Mt Pisgah on the Blue Ridge Parkway

view from the campground

After spending eight glorious days and nights at this idyllic mountain retreat, we returned home jumping back into home updating projects.  The bath is mostly done and it’s time to take a break before returning to kitchen painting.

Waking at 4 AM this morning with blogging on my brain, it is time to take another look at our favorite summer get away.

Introduced to this magical place over 20 years ago, we were drawn here initially for biking and hiking opportunities.  The campground has 5 loops, two RV and three tent, with around 140 sites.  There are no hookups for electric, water or sewer and we never need a reservation….due to the lack of facilities! 

The Mt Pisgah campground is the highest, coolest and most secluded on the 489 mile Blue Ridge Parkway.  At 4, 980 feet, it  provides us with cool breezes and temps that welcome a fire at night.  Mt Pisgah, photo above, is at 5,721 feet with the television tower being the highest east of the Mississippi River.  There are showers in the campground now….years ago we bathed under a sun shower hung in a rhododendron thicket.  The fee is $16 per night, $8 with a senior pass.  The time policy allows camping for 30 consecutive nights, a recent change from a 2 week limit.

The campground is at mile 408 on the parkway, about 15 miles south of Asheville, NC and 61 miles from Cherokee, NC.  It is 5 1/2 hours drive from our home in Chattanooga, 200 miles.  We never hurry as it’s beautiful …traveling through two river gorges and 40 miles on the parkway.

Within walking/hiking distance of the campground, a restaurant, inn and camp store can be accessed.  These photos were taken in early evening from the deck behind the restaurant.

Always love seeing the beautiful flowers found growing along the parkway.  The elevation makes for a much later season.  We find columbine, a very early blooming wildflower, on a hiking trail.  Rhododendron is blooming throughout our campsite.

This wildflower, fly poison, is found along the campground road.

Calla lilies are in the restaurant’s garden.

From the eastern overlooks, Looking Glass Rock, (near Brevard, NC) can be viewed.  There’s a steep hiking trail that climbs to its base.

Sylvester seems to enjoy the trip…or maybe he just likes getting away from his two older sisters!  Lots of entertainment can be found just outside the window.

Sylvester lets us know when it’s bedtime by crawling on top of David’s book, persistently returning every time he’s removed.

A few fiberglass trailers breeze through the campground, most staying only a night.  We are fortunate to make friends with Holly, new Casita owner, and Carrie, proud owner of a pre-owned Scamp.  Will be seeing them again at future rallies!

Too busy talking to get any pictures of their rigs but the campground does have an abundance of small trailers.

This is a cool but pricey little all-aluminum trailer… Camplite.

A 1960 Shasta…no peak inside …still remodeling.

Beautiful homemade teardrop type.

The Retro Lite’s owners are on a multi-month trip….fun people who travel constantly.

The last few days on the parkway are spent hiking…. driving to the Shining Rock area and taking the Ivestor Gap trail.

It is mostly flat, an old roadbed, but the large rocks in the trail prove challenging.  Will take the Art Loeb trail next time!