Each year my son and I take a fall trip to the mountains. Having spent most of our lives in Florida, fall has become somewhat of a destination for us. This year we were sponsored by Kia to take the 2017 Kia Niro Hybrid from the Great Smoky Mountains to southern Virginia, all opinions are my own. This is a story about our fourth night when we went tent camping on the Blue Ridge Parkway and spent the night stargazing. It’s also about the importance of unplugging and coming together as a family.
#FallintheMountains
You can NEVER really grasp how long an off the grid scenic drive is going to take. That was a lesson we learned the hard way when we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Cherokee, NC following our drive through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and into Linville, NC.
First, it would be vital to note that there is little to no data in these backcountry parts of southern Appalachia. That said, Google and other GPS navigation do not recognize the BRP as a route and it will constantly reroute you to the freeway. So, unless you have an old school atlas, you’re committed to the Blue Ridge Parkway once you get on. And by committed I do mean at 35 mph and twice the time it would normally take to get between points. Still, in all fairness, it is an incredibly beautiful drive and worth planning ahead for.
Stargazing and Tent Camping Along the Blue Ridge Parkway
Light fades fast in this part of the world during fall months. We had just spent the day driving from Linville Falls, NC and were on a mission to arrive at our reserved tent camping on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was colder than it had been any other night but we were prepared.
When we arrived at Miller’s Campground it was dark. We knew setting up camp had just gone from fun to challenging, but that’s part of the adventure right? We backed the Kia Niro Hybrid into our space, shut the car off and paused. Complete and total silence filled the woods around us. We were in the middle of nowhere.
Sean