The first tract of land purchased as a national forest in 1911: Glynn Wilson

Secret Vistas – 
By Glynn Wilson – 

Back in the late 20th century, when the written word and truth still seemed to matter, I was hanging out in the Great Smoky Mountains and came up with a cool title for a travel-nature column for The Southerner magazine, something I still use from time to time as I travel around and camp in what’s left of the beautiful parts of this country that have not been developed by man, burned or flooded by climate change.

Heaven Can Wait: The timeless terrain of the Smokies screams eternity, but there’s more exploring to do

So on Sunday after writing my weekly Sunday column The Big Picture – The Supreme Court is Now at Stake Too in the Monumental Election of 2020, I decided to take out the jeep for a drive in the mountains to look for cheap or even free camping opportunities in the Pisgah National Forest near here.

Some readers may recall that I was headed up Highway 80 toward the Blue Ridge Parkway for a picnic about a month ago on the way back from Charlotte to check out the Republican National Convention the day Trump touched down when the media-camper van broke down: The Republican National Convention in Charlotte North Carolina was a Dud.

So I decided to check out that stretch of road again. Only this time, I approached it from a different direction and ended up on Curtis Creek Road, a rocky dirt path that leads into the Pisgah National Forest and up to the Blue Ridge Parkway not far from where I’ve been camped since the first of May.

Curtis Creek off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina: Glynn Wilson

I must report that this was a truly interesting find. After a few miles of dodging rocks, holes and muddy spots on the winding mountain road, you run across a sign indicating you are entering the first 8,100 acre tract of land set aside for the first National Forest in 1911.

As I have reported on previous trips, the Pisgah National Forest is the birthplace of forestry, where the U.S. Department of Agriculture first set aside some forests to preserve and study without commercial development.

Of course the U.S. Forest Service does not have a perfect record of actually preserving forests. The agency allows road building for logging, oil and gas exploration and hunting, all practices that are not typically allowed in National Parks, which is part of another federal agency with a different mission, the Department of the Interior.

But the good news for campers is that there are often cheap or even free camping opportunities in the national forests, which anyone knows who has gone out boon docking in the American West. Opportunities are not as plentiful or well known in the East, so I make a point of finding these hidden gems when I get the chance.

A little ways past the sign, a few free primitive campsites appear on the side of the Forest Service road, then you come to a full blown campground that will handle RVs with a primitive bathroom and even a campground host on duty, Curtis Creek Campground. The sites are available for $10 a night, but there are no power, water or sewer hookups. No shower house either. So you have to be setup to operate on your own off the grid. Cell phone and internet access are none existent in these woods.

Two other sections of the campground are setup for tent campers only, and then all along the way up the mountain toward the Blue Ridge Parkway, there are pull off sites where you can park and camp for free.

One of the Twin Tunnels built by the CCC on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina: Glynn Wilson

Along the Parkway we passed through two cool old tunnels built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back during the Great Depression, and wound up at Buck Creek Gap, elevation 3,373 feet above sea level at the Crest of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Buck Creek Gap at the Crest of the Blue Ridge Parkway, elevation 3373 feet above sea level: Glynn Wilson

On the way back off the Parkway, we also ran across a pricey little private campground that gets $65 a night by the creek and is booked up through October, fall leaf season.

If you ever find yourself in these parts with a day to kill and a day trip in mind, or a few nights off the grid, check it out. It wouldn’t work long for me, since I need cell phone access to work and have not equipped the camper van with solar power yet. But it was definitely worth a day trip to get your mind off the world’s troubles, at least for a little while.

One of the Twin Tunnels built by the CCC on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina: Glynn Wilson