Western NC Getaway

Our Site

Learning that Beth's sister & brother-in-law were passing through North Carolina gave us a good excuse to head for a meet-up in the mountains. With leaf peaking season coming up, we searched all-stays for a park near Hendersonville. Red Gates RV Park had an opening and was reasonable at $35 per night. This small park was friendly with shady spots and older, but very clean, facilities.

Red Gates Overview

Red Gates Laundry & Bath House

 There isn't a view of the mountains, but the park was quiet and the camp host was helpful and friendly. If we had more time we would have wandered across the street for a tour of Burnt Shirt Vineyards.

Picnic area at Grandad's Apples

We did pick-up fresh apples at Grandad's Apples where the inviting rocking chairs in the shade of the barn were a relaxing spot to gaze out over the nearby hills.

Hendersonville is a neat little town in the Appalachian Mountains, about four hours west of us. We met Beth’s sister Judy and her husband Gary there for a couple of days of camping. Just like the little town of Washington, there were painted animals. Rather than crabs, Hendersonville has bears.

Judy & Gary brought their mini cooper convertible which they kindly used so we could all travel together. Dupont State Forest was our destination for a morning hike to find waterfalls. The roofless mini was perfect for viewing the mountain scenery.

Mini Coopers are built for Twisty Roads

The three falls trail was an easy hike that quickly revealed it’s namesake three waterfalls. The area has been used to film several movies. We were lucky to get there a couple of weeks before the leaves change. Once that happens, all the campgrounds are full, though it must be beautiful. 

Three Falls

Beth, Gary & Judy at High Falls

Dupont State Forest Visitor's Center

The names aren’t very original, but they are accurate. The high falls trail took us to this overlook. The falls were even capped with an old wooden covered bridge.

Brevard Music Center

From Dupont State Forest we drove some twisty mountain roads to Brevard, a town with a summer music school and lots of craft shops. They supposedly have unusual white squirrels in the area. We didn’t see any live ones, but there was an outline of one at the main intersection in town.

After a day of hiking and exploring, Gary found a great place to fill-up our bellies. The Flat Rock Wood Room had wood fired pizza, steaks and BBQ in a fun setting with indoor and outdoor seating.

The visit came to an end too quickly as we had to get home for a Heart of Carolina Chorus rehearsal on Thursday and to perform in two shows on Saturday. 

We did stop on the way home for lunch in the town of Black Mountain where we found a shaded parking spot with picnic tables and new restrooms in a park next to the police station.

Black Mountain is very walkable and offers many small shops and galleries with unique crafts and food. We shared the town with a group of visiting Chinese high school students whose tour bus had stopped for a visit. The old train depot has been converted to a gallery for local crafts. Someday trains may pass through here again if the state expands passenger service to Asheville.

One last stop was at Camping World to fill our propane. With Hurricane Matthew heading our way, we wanted to have the RV as a back-up generator and source of fresh water in case power was cut at home. We were lucky to only lose power for a couple of hours during the storm. One tree fell on a house in our neighborhood, but no one was injured. This is in contrast to eastern sections of the state which were inundated with flooding for two weeks after the storm.