Fun and Frugal in Western North Carolina

This year for vacation we went somewhere new; the mountains of North Carolina. We've headed to the beaches of this state several times, but never the mountains. I loved it there. We stayed in Asheville and also went to Transylvania county two days.

If you visit there I highly recommend that you stop at the visitors information areas. The one in Asheville is huge. There are hundreds of pamphlets, brochures, and travel guides available. You can also make reservations for hotels and get tickets for local attractions. The visitors center in Brevard (Transylvania county) is much smaller, but the staff was very friendly and helpful when we stopped there for information about the waterfalls in the area.

If you love nature and outdoor activity, I think you'd love western North Carolina. We didn't even scratch the surface of the things to do and see there, but I thought I'd share with you some of the places we did experience.

1. Lake Powhatan
This is the campground where we stayed. It is right outside of Asheville. My dad joked that I took him to the city to go camping. It is true that we were closer to stores there than we are at home, but the campground was lovely. And being close was convenient for the night we got rained on!

It was packed on the weekend, but during the week was relatively empty. The grounds were clean. The staff were friendly. The bathrooms were clean, and most importantly the shower was hot. Note I said shower, not showers. There was only one shower for the men and one for the women per camping circle (roughly 20 camping sites.) It did take a little planning and luck to get a shower.

There were numerous hiking and biking trails through the grounds. One of which connected to the North Carolina arboretum. If you bike or walk to the arboretum it is free. There is a parking fee if you drive to it. We never did make it there though.

The lake is small, and available for fishing and swimming. The swimming area was well kept and clean. The bottom of the swimming area was sandy, so no muck to contend with. The lake is available to the campers as part of the camping fees, but others can use the lake too for a small fee.

I liked the campground, but I think if we vacation in that area again we will look for a different place. This is just a personal preference to be up in the mountains and out of the city a little bit more.

2. Waterfalls
There are dozens of waterfall in the area. On the advice of the information center, we went to Dupont State Forest. There are three waterfalls: Triple, High, and Hooker, within a mile or so of the trail head.

The trails to the falls are nice, but they are far from level. It is almost all uphill to get to them. We only made it to Triple and High Falls. They were beautiful. It wasn't safe to swim at Triple Falls, but at the High Falls there was a nice pool of water at the base of the falls. Much of it was shallow for the little kids, but another part was pretty deep. We had a great time there!

3. Sliding Rock
This was so much fun! It is a giant rock in the middle of the river that you slide down; a natural water slide. The water is crisp and clear. The hike is short and easy, and there are decent bathroom and changing facilities nearby.

A couple of things to note before you go. This is a fee area. The fee is $1 per person. There is no picnicking allowed in this area. The rangers will enforce this. (Yes, I know from this from personal experience.) There are several picnic spots in nearby areas, and you can get a pass to get back into the sliding rock area.

4. Blue Ridge Parkway
This is a beautiful way to travel through the state. The views are spectacular. There are many picnic, restroom, recreation and information areas along the way. It is a much slower way to travel, though. Don't use it if you are in a hurry, but I highly recommend driving at least part of it if you are nearby.



5. Asheville
On our final day my parents took my oldest children, and my niece and nephew to Biltmore. Even with children (16 and under) being free in the summer, at $47 a ticket, this is not an inexpensive outing. Those who went though reported the day to be well worth the money.

Tim and I took the younger two into Asheville. I wish we would have had more time to explore there, but the kids were wiped out. In a word, I would describe the town as eclectic. There really seemed to be something for everyone there.

We spent most of our time there at Health Adventure. This was free using the membership we have to a local museum. We had a good time there.

The community as a whole seems to be very supportive of local business, including eating locally. I was surprised by the variety of local restaurants, many of which use local and organic food. It was hard to pick a place for lunch. We ended up at Salsa. It was excellent!

There also is a huge farmer's market we were hoping to get to, but the kids were done in. We headed back to camp for a nap!

(No, that last picture isn't from Asheville. It actually was from the waterfall day, but I like it so...)


Our trip to Western North Carolina was fun and frugal. This is an area I do want to visit again.