Monday-Tuesday, July 2-3, 2013. Pisgah
National Forest. Black Balsam, through Graveyard Fields, to the Skinny-dip Falls Trailhead.
In Camp: Flood!
We could hear the waterfall noise adding to the ever-present
stream rush when we came across a camp site. The kids sat down, Lee and S set
their packs down. I was way behind at that point, and as I caught up asked if
it was time for a rest? No, we’re camping here. S and Lee scouted further along
the trail, to see if there was a better campsite close by. The kids and I found
a way down to the water, decided where the tents would probably go, and started
identifying and removing the largest glass chunks from around the fire pit.
Boo started digging in the sand of the trail, making a sand
castle. J joined her, and they had quite the discussion of who would attack,
what kinds of attacks were fair, how to prevent attack. They then had a small
war, destroyed the sand castle, and utterly obliterated any sign that they’d
been there. (This got some looks from the hikers that came through.)
The scouts returned to report no camp sites unless we crossed the river by Skinny Dip Falls. Those sites are fairly close to a trailhead, and the trail was a little rough. Let’s stay here. I asked Lee about how far we’d come (I really hadn’t been paying much attention…), and she said almost 5 ½ miles! Considering how tricky the trail had been for short legs, the kids did even more awesome than I’d thought!
