New River State Park, Laurel Springs, NC

Date of Stay:  Sunday June 18 – Friday June 30, 2017 (12 nights)

Rate:  $21/night during week; $25/night weekends and holidays (more for FHU)

Website:  New River State Park (NC) US Hwy 221 Access
   358 New River State Park Road (use gps 36.467680, 81.340350)
   Laurel Springs,NC 28644
   336-982-2587

Description:  Located in the northwest corner of NC near the quaint town of West Jefferson, this State Park is a great place to float down the New River.  The area has many Christmas tree farms with fir trees forming patches on the hillsides.  The campground is only 20 sites; half are FHU(50A) while the other half are electric(50A) only.  We stayed in site 11 which is electric only.  We filled our fresh tank as we came in and took showers in the clean bath house and did just fine.  The roads are paved while the campsites are level gravel.  Strange thing about the site design though is that about half of them have the patio on the driver side of the rv.  The sewer and utility poles are not all that conveniently set up either.  The cg is about a mile up the hill from the New River.  Nice Visitor Center shows the importance of a good riparian area beside the river.

Trash and Recycle:  Dumpster located at the dump station and recycle bins for aluminum, glass, and plastic located at the bath house.

Activities:  I enjoyed a hike in the woods down to the river and back several times.  We enjoyed relaxing at the rear of our site and a few trips into West Jefferson (Honey Hole and Ashe County Cheese).  It is a vibrant small town with several blocks of quaint shops in the downtown area.  Saturday there is a nice Farmer’s Market open there too.  We checked out the VC where we learned that the New River is believed to be the second oldest river on Earth (oldest is the Nile).  It was named the New River because Peter Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson’s father) surveyed the area in the 1740’s and the river didn’t have a name so he just wrote New River beside the meandering waterway.  The VC offers a canoe float on Sundays for a small fee so we signed up for it.  It was about 4.5 miles long and took about two hours.  Only thing is, we are used to kayaks which are a lot more stable than canoes.  We started out fine but came upon a rapids that had a branch hanging over it.  The branch turned us sideways and the current took care of the rest!  We capsized into the cold mountain water!  Our knees and rear ends scraped the rocks on the bottom of the river and we had a hard time standing up in the current.  Once we got our wits together, the Ranger helped us get to shallower water and dumped the water out of the canoe so that we could get back in and continue on our float.  That was pretty much the end of my small camera.  I’m glad that our key fob still worked after getting wet!  But it was a memorable trip indeed!

 

On site 11

 

The VC emphasizes the importance of a good riparian natural area

 

Canoe launch in the park

   

Hickory Trail is a nice walk in the woods…

   

…and so is River Run Trail

 

Ready for launch!                                      Canoe the New!

 

So peaceful in the last picture while I was dry!

Stone Mountain State Park, Roaring Gap, NC

Date of Stay:  Thursday June 8 – Sunday June18, 2017 (10 nights)

Rate:  $23/ night during week; $27/night weekends and holidays

Website: Stone Mountain State Park (NC)
   3042 Frank Parkway
   Roaring Gap, NC 28668
   336-957-8185

Description:  (Follow directions on the website due to steep and curvy roads on Oklahoma Road.) Located in the northwest corner of NC about an hour from Winston Salem, this State Park has several miles of great hiking and a Parkway road that has a creek running along beside it.  The campground even has a creek running through the middle of it.  It also has paved roads throughout. Loop A is the old part of the cg with small gravel sites and no hookups. Loop C has paved sites but no hookups.  Loop A is where we stayed (sites 76 and 67) and it has level, paved sites with W/E 50A.  Absolutely NO Verizon reception, however, so no phone or internet!  Other than that, it’s a great place.

Trash and Recycle:  Dumpsters located near the dump station as you exit the cg.  Currently no recycle in the cg, but I did find some bins at the trail head parking lots that take aluminum cans.

Activities:  I enjoyed several hikes; one to Stone Mountain Falls, another to the Summit of Stone Mountain, and yet another to Wolf Rock/Cedar Rock.  The views were beautiful!  We rode along the parkway and stopped at a few pull offs along the creek.  Gin was able to walk to Widow’s Creek Falls and also spent a bit of time at the Hutchinson Homestead (log home and barns built in the 1850’s) which is at the base of the huge granite dome of Stone Mountain.  We saw at least one deer per day here.  We drove over to Mount Airy about an hour away one day to eat at Snappy Lunch.  It is Andy Griffiths’ home town and the downtown area is all about nostalgia.

 

On site 76

 

View from the patio of 76                           Big Sandy Creek in the cg

 

On site 67

 

  

 

Displays at the Visitor Center

 

Lots of steps (300 or more) on the way to Stone Mountain Falls

   

From the top                         People enjoy the cool pool at the base of the 200 foot waterfall

 

Views on the way to the summit

 

Switchbacks at the steep parts                     Summit at 2305 ft elevation

 

Not alone at the summit…                             Beautiful views!

 

Views!!                                              View from my lunch rock!!

 

Wolf Rock Trail leads to another nice view

 

Cedar Rock has nice views and the trail

 

 

Hutchinson Homestead at the base of Stone Mountain

 

Gin enjoys the views… we actually saw three people rappelling down the rock face

 

Gin creek side along the parkway            Garden Creek Baptist Church on the pkwy

   

Widow’s Creek Falls