Pisgah Forest for leaf viewing

Dieter and I both had some hard weeks of work and weren't much fun to be around anymore. Our solution: Drop off the grid and enjoy nature! We kept the planning to a minimum but without a better idea we headed to the western edge of the closest version of Pisgah National Forest (it's disjointed if you look at a map). So we set our sights on Jonas Ridge which I remember fondly of the top of the Hwy 181 climb on Bridge to Bridge. As we climbed Hwy 181 and took in the sight of Brown Mountain I thought it might be prudent to actually find a campground. We got luck and ended up a Down By The River campground. Although it's primarily a RV park it was pretty deserted on Saturday and we got some choice spots down by the Linville River.





We arrived late in the afternoon, hastily setup our tents, and took off west on the Blue Ridge Parkway to try to catch the sunset. The sky had turned a little cloudy which muted the fall colors but it was still a really nice sunset.







Night time came and the temp plunged. It was pretty cold but the fire kept us warm. Well that and Dieter's sporty black lapdog. I tried burning giant logs but Dieter came out ahead on that deal.





Sunday morning came and it was downright cold. I was snug in my overspec'ed sleeping bag but at some point you have to get up and that was chilly. I got breakfast going and we enjoyed a feast of instant coffee and oatmeal. Yum!

Next up: Make a route for our riding. I totted my laptop along and got busy with the Garmin software. Dieter was restless but soon enough we got started on a fun 80-ish mile loop down a long ridgline to Lake James and then back north to our camp.



And this is what I came up with:

From Pisgah Forest and the Fall Leaves

I uploaded some more route information on ADVrider along with some pictures from along the route. Follow this link for the details.

Here are some pic's from the weekend in no particular order.

Click the picture to see the Picasa album with all the pic's.