Huntfish Falls

Jeff and I both really enjoy camping.  So when Jeff told me he wanted to go camping for a few days the other week, I was really excited!  We left on Thursday around noon, just after I had finished my final exam for Arabic.  We headed off to Pisgah National Forest, which was about 3 1/2 hours west of us.  It was a long, pretty drive, although the unpaved roads and super windy paths up the side of the mountain weren't as much fun.  Once we arrived though, we were excited to head on down the trail and find a nice camping spot, preferably close to the water.

At the trail head

"It's a shortcut!" "To what?" "MUSHROOMS!"

So down we went, everything we needed for 3 days and 2 nights in the back-country on our backs.  It quickly cooled off as we entered the trees.  After trekking downhill almost the entire way (and shaking our heads at the prospect of having to hike back up), we heard the sound of rushing water and laughter - we had arrived at Huntfish Falls.  The first campsite we wanted was occupied, so we set off further down the trail to find the larger campsite.  It was a wide, flat area with a few trees and fire pits (even though they were forbidden) right next to the creek.  We set up the tent and the hammock, changed into our bathing suits, and went back to the big swimming hole.

That's where things went a bit downhill.  The water was relatively clear, no nasty algae stuff floating around or anything, but it was frigid.  I didn't last very long in the water...  Then, Jeff accidentally dropped his glasses in the water, and unfortunately, we were unable to recover them.  To make matters worse, Jeff didn't have his contacts with him either, so he was basically blind until we got home.  So we headed back to the campsite and decided that we would still stay the one night, but then head home the next day.  Once we got back, we got our our packages of freeze-dried food, which we were trying for the first time, and began to get dinner ready.  Those freeze dried meals were yummy!  So easy to pack in and prepare...

waiting for the chicken teriyaki

pouring the boiling water into the beef stroganoff

The next day, we made some oatmeal for breakfast and hung out around the campsite (...and by that, I mean   taking a nap in the hammock), then packed it all up and headed out.  The hike back up was a little rough.  It was all uphill - we averaged 100 ft up for every 1/10 of a mile.  Sweat.  But we made it through without seeing any snakes or falling off the edge of the cliff.   Overall, it was a fun trip!

Huntfish Falls