Swannanoa KOA and WNC Weekend Getaway

I don’t think I knew how good I had it growing up in Western NC. I took a lot of things for granted and missed a lot of opportunities to be grateful for the cultural and natural beauty I grew up in. I guess sometimes it takes leaving and coming back to gain a little perspective…

But I digress. Back to the main story, here.

First stop, the East Asheville KOA! We arrived around 8pm and went to our full hook-up spot on the edge of the first lake. The sites were mostly level, and pretty much right on top of each other, as you can expect from a KOA. The campground itself was in an awesome location, right on the Swannanoa River. Fishing in the lakes did not disappoint! I literally walked right out the door of our camper and cast my line, only to catch a 2 lbs large mouth as soon as it hit the water. YES! Usually, campground lakes are hard to catch anything in, just because the fish have wised up. I was thrilled to catch a winter bass that fast!

There was a playground, ball court, and swimming pool to name a few of the kid-friendly amenities. One of my favorite parts was the food truck parked near the main office. Asheville has a love affair with food trucks, so I wasn’t too surprised that it was a thing, but I was a little surprised that it was there in the middle of February. Sweet! The bath house was just fine. Not as immaculate as the Mt. Pleasant KOA, but pretty much the standard for most others. We showered with ease and the walk was just a minute or two from our campsite. We decided that we would totally stay at this joint again. Our total for three nights came to 149.99. Pretty decent off-season prices for a full hook-up site.

The following day, our itinerary included a hike just off the parkway and a movie at the Brew and View. I lived in Asheville for ten years during my 20’s and learned most of the good parkway spots, so we went to what I considered a 6-year-old friendly trail, called Rattlesnake Lodge Trail. The hike took us an 1:45 total and Juliana did an awesome job keeping up. The trail was very crowded. Back in my cycling days, I would see a couple cars parked along the roadway by the trailhead, but this time around we had an AWFUL time finding a place to pull off. Juliana killed an entire bottle of water and two packs of crackers during the hike, so if you’re bringing the fam, make sure to pack a couple snacks and a canteen.

After the hike, everyone was hungry, so we went to the Asheville Brewing Company to catch a movie and get some grub. If you’re familiar with the area, you know this is a staple for beer and pizza. We didn’t get a beer, but we did tear into some vegetarian burgers. They still have the Popeyes Spinach Burger on the menu and it is still a treat!

The next day we spent in the north western area of the state around Linville, Boone and Banner Elk. Juliana has been wanting to play in snow all winter. As a matter of fact, when we asked her what she wanted for Christmas last year, she said snow… Soooo, off to the ski slopes! But not before stopping at a place that holds for me a very fond childhood memory… Linville Caverns! It was very crowded. Surprisingly crowded. But we still had a super fun time on the guided tour. It was about 35 bucks for all three tickets, and definitely worth the money. Juliana loved the cave formations, the blind trout and the cute little bat clinging to the ceiling above our heads. And of course, she went ham on the rock candy in the gift store. If you ever find yourself in the mountains of WNC, take some time out to visit the caverns. The kids will love it!

Linville Falls, Chimney View, Erwins View

Also nearby is Linville Falls! A short drive up from the caverns, you can hit the Upper Falls trailhead that takes you to the falls (about a half mile) and then hike up the mountain (another half mile) to some great lookout points to see it from a birds-eye perspective. We did both, of course! If you’re in decent shape, you won’t have any problems with ascent up to Chimney View or Erwins View, but if you’re not used to hiking much or you’re in less-than-good shape, you may have a bit of a problem with it. Bring some water - it may only be a two mile out-and-back, but you will probably get thirsty on the ascent to the lookouts. If you’re a nature-lover, hike up to the lookouts and check out the enormous hemlocks along the way.

And to end the day, we went to Banner Elk to finally get Juliana in some snow already! Keeping with the general theme of this post, it was CROWDED. Each tubing session contained up to 150 people and ours was no exception. It was a little disorganized at first, but once everyone got the hang of it, things started to fall into place. It cost $40 per ticket, which gets you 1.5 hours of tubing. Unfortunately, because of the amount of people in the six or so tubing lines, you realistically only get to go down a handful of times. As night began to fall, it got a little too cold for her anyway and we decided to get started on the hour and half drive back to the campground.

There wasn’t even one low spot in our weekend vacation in the Blue Ridge mountains. Even the descent down the Green River Gorge was just fine with the Tacoma in 3rd gear (we had to swing through South Carolina on the way back). My only complaint is that it was just three days! I would suggest the East Asheville KOA to anyone looking for a solid campground experience. Next time, Maria and I are coming up alone for some boondocking in Pisgah National Forest!