You looking for backcountry only or camping in general?
Cottonland Overland Opine Thread (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter wngrog
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JTU
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Last year I wrote up a trip I made to Asheville the long way or something. I found a bunch of water front sites along the road from Tellico Green Cove north
Look for it. Great couple days I spent
Look for it. Great couple days I spent
Yeah, between Green Cove, TN and Murphy, NC is some really pretty area / good backcountry. Also, if you can find your way up to and around Highlands, NC (about 4,100 feet), I remember backcountry camping up there, but it's been so long, I can't say where for sure. Plenty of guides available back then, so surely more of those now
jfz80
Cruisin’
If you make it more over towards hot springs I can help some.
The border nolen mentions is way nice but a little further sw than my familiarity covers. Been a few years since in the tellico area but that area is pretty sweet.
Hurricane creek road off i-40 to max patch to martha sunquist forest to wolf creek falls to weavers bend to paint creek to hot springs makes a nice lil trip.
Pm for more info or with any luck i might be able to get away to join ya.
The border nolen mentions is way nice but a little further sw than my familiarity covers. Been a few years since in the tellico area but that area is pretty sweet.
Hurricane creek road off i-40 to max patch to martha sunquist forest to wolf creek falls to weavers bend to paint creek to hot springs makes a nice lil trip.
Pm for more info or with any luck i might be able to get away to join ya.
What he said. Linville Gorge area is great if you wanna get out of the truck and do some hiking.
jfz80
Cruisin’
+1 for Linville. Can definitely help ya poke around there as well as thats been a frequent go to spot lately.
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Getting there via my route is nice.
Where's that information posted?
JTU
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JTU
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After talking to several people, calling ranger stations, and pouring over lots of maps I finally have a decent plan and route to NC with plenty of gravel and FR routes to try out the new 4runner on. There is a chance of rain for the weekend so hopefully that will deter some of the tourist in there camrys from filling up the good easy to get to spots.
Day 1(Fri, Sept 1) - Hammerdown to Nantahala lake, NC. Several locals said get to Old River Rd as its dispersed camping right on the headwaters of the Nantahala River and the Cascade falls. Dispersed camping in Nantahala NF isn't allowed in most areas from what the Ranger told me due to lots of private land intertwined with public land. We will be boating the Nantahala on Saturday so we wanted to camp near within a short drive of the launch site. If Old River Road is full the Ranger suggested FR 711 as a good place to camp.
Day 2(Sat, Sept 2) - After a few hours playing on the river, We plan to head north from Wesser on hwy 74 through Bryson City to take the Blue Ridge Prkwy to Pisgah. A friend of mine that climbs a lot at Looking Glass said there was lots of good camping spots in the the Looking glass falls area but to go more towards the hwy 215 area as tourist car campers don't usually go that far south. FR 140 is supposed to have some decent campsites, but he said he also camps a lot on FR5000 which t's into BRPWY. Don't know where we will end up for night 2 yet in that area, depends on the number of people out there.
Day 3(Sun, Sept 3) - We plan to explore around Looking Glass and Asheville area. Weather allowing, in the afternoon we will take I40 west up to Hurricane Gap Road. It is supposed to be a good, mildly technical few mile trail that connects you from I40 to Max Patch Rd. Max patch Rd will take us to Rattle Gap where we will take a spur road up past the old town of Wasp and then on to Wolf Creek Falls. A local guy from Hot Springs, NC told me about a campsite at the top of Wolf Creek Falls that would be a good one.
Day 4(Mon, Sept 4) - We will take Max Patch rd to Round Mountain and then into Del Rio. From Del Rio we will start making our way back to MS.
And that's the trip plan so far
Day 1(Fri, Sept 1) - Hammerdown to Nantahala lake, NC. Several locals said get to Old River Rd as its dispersed camping right on the headwaters of the Nantahala River and the Cascade falls. Dispersed camping in Nantahala NF isn't allowed in most areas from what the Ranger told me due to lots of private land intertwined with public land. We will be boating the Nantahala on Saturday so we wanted to camp near within a short drive of the launch site. If Old River Road is full the Ranger suggested FR 711 as a good place to camp.
Day 2(Sat, Sept 2) - After a few hours playing on the river, We plan to head north from Wesser on hwy 74 through Bryson City to take the Blue Ridge Prkwy to Pisgah. A friend of mine that climbs a lot at Looking Glass said there was lots of good camping spots in the the Looking glass falls area but to go more towards the hwy 215 area as tourist car campers don't usually go that far south. FR 140 is supposed to have some decent campsites, but he said he also camps a lot on FR5000 which t's into BRPWY. Don't know where we will end up for night 2 yet in that area, depends on the number of people out there.
Day 3(Sun, Sept 3) - We plan to explore around Looking Glass and Asheville area. Weather allowing, in the afternoon we will take I40 west up to Hurricane Gap Road. It is supposed to be a good, mildly technical few mile trail that connects you from I40 to Max Patch Rd. Max patch Rd will take us to Rattle Gap where we will take a spur road up past the old town of Wasp and then on to Wolf Creek Falls. A local guy from Hot Springs, NC told me about a campsite at the top of Wolf Creek Falls that would be a good one.
Day 4(Mon, Sept 4) - We will take Max Patch rd to Round Mountain and then into Del Rio. From Del Rio we will start making our way back to MS.
And that's the trip plan so far
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Great plan!
If you are looking for something near 215 and BRP...I just camped at Ivestor Gap this past weekend. The FS wanted to shutdown the bald at the gap from car camping, but the Upstate Cruisers worked out a deal with the managing ranger. The road out is only open a few months this time of year. Nothing a stock Cruiser couldn't handle, but the blackberry bushes along the road out there will pinstripe with impunity.
JTU
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Is the trail the Investor Gap Trail on google maps?
Indeed. There will be hikers on it, unfortunately. They don't always understand that they are hiking on a road. The Art Loeb hiking trail runs parallel/overlaps the road and most tourista visitors are just lazy, the real backpackers know the drill. Just let them by and you'll be good. We saw mostly positive people this weekend, with the grumpy ones being in the vast minority.
JTU
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I have a slide. I used a ratchet strap to the handle
JTU
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Ah. I didn't know you had a slide. Tried to make my own slide this weekend but of course nobody has 36" 500lb full extension slides in this delta town.
JTU
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Since Prinsu is on about a 2 month back order right now my rack didn't make it in time for the next trip. Since I have to have a rack to carry my tent I had to improvise. I couldn't believe how much companies charge for a pair of cross bars for the factory rack, so I made my own.
Machined an inner track nut to go inside the track of th rack and then machined an aluminum block to mount the cross bar to. The aluminum 1x2" tubing hasn't gotten here yet but here's the mounting solution I came up with. I have to get shorter bolts to tighten up the block to the track and tap the top hole of the aluminum blocks to bolt the cross bar to.
Machined an inner track nut to go inside the track of th rack and then machined an aluminum block to mount the cross bar to. The aluminum 1x2" tubing hasn't gotten here yet but here's the mounting solution I came up with. I have to get shorter bolts to tighten up the block to the track and tap the top hole of the aluminum blocks to bolt the cross bar to.
