Lake Santeetlah, NC 8/20/23 - 8/23/23 (No camping)

Greg & I were invited, by our SC friends Bob & Debbie, to visit them at their lake house on Lake Santeetlah in Western NC. We decided to leave from GA instead of FL, so it would only be a 6.5 hour drive (vs 9 hours).

We headed to GA on Friday & got the grass mowed. I was tasked with snacks for Cocktail Hour(s) on the boat so I spent most of Saturday prepping items for that purpose.

We left on Sunday, around 8:00a. Traffic through Atlanta wasn't that bad for a Sunday so we arrived a little before 3:00p.

I had been there in August of last year, you can read about that visit here August 2022 Lake Santeetlah Visit.

View of house from the lake.

We went for a short boat ride before an early dinner of ribs, potato salad & devilled eggs. We went to bed fairly early because we had a very early morning of fishing on Monday. 

This lake is surrounded by the beautiful Nantahala NF & has many varieties of fish (most are deep water). 

Bob had charted a 1/2 day fishing trip for us from a young guy named Jarrod who runs a 1st class operation - Smokey Mountain Fishing Guide Service. He met us at the dock at 6:15a! It was obviously still dark & making our way down the many stairs was quite the challenge (turn the D**N lights on Bob!). 

It's a loooong way down.

It was a bit cool, which we relished since we had come from 98 -100 degree days. Daylight came & all was very quiet on the lake. Then we saw a bald eagle catch a fish - made our day! It quickly heated up & the fishing began. We caught seven fish total (a large mouth bass, 4 white stripped bass, a large crappy & a steelhead trout) & a few others that got away. We finished around noon & Jarrod filleted our fish which we had for dinner that night ... delicious! Here are a few pics from the morning.

After fishing (& getting up so early) we decided to just have boat snacks at the house & Bloody Marys & Beers for lunch. And then ..... naps for all, before dinner.

The next morning I went for a walk through the neighborhood & then we just lazed around. Debbie cooked a delicious crab casserole for breakfast & the guys went fishing (on their own) for a couple of hours while Debbie & I packed up our snacks for an afternoon boat ride.

We rode over to the marina & shopped a bit & then while just cruising around the lake I spotted a fawn crossing the inlet to an isolated wooded area of the NF. Bob cut the motor to the boat & we could see Mama deer waiting on shore for the baby. Bob said it had to have been 250+ yards from where they started.

Continued cruising & since the weather had warmed up, we stopped & took a dip & swam in the wonderfully clear, cool lake. Here are a couple pics from the afternoon.

Afterward we took showers & headed out to dinner at Tapoco Lodge. On the way, we stopped at the Maple Springs Overlook to admire the view. Ironically, one of the guys that works at the Lodge was at the observation deck showing some friends the view as well. His wife offered to take our group pic.

It was to great to just get away without any real agenda. We had a wonderful time & hope to be invited back again next year!

Note1: We survived the ride home through Atlanta & avoiding Macon.

Note2: Laugh of the trip ... screwedsomewood to it ... I've never heard of that kind of tree.

Hardridge Creek (COE) 5/30/23 - 6/2/23 (#19)

We liked the last campground so much that we decided to go again & have one last 'spring' trip before it got too hot.

We left the Tuesday after Memorial Day & almost all the crowds were gone. Our ride over was a little bit longer due to some road construction/detour but still a very enjoyable, short ride.

Greg had scoped out what we considered the best site in the Shady Loop (FHU). #69 was a long back in with a large 'living' area facing the woods / extremely private.

On Wednesday we decided to go into Abbeville (about 16 miles) & have lunch at Huggin Molly's. It was very good. We didn't get one, but the milk shakes looked fabulous!

After lunch we decided to drive around Fort Gaines to look for some Barn Quilts. I am a member of Barn Quilt Addicts on FB & just recently saw a post about the Red Clay Quilts in the county Red Clay Trail. A lot of them were downtown Fort Gaines. We had already seen 2 of them when we visited the Frontier Village on our last trip but weren't aware of the Trail at that time. We didn't find them all but here are a few.

Weather was very nice but the bugs were just starting to come out after an afternoon rain. These looked like blond mosquitos but didn't bite, thank goodness. There were a lot of them at dusk but disappeared after dark & we didn't see them the next day.

Thought it was done raining & decided to go for a short walk. Well, it was even shorter than we expected because the rain came back. Raced back to the campsite & put out the awning & relaxed the rest of the evening. 

We just took it easy the next day & went to The Silo to get burgers for lunch.

We'll definitely be back to this CG since it's so nice & only a short drive from the Farm. Maybe we'll try one of the other areas next time.

Next trip is scheduled for October.

Note: Birds love to build nests at this campground. We had to remove nesting materials both times.

Hardridge Creek (COE) 4/18/23 - 4/21/23 (#18)

Our 18th trip. We decided on Hardridge Creek CG on Walter F. George Lake & arrived on a Tuesday. It's only a little under 2 hours away & easy to get to from our GA house (via GA37). The hosts we met were super nice & made several suggestions for places to visit.

It is a COE park located across from Cotton Hill CG (COE) where we stayed on our 2nd trip. We stayed in site #66 in the Shady Loop (FHU).

The site was fine but if neighbors had been on either side, it would have felt a bit crowded. It was across from the bath house but since we had FHU we didn't need to use it much. The bath house was clean enough but the shower heads were horrible. The kind from the 60's where water sprays anywhere but down on you. Note: There was a laundry room as well.

As ususal we walked the CG on Tuesday afternoon. This park has several distinct loops. Some right on the lake, some out on a point, others by a beach area & ours which was more secluded & woodsy.

The next day we drove over to Lake Point SP just north of Eufaula, AL. Had heard that it was a nice park from a cousin of mine. It had three different areas for camping & none of them appealed to us so we crossed that one off our list. Note: The Lake is called Lake Eufaula in that area.

Had lunch at Sam's Kitchen & Grill that we had passed on the way to Lake Point. A lot of cars in the parking lot so we thought that it must be good. Wrong. Had to have been to worst buffet lunch we have ever had. Everything was waaaay too salty & most tasted like it came out of a can. Won't be going there again anytime soon.

The next day we decided to head in to Fort Gaines (about 6 miles away) to see if we could find the Frontier Village  that had eluded us the last time we were in the area. Here are a few pics.

All of the buildings (except the cummunity center w/the barn quilts) have been moved here to be preserved. They are on Bluff Point high above the Chattahoochee river & it was once a Frontier Fort (1816), an Indian Fort (1836) & lastly a Confederate Fort (1863). The old buldings were destined to be destroyed at their original locations.

We headed home the next day. Decided to stop at The Silo, a counter service restaurant constructed out of an grain silo, for burgers on our way home. Delicious!

We'll definitely come back.

p.s. Still miss the Nell.

Petersburg (COE) 3/28/23 - 4/1/23 (#17) - Part 4

We left Ebenezer on Tuesday morning & arrived at Petersburg CG in Appling, GA, about 30 miles northwest of Augusta, GA.

SC backroads weren't as bad, most were US highways but you could still tell a difference in the roadways once we crossed the GA line. It had rained quite a bit in & around the area the prior weekend. The turn into the CG was quite narrow & we swung wide in order to stay on pavement. As we turned onto the road an ACOE worker came barreling down the road. He stopped but wouldn't move so Greg turned sharp in order to get the camper off the highway & the right back end of the camper went off the pavement & into the mud. We got straightened out & headed on to the CG.

Once we got to the site (#46) there was a slight incline that had some washouts. Greg was able to maneuver around the ruts. As usual, we plugged in the surge protector before backing into the campsite itself. While we were waiting for the surge protector to do it's thing, we realized it was very wet & soft where you would normally park the camper (your feet would sink 1-2" just standing still). No big deal since there was plenty of space to park it further away & still have the picnic table, fire ring, etc. accessible. However, once he went to put the stabilizers down (one of the last things you do when setting up) we realized that the right back stabilizer was completely bent from our incident when turning in. Again, no big deal ... nothing $150 won't fix & we were level so the stabilizer wasn't essential.

Would normally be backed up further to the right.

View from down by the lake.

No stabilizer on the back

The site had a beautiful view (to the north).

After setting up we realized that it was going to be a struggle getting out unless we went straight through the site next to us (which was currently empty). What I realized during all this, was that this site was actually a 'buddy' site. That means you usually are camping with another party & you can coordinate entering & exiting. 

We got up the next morning & drove over to Winfield CG, another COE nearby. But ... it didn't open for the season until 4/1. (This trip is not turning out like we had hoped.) No matter, Mistletoe SP was right next door so we rode through there. Noted some sites & decided to drive into Evans for some provisions & diesel. Note: We stayed there in April 2021 & it's a great SP.

Rain was forecast for our 4/1 departure date on Sat. so we decided we would leave a day early. The 'buddy' site next to us was due to come in on Thur. which left us w/trying to decide the best way to get out of there. The best bet was to back up the incline, the way we came in. However, it would be almost impossible to avoid the ruts, like we had when we arrived. The other ways out, if the buddy camper site was occupied, had low hanging limbs with the possibility of damaging something on the roof. 

We walked the campground, met a nice couple with a two friendly dogs, had dinner, a nice fire & went to bed to ponder it the next day.

Sunset from the other side of our loop

We got up & after breakfast, decided to go ahead & leave on Thursday before the 'buddy' arrived, so we could pull straight through instead of risking damage to the camper.

On the way out, we stopped at the ranger station & spoke with the attendant who agreed to refund us for Friday night.

This is a beautiful park & we're glad we got to see many of the sites after the rain. Many were flooded & rutted worse than ours. Some still had standing water. We did find several sites that would have been good but again there are so many parks for us to choose from that this one is most likely off the future radar.

Notes:

- Lesson 1 / do more research on the site itself. With all the resources available, I should have known this wasn't the best site for us.

- Lesson 2 / never ever reserve a buddy site w/o a buddy to go with it.

- Watts on Wheels (YouTubers) were just across the way. Not as friendly as they appear on their channel, barely even spoke or waved when you saw them.

One more short spring 2023 trip coming up in a week or so.....

Ebenezer Park (City) 3/25/21 - 3/28/23 (#17) - Part 3

We left James Island on Saturday morning headed to Ebenezer Park in Rock Hill, SC, about 30 miles south of Charlotte. It is situated on beautiful Lake Wylie with many nice homes along the shore front.

We were originally supposed to take I26 --> I77 which would have been about a 3.5 hour drive. However, I77 was closed for about 10 miles just after I26 for much needed roadwork. We wound up going US601 --> US378 & back to I77 (past the construction). This took about an hour longer & when back on I77 it wasn't bad ... except for overpasses which were very rough all the way to our Rock Hill exit.

We had site #40 which looked to be very private ... on the map. It was private on either side but the site backed up to a slight hill & there were campers on that hill that looked down directly into our site. Not a big deal but goes to show you never know what you'll encounter until you get there. 

It was level enough & we decided not to even put rugs or table cloth out since we weren't spending that much time at the CG itself.

On Sunday we drove over to Lancaster (about an hour away) to spend the day with our good friends Debbie & Bob from  Fox Trot Farm. They prepared a wonderful lunch & then we went over to visit friend Jeff & meet his new girlfriend Alice. It rained off & on but anytime you're with friends it makes for a fun & relaxing day.

The public area in this park had been renovated about a year ago & you could tell they put a lot of money & effort into making this a great place for the locals to come. It had nice boat launch area with plenty of parking, a huge playground, picnic areas & beach area for swimming. It also had a walkway that went around the beach. You could fish from the walkway & there were covered areas where you could sit & relax. Here's an arial view from their FB page.

There is a campground area beyond the parking lot but we opted to stay in the wooded area, a bit away from the public space.

As usual, we decided to go for a walk around the CG. We met the CA couple that owned this monstrosity (The Dawg Haus).

They were just a few sites over from us & Greg said that he probably wouldn't have even attempted to park this in that spot (it was tight). They were out walking their two dogs - a daschund & a little white dog with an orange stripe down it's back. They had dyed it for some silly occasion & it didn't wash out.

Back at the camper relaxing while sitting outside, a guy came into our site. Startled us a bit but it was just a fellow camper from just across the way that was camping with his girlfriend in a pop-up. He needed to borrow a can opener, which I was actually able to find! He opened his can of - whatever & went back across the way to cook it over an open fire. They went for a walk a bit later & brought their pup Tucker over to say hi. He was a Chi-Doxie rescue. Brown, long haired daschund with the cutest chihuahua face & very friendly.

The next day we just relaxed & packed up to get ready for our last leg.

Note: On Sunday evening, there were several large parties packing up from a day spent at this beautiful park. Before we headed back to our site, Greg went in to use the restroom. He told me to come look inside. It . was . trashed with toilet paper. All the doors, the floor, the sinks, even the heating/ac unit in the ceiling was COVERED with TP. There was a large group of teens with the group & they probably did it. But it makes you wonder why people would do such a thing? Made us feel bad for the park rangers/keepers that had to clean it up the next day.