Happy Campers: Panthertown Valley

Last weekend six of us went camping in Panthertown Valley, aka Yosemite of the East. Located just northeast of Cashiers and northwest of Lake Toxaway, this location is walled and surrounded by mountains which create a bowled valley. It was absolutely gorgeous.

 Saturday morning we met bright and early, packed the truck, grabbed some coffee and hit the road.

Once we arrived we loaded up our gear and hiked about 1.5 miles in the pouring down rain.

Our first stop was Schoolhouse Falls.

 After taking in the scenery and snapping a few pictures we continued our hike to a nice flat campsite near a beautiful stream.

 Once the rain stopped we set up camp and hung our clothes out to dry. Thankfully we had great weather for the rest of the trip.

 Home sweet home for the weekend.

 While the boys searched for firewood the girls stayed behind, kept the fire going and drank vodka.

 For dinner we cooked hotdogs and pita pizzas {my favorite}!

And I can't forget some of our snacks - s'more granola and dried fruit!

 After dinner we sat around the campfire, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.   One family picture before we went to sleep!

 Since Panthertown is a bear sanctuary we made sure to put all our extra food in a bear bag overnight. The next morning I snapped a picture before we broke up camp. We backpacked out the way we came in, about 1.5 miles, but since the hike goes back up and out of the valley, the trek back was definitely more strenuous.

I'd say we were all very happy campers!

Happy Campers?

This past weekend, Matt and I went camping with our dear friends, B + P & W + A, at Graveyard Fields off the Blue Ridge Parkway! We had a GREAT time {at the beginning anyway}!

When we first arrived, we immediately set up camp...

Home Sweet Home!

Then we hiked the 4 mile Graveyard Fields Loop.

Later the guys chopped firewood...

And we all drank out of really cool cups!

But THEN…out of NOWHERE…

 a STORM started rolling in!

So we quickly changed into our rain gear…

and made dinner in a haste! And by "dinner," I mean that we only had time to throw two hot dogs and three small pizzas on the grill, which later tasted like rain.

Pita Pizzas & Hotdogs! Yum!

  But within an hour of the first drop we became prisoners of Mother Nature in our tents...  

Within two hours, we were floating in nearly 4 inches of water... 

Matt braved the storm, patching our rain fly...while Charlie and I took a little nap.

 After four and a half hours, we called it quits and became prisoners of our car. And it doesn’t end there…the storm left behind a dense fog that prevented us from leaving Graveyard Fields until 6 a.m.  Have you ever tried to sleep in a car seat while your clothes are still wet?  {We did, not awesome}.  Although terrible at the time, we joked about it during our drive home.

Lesson learned. 

A 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms? Not worth the risk.