Tuesday July 26 - Tuesday August 9: Chilhowee Recreation Area In Cherokee National Forest

We reached the forest road leading to the Chilhowee Recreatio Area by late afternoon after having the truck oil changed in Chattanooga that morning. On Monday I checked for campsite openings and saw many were available during the week and at least a couple for the weekend. At the entrance to the forest road was a ranger station and vacancy sign.Thee sign said no vacancies for RV sites but there were vacancies for tent sites. Not wanting to drive up the forest road to find out we could not stay at a camp site, we decided to check in at the rnger station and ask. We asked if we could stay at a tent site with our truck camper but they said there were vacancies even for RVs. I guess the sign had not recently been updated.

We travelled up the two lane paved forest road up to the Chilhowee Recreation sign.

At that point was a one lane dirt road to the left of the sign and the two lane paved road continued to the right of the sign. There was no arrow pointing a direction on the sign. I knew the forest road continued past the recreation area so I assumed the dirt road was the entrance to the recreation area and selected it for our continued travel. After travelling it a short distance I had serious doubts about my selection. There was a white pick up following close behind me. Since he was close behind, I assumed he/she knew where they were going. So I stopped and got out to ask them about directions. As I approached, I saw it was a US Forestry truck which confirmed my suspicion they knew where they were going. When I got to the window, the driver said you look like you don't know where your going. I confirmed that as well as that my selected direction was wrong. The driver then mentioned that he was telling his passenger while he was following us that Arctic Fox was the brand of truck camper he would buy if he purchased one. After the niceties were exchanged, I asked him to pull to the side so I could back down to the paved entrance to the recreation area. Since the road was a one lane mountain road, turning around where we were wasn't I an option. I later found out the dirt road was the continuation of the forest road.

When we reached the campground we looked around Loop D, since the campsites available for the weekend according to my online search were in Loop D. We noticed camp site identification posts had a placard stating if a site was open or if not what dates it was reserved. If the site said it open, the was a note to see the campground host in Loop A. So we identified a couple of sites in Loop D that we thought were level and had decent sunlight. We visited the host who referenced a reservation listing to check whether the sites we identified were truly available for the weekend or not. She also mentioned some other sites we could have that she had control over if we were interested in them. They had electricity whereas the ones we identified in Loop D did not. Of course, the sites with electricity were more expensive to stay at. Since the sites in Loop D had decent sunlight we opted for one of them thinking our off grid solar system could sustain us even with using the AC. We had used the AC during the day and the first night sparingly since we had used the AC at Prentice Cooper State Forest and the batteries weren't charged much by the solar while the oil was being changed.

It was very humid in the forest so the next morning we planned on setting up our "portable" solar panels (they are 50 lb residential style panels we can move around with some effort) to charge the batteries and run the AC. Well the decent late afternoon sunshine we saw the day before was nowhere to be seen that morning. After trying to move the portable panels around to get even small amounts of sunlight we decided to go back to the host and see if we could change to one of the electric sites she had control of even though we had gone to the trouble of setting up reservations for two sites in Loop D. We had to reserve two sites because we didn't find one that was available for two consecutive weekends. Here is the camper at the Loop D site. In the first picture below you can see the portable panels sitting in the shade. The picture was taken around noon time after we had given up on moving them around. Otherwise, they could have been moved to the right where it was sunny at the time of the picture.

We had decided to stay until August 9th when we were talking to the host about campsite availability and staying that long was workable and within the 14 night limit. When we returned to the host about changing the campsite, she said that would be fine and she would talk to the ranger to find out what we needed to do from a payment and registration perspective. The following day the host came by and gave us that information. Here is the camper at the Loop B site.

We had some cell service in Loop D but at the campsite in Loop B we had no service. We found we could walk to the beginning of Loop A and get decent cell service. We could also get service at the picnic area and at a lookout that was a short hike, about 3/8 of a mile, up from our campsite. We used all three locations throughout our stay. Not surprisingly the lookout had a nice view of the valley, and as it was named the Gazebo Outlook, it had a gazebo you could enter and view from. Here is a view from the Gazebo Lookout with the picture framed by the Gazebo structure, i.e. roof columns and wall.

We checked out the view from several lookouts and the Chilhowee Mountain Lookout had the best view in my opinion. Here is a panoramic view from that lookout.

Lastly, a view not from a lookout but one I saw during my Sunday morning jog.

There are dual use, biking and hiking, trails in the recreation area. The trails typically had plenty of rocks and roots and were single track width. I don't have much experience with those style trails so I fell fairly often even though I tried to be conservative and walk when the trail got challenging. One the first day of riding the trails, I fell and gouged my knee. I fell a second time and gauged my knee in the same place. Due to the repeated gouging, my knee was sore and the gouge fairly deep. I wanted to travel less challenging biking. Near the end of my first day of riding, I discovered a gravel road. So when I biked the following days, I would take the single track trail directly to the gravel road to minimize my injury risk. One day, I managed zero falls. I also found that the gravel road eventually connected to the gravel forest road I mistakenly took at the Chilhowee Recreation Area sign.

Out of two of my first four bike days, when I got ready to go I found out I had a flat. One time after much examination I found small burr-like thorns were the apparent cause of the flat. Using a magnifying glass and tweezers I found three in total and dug them out of the tire. For the second flat, I found a gash in the tire but no evidence of what caused the gash. The first flat was in the front tire; the second in the rear tire.

Since we stayed two weeks at the campground, Jane had the opportunity to get her sewing equipment set up and do some sewing. She finished the first block of a quilt that she started months ago. She was ready to start on another block which is where I come in. I use Inkscape (free software) to create a mask she uses to create her quilt blocks. When I went to work on creating the next mask I pleasantly found I had already done the next two. So we pulled out the printer, discovered it needed a new ink cartridge, similarly pleasantly found we had a spare ink cartridge and printed out the mask. She was able to finish the second block while we stayed at the recreation area. We found "mistakes"/inadequacies in the two blocks after they were sewn. The mistakes were a combination of ones I made in creating the mask and mistakes made while sewing. We plan to continue onward with the next blocks and review all the mistakes for potential fixes after all the blocks are done.

Besides the hiking/biking draw to the recreation area, there is a waterfall (Benton Waterfall) and a lake (McKamy Lake). We hiked about 1.8 miles from our campsite to the waterfall. To me, it was the quintessential cascading type waterfall. Here is a picture of the waterfall without me spoiling the view and one with me (I'm in the water of the last cascade).

People had built some kairns among the rocks at the foot of the waterfall. Building kairns is one of my grandsons favorite activities so here is a picture of a kairn with the waterfall in the background.

McKamy Lake is 5 acres in size according to the description so you could call it a large pond. Regardless, it provided a place to relax and swim.

In addition to swimming, the lake was used for fishing and non-powered boating. The swimming and picnic area was used sparsely during the week but became a bustling outdoor activity during the weekend. One group used the picnic area for a birthday party.

We often go to campgrounds that have tent campers but no slop sink. We usually assume in those situations that it is acceptable to throw out our dish washing water in the woods. The Chilhowee Recreation Area did not provide a slop sink but in one of the bathrooms there was a sign that explained how to dispose of dish washing water.

One negative about our stay at Chilhowee was the showers. They did not look to be the most hygienic.

We did use the showers without incident though. We are heading to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield VA next for a short two day stay. I plan on posting about that stay next.