that’s the repair of our folding day / night shades. Over the five years we’ve owned the camper strings on two window shades have completely broken while a third hangs by the proverbial thread. The directions on the repair kit says “easy to follow” although it remains to be seen.

I’ve observed the stirrings of the season with the first blooms, dandelions. Daffodils are prolific but in the woodlands, not much is happening although we are noticing the Maple trees are waking from their winter slumber as evidenced by their bright red buds. And the pale but vibrant green of willows are beginning to be noticed. There are several walking trails all throughout the park, some even specifically for biking. Carl and I have walked a few of them to familiarize ourselves with the terrain should anyone ask.  We’ve just been made aware of the Fox Den Loop, aptly named for an active fox den. It’s a two mile walk but if I can get a photo or two of the little darlings, it will be worth getting up early.

Blue Ridge Parkway, Take 1

It rained in great torrents and the wind howled for most of the night and when we woke up this morning, it was only 26 degrees. Not wanting to sit around for another day without responsibilities, we decided to go north, drive some of the Blue Ridge Parkway and look for a couple of waterfalls with trails more befitting our age and general physical condition. The driving directions seamed fairly straightforward so armed with not one but two different maps, we left shortly after breakfast.

In a perfect world we would have driven to Little Switzerland, filled our gas tank, found and hiked to Linville Falls and Dugger’s Creek Falls, made our way back to Marion and had a nice lunch.  But not today. Today, we spent four hours on a fool’s errand and a cold one at that. Having snowed at higher elevations last night, the steep twisted road climbing ever higher had been salted to keep all vehicles safe. We never found Little Switzerland, I suspect because everything was closed or because we were not on the correct road. We took several wrong turns, got rerouted by Google Maps on my phone and ended up finding a Wal-Mart out in the middle of, literally, no where. Who knew?

After a couple of detours, we finally found the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the small village of Linville Falls only to discover the Parkway was closed in both directions due to snow and ice on the road. We were within a mile of the trail head

but I just didn’t have it in me after all the hassle. A quick stop at Linville Caverns was made for a few photos of the North Branch River. And I found this vine covered tree to be especially interesting.

Checking Out Our Work Detail

Our breakfast was interrupted by the rangers responsible for opening the park. Introductions were made and we chatted about our travels until maintenance arrived. The five of them, Carl included, stood around and discussed what could be done to get our water working. There were multiple comings and goings for this tool or that part until it came down to the inevitable, a state worker leaning on a shovel while the other one stands in the hole. I know, it’s almost too funny to be true but I have a photo to prove it.  Mean no disrespect to any workers, state, federal or otherwise, it just seems to always come down to that.

Just before lunch we walked the campground, checking out where each site was located and what might be needed for possible maintenance. We found several trees needing some trimming, broken and downed branches everywhere and the tent pads needing to have needle and leaf removal. Fire pits should be cleaned and there are a few water spigots that need some TLC with a little lubricant. Each site has a 12 x 15 tent platform, a picnic table, fire ring, grill and a metal box for food storage.

Water repairs completed, lunch consumed and a courtesy check in with Lisa at the day use area preceded Carl getting our water heater plugged, lines flushed and water flowing in the camper once more.

South Bound

You know how it is when you plan for a trip, using hours of research time, making lists until you need a card catalog to remember what was on each list and it seems as if the day will never come. And then one morning, you wake up and there’s no time left. You throw everything into your vehicle and head out hoping you haven’t forgotten anything. I always have that feeling for the first 50 miles or so. To date, with all the miles we’ve traveled, there has been little left behind that we truly needed.  

Three days of traveling just over 1,000 miles  kept us on schedule to arrive today for our first volunteer position as camp hosts at Lake James State Park in Nebo, NC. Our travel was uneventful with an evening spent in Cherry Knolls, NJ and Harrisonburg, VA Wal-Marts. We saw almost no snow our entire trip, encountered only a brief rain shower and the only complaint was high wind which threw us all over the highway from Harrisonburg, VA well into North Carolina, a distance of more than 150miles completely killing our already poor mileage. We had a brief chuckle when we followed a tanker truck which appeared, to us, to be hauling a load of coffee. The mood deflated somewhat when we passed the tanker to find it was an ordinary load of gasoline.

Manmade Lake James encompasses 6,812 acres and serves as a reservoir for the Duke Hydroelectric project. Constructed between 1916 and 1923 with the completion of dams across the Catawba and Linville Rivers as well as a lesser tributary, Paddy’s Creek. The park is an hour east of Asheville near the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lake James State Park currently has one campground, a walk in tent site only area with 20 sites, however they are in the process of constructing another campground which will accommodate drive to site tent camping. It’s not ready due to the really bizarre winter they, too, have experienced. It isn’t just the north country that’s been out of balance. Did I mention today the temperature hit 71 degrees.

We caused a bit of commotion when we arrived at the Paddy Creek Office. It seems no one was expecting us. There was a brief scramble to get us keys and show us to our site at the Catawba River Campground where we were told the showers and toilets were torn apart for renovations and the water source for our site had frozen over the winter. With our arrival, we were assured it would be repaired on Tuesday. The ranger checked in with us before he closed the park at 6:00PM. All was well and we were then “locked into the park” for the night. They actually close the gates from 6:00PM to 8:00 AM. There wasn’t a soul around and no artificial lights save those in our camper. We passed a very quiet night.

Addendum to Blog Entry of May 9, 2015

We have always marveled at the Jekyll and Hyde aspect of Assateague Island. The MD end of the island is narrow, mostly sandy beach and low scrub brush.  This long narrow spit of land has miles of marshy grasslands and numerous hummocks, also called islands, just off shore in the bay. By contrast, the VA end of the island is much wider with a short and narrow sandy beach. The marshlands are also expansive but the middle of the island supports heavily forested areas and the bay between Assateague and the mainland is island free. As we progressed mile after mile down the beach on the OSV road, we could see the changes.

Almost immediately, the dunes became taller, healthier and more alive with erosion impeding growth. Eventually the scrubby bush and stump pines gave way to the much taller Loblolly Pines and even some hardwoods. Close to Stateline is a healthy freshwater marsh, an intact ecosystem complete with cattails. This freshwater source is a great resource for the small bands of horses that inhabit this end of the island where other bands make due with brackish water and puddles after a rainstorm.      
Our trip over sand not only gave us a look at the different layers of agency dealings, Enforcement Officers, Park Rangers and Natural Resources People all working hand in hand to keep the park pristine. It also reminded us of things they are unable to prevent such as the natural process of a barrier island adjusting to weather and it’s movement by the tides and storms. During Hurricane Sandy, the entire island was subjected to a massive tidal surge. As a result, many of the aged trees in the middle of the island are showing signs of salt toxicity and are dying off. We think of Barrier Islands protecting the mainland but they must also handle a great deal of abuse from weather during it’s life. Assateague Island is not where it was 50 years ago and will continue to move over the next 50. The animals that call this place home, the White Tailed and Sika deer, rabbits and the horses, have a pretty tough life. I’ve spent some time here now and will always wonder how the island is dealing with that next Atlantic storm, summer or winter.

Over Sand Trip

When most of the National Seashore is only reachable by traveling through sand with a special permit and appropriate gear, you miss the real flavor of the island unless you can travel that sandy stretch. Since we’re not sure about my Toyota Tundra’s worthiness, we’ve never spent the money for the permit but have always wanted to go.

One of the rangers, Betsy, offered to drive us out, show us a couple of back country camp sites and give us an idea of what the rest of Assateague was made of so we hopped into her government vehicle and spent the first spent 20 minutes letting 65 lbs of air out of each tire. Regulations and just plain sand smarts require you to run with only 15 lbs of pressure in each tire. The theory of squishy tires providing more surface contact is a sound one and more importantly, it seems to work for the majority of travelers. The trip out was full of new scenery, lots of birds, and more than a handful of people fishing and enjoying the sun. The Over Sand Regulations allow for no more than 145 vehicles out there at one time, 12 per mile,  and there’s a numbered gate to control access. Once the counter hits 145, the gate won’t open until someone comes off the sand knocking the counter to 144 and allowing the next person access to the route.

Natural Resource Officers and volunteers have marked places on the sand where the endangered Piping Plovers are nesting and have installed pipes with large signs every 10 feet around the closure. Nesting is a euphemism since they do not construct a nest but lay their sand colored eggs directly on the sand. Occasionally the birds will define their site by using bits of shells. Travelers on the sand have to pay attention and drive around these closed sections of beach. On our way back, we noticed a 4 wheel drive vehicle traveling  right down the middle of one of these closed areas. Betsy flew out of the vehicle, read the guy the riot act, contacted Law Enforcement to pass on make, model and tag information of the offending vehicle and then let the guy go on his way with a smile. I don’t think he had any idea there would be a ranger with a ticket book and a gun waiting for him.

Betsy took us to one of the back country campsites called Green Run, a nice little campsite in among the pines that will accommodate up to 15 people. There are picnic tables, fire rings and pit toilets for their comfort. The Campground rangers even drop off some firewood at the beginning of the season. This site is fairly close to the water if you wanted to kayak in otherwise it’s an 8 mile walk through the sand.

We continued down the beach looking for dolphins, eagles and other marine wildlife and while the surf was spectacular, all we found were sandpipers, laughing gulls and more than a few common gulls waiting for the fishermen to clean any catch they might land.

Our next stop was a piece of property off limits to campers and hikers but park employees use this location as a staging area for work being done near the VA border . We’re told this property was once owned by the Valentine family giving it the designation of “Valentine” to the park employees. There is a rundown camp, perched high on pilings, at the site which used to have electricity running to it back in the day. In fact, there are numerous cabins hiding all over the island. With the amount of marsh grass, slimy puddles and high tide debris lines, there was more than enough evidence to suggest this site was under water during higher tides. Out in the bay I noticed a small band of horses grazing near the VA / MD border fencing. Through my camera lens I could see there were 2 pintos, a light bay, a chestnut and a very dark bay stallion. They noticed us almost immediately but stayed where they were, the grass being much sweeter on their side of the marsh. Later, back at the camper, I was able to determine the dark bay stallion had a slash of white running down his left shoulder which looked more than a bit like a bolt of lightening. I must mention here how bad the mosquitoes were because the campers never feed them at this location so we abandoned the wait for the band to graze a bit closer in favor of the sanctuary of the truck.

We returned to the entrance/exit area and found a Ford Taurus about 10 feet inside the gate buried in the sand up to it’s frame. The  owners were naturally embarrassed and waiting for Law Enforcement to try to pull them out with a chain, saving them the expense of a tow truck. They were still going to get a couple of fines but their wait was prolonged by Law Enforcement because he observed a questionable vehicle leaving the sand. The guy stopped to put air back into his tires and the officer administered a field sobriety test which the driver failed. He was arrested, on site, for DWI and the befuddled driver wanted to know when it became illegal to drink and fish. The officer calmly said, “when you climbed behind the wheel to drive”.

The Ford Taurus could not be pulled out by a chain and had to wait for the tow truck. I believe it will be a while before they try a stunt like that again.    

Nature And All It's Wonders

We finally have a few days of high 70’s with bright sunshine and it falls over our two days off so our plans would take us to the Ocean City Visitor’s Center to find out about fishing trips. This is our 4th visit to the area and Carl really wants to go deep sea fishing for Stripped Bass. Wouldn’t you know, the boats don’t start running until May 15. That’s the day we leave for home. And on top of this bad news, three bands of horses have made themselves pretty scarce over the past week. Instead of seeing more as the weather warms, we are seeing less.

But every evening, the Cardinals come out to feed in the open area near our camper and we see the same two white tailed deer, a mother and skipper ( last year’s youngster ), emerge from the brush to feed on the grasses. Most evenings but not all the chestnut stallion and his 4 chestnut mares graze their way through. And on very rare occasions, there is a lone stallion who is in the area to see if he can steal a mare or two. So far neither the white and brown pinto, Bodacious Bob, or the single chestnut, Corky, have been successful.

Also I have an update on the killdeer mother who sat on her nest through horrific rainstorms and gale force winds. We’ve watched for three weeks as she stood up to the “horse giants” roaming through the countryside. Sometime during Friday night or early Saturday morning, the four little speckled eggs hatched. Sadly, we were on duty and didn’t get a chance to watch them dry off, stretch their tiny little legs and then leave the nest area for the very last time. Another camper managed

to catch a glimpse of 4 tiny balls of fluff running after their mother as she disappeared into the tall grass on the edge of the marsh.

I figured I would complete the saga with a photo of the empty broken shells but Carl said nature had already absorbed the shells back into the environment.