Camping in Pisgah

Chip and I camped in Pisgah National Forest just over a week ago, staying at the Davidson campground.

This was my first stay in this campground and on Friday morning we found ourselves to be the only campers in the loop besides the "camp staff" staying in a trailer around the loop from us.   Being the only campers didn't immune us from the rules of Davidson Campground, as we would find out.

Our first mistake was choosing a really nice camp site... since we were the only ones there, we chose the best, and it happened to be a double site.  We called our site 56 "A".  

Sometime after the sun went down and two hours into building our fire the "camp staff" pulled up in his truck and walked over to our picnic table. He asked, "Did you realize you are in a double site?"  Chip and I looked at each other and kind of ignored his question.  Staff held in his hand the envelope that we left in the box earlier in the day.  He pulled our money out of it and studied it for a second.  Then he asked if we intended to stay two nights. We confirmed it.  "Well, I only have enough money for you to stay one night in this spot.  It's a double site and requires double the money per night."  I looked around at the empty sites as he continued to explain the rules.  "If you guys want to stay two nights for this amount of money you'll need to choose another site."

He didn't give us the impression that this was up for discussion and we agreed to move.  Once Mr. Staff left we continued cooking our dinner and thinking about our next move while we grumbled about the rule.  

We had worked really hard to get our fire going and now we would have to move it across the road to another site.  After dinner we sat at the fire thinking of ways to move it with limited supplies.  Finally we came up with a plan.  We used two long branches parallel to each other and laid the burning logs across them.  We carried the burning wood as if it was a stretcher and successfully moved our fire!

The next day we took our time making up a great breakfast and hanging around the fire on a cool morning.  Once it warmed up we decided to tackle another hike.  I'll write about our hike up Johns Rock in a post later this week.  The story I want to tell you now is what happened once we returned from our hike.  We pulled up and I noticed an empty plastic bread bag near some trees adjacent to our site.  I walked over to pick it up and noticed it was a hot-dog package.  I had left these in a laundry basket at the table. 

A flock of crows were in the branches overhead and each had a beak full of bread.  Also missing from my laundry basket was nearly a dozen oatmeal cookies.  It wasn't the end of the world considering the amount of food we had with us but I was irritated that the birds sat high in the trees mocking me.

Not long after our return to camp Mr. Camp Staff returned to our site in his truck.  I could barely contain myself from rolling my eyes at his presence.  He said, "You boys should learn to put your food away.  The crows had a huge party over here today."  He started laughing as he recalled the visions of that party.  Why he did nothing to save our food I do not know, but whatever.  We acknowledged our mistake and he left us with another hearty laugh.  I started to think about our food and how it was packaged.   This lead me to the conclusion that Staff Man ate my oatmeal cookies and helped the birds to our bread.

That night at the fire, Chip and I discussed all the funny things we would laugh at as it related to the Camp Staff guy.  "Wouldn't it be too bad if his camper burned tonight?"  Oh, we would tell him (with a laugh), "Oh, you should have seen that sucker burn.  Got to be careful around propane ya know."

"Wouldn't it be too bad if someone left a #2 on the hood of his truck?"
"Wouldn't it be too bad if someone choked his truck tire?"
In our laughing fits we noticed Staff Guy come out of his trailer with his small dog and walk to the backside of the truck.  This was not his usual pattern with that stupid dog.  Could he hear us?  Maybe.

We didn't let a little missing food slow us down.  That second night, Chip put together a great meal of camp meatloaf.

The result = DELICIOUS.  This was probably the best we, at least I, have eaten on a camping trip.

Sunday morning we pack up camp and headed home.  I drove through the mountains back to South Carolina under cover of dense fog.

What wasn't foggy was my head.  After two great hikes, many great laughs, and some much needed time in the mountains with a friend, my head was clear and I was feeling great.  Just remind me not to camp in Davidson Campground again.  They have a lot of rules.  And rules need to be followed.