BRP and Brown Mountain ORV

[[insert bike model]]

This is my first RR, so I'm going to try my hand at some pics and commentary, in preparation for my TAT trip. I'd welcome some feedback, but first things first: pics of my trip through part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, including a day spent at the Brown Mountain offroad trails near Morganton, NC

Day 1: Friday, 5:30 AM

We "planned" this trip spur-of-the moment while at work one morning. Working retail, it's odd to get the weekend off, and rarer still to find someone else with the same schedule. Even more rare is having the same schedule as the only other guy with a dual-sport bike at the same store. After discovering this, the route began to take shape, as Morgantan, NC and Brown Mountain ORV trails as our first destination. We hoped to make the ~6 hr. ride after work and set up camp before dark, then ride the trails the next day.

I hastily threw all my stuff into a 38 qt. rolling cooler that I ratchet-strapped to the cargo rack of my KLR, while my buddy loaded his gear into a dry bag and backpack that he bungee-corded to a homemade rack he welded out of an old shopping cart on his XR650L. After riding for a while, we ended up in a small town in NC about 1AM. We deduced that we were within twenty miles or so of our campsite, and that we obviously were not going to make it before dark. We pulled into the only gas station around, which was surprisingly busy at this time of night. I went in to ask for directions. Not wanting to fool with gathering sticks at this hour, I was also hoping to buy some firewood.

The clerk at the counter was very friendly and told us where we needed to go, but we struck out on the firewood. A woman behind me in line commented that the automotive aisle was full of "all kind of shit that burns...just get the cheapest one!", gesturing to the row of carb cleaner and starter fluid. She went outside and got in a beat up Dodge van with no license plate while her companion stood outside said van filling up empty gallon milk jugs with kerosene. I don't think I ever saw either of them blink once. She must have told her friend about our camping intentions, because we were told that there was a beautiful spot to camp, marked by a spray-painted rock that had a gorgeous sun rise. I got the impression that both of them had been up for more than a few sun-rises in a row...

After our run-in with the locals, we elected to stay at an actual campground instead of the trailhead. We were fortunate to find Daniel Boone family campground about 3AM after riding around for quite some time--turns out we had passed the trailhead in the dark, but believed it to be another 20 miles by gas station directions. Had we not stopped, who knows where we would have ended up. We set up camp, intending to stop by the office in the morning. Here is a pic of the bikes and our first campsite:


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Next morning, we woke up early and crawled out of the tent to find an old man on a 4x4 golf cart. We had a short conversation with him and filled him in on our trip. He promptly radioed the office and said "They said they was gonna check in in the morning. They's headed up there now." and drove off. Been there 6 hours and were already the talk of the whole camp...everyone referred to us as "they" and there was no confusion as to who they meant. Don't get the wrong impression though, mostly everyone was friendly and talkative. Everyone in the "campground" stays in an RV, some of which are permanent. Also, everyone drives a golf cart. None of the other tent sights were occupied. The facilities weren't bad, but the place charged $30 a night for primative tent camping. We decided to unload the rest of our gear and leave it there to go ride the trails.

Brown Mountain turned out to be well-worth the trip, but I think we were the only DS riders there. Mostly everyone was on strictly-offroad bikes or UTVs. I, on the otherhand, was riding a stock 06 KLR with TrailWing tires. From the looks I got, you'd think I was on a Goldwing. I managed to make it through the day and only drop the bike once, though.

Rather than stay and ride the same trails again, we decided to head north and get on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was only another 30 minutes or so. The plan was to ride the BRP all the way to the Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee, which should have been another 3-4 hours (with stops).

[[insert bike model]]

Edit: Thanks to TrashCan for help with the pics. Now on to the next part.

Brown Mountain was by far the highlight of the trip, but I'll skip the description of that since there are no pics (left camera at campsite). Here's what we encountered after getting on the Parkway--note the ominous clouds:

[TrashCan]

The BRP is one of my favorite places to ride and camp.

Rain and fog is a given though.