Elkmont Trip, The great and the not so great...

We left Wednesday around 2pm for our annual trip to Elkmont to see the synchronized fireflies. We were supposed to leave at noon, but I seem to always run behind.

We got there, backed into our site and we were just amazed at the beauty. We had a river site last year, but enjoyed this site a bit more. It had a small pool of water that was easy for Meg to hang out in and then a small island. After that the water flowed much faster and we watched many people go buy tubing. Craig put the screen house up on the tent pad and we hung out in that and watched the river the majority of the time. Some kids were in the site next to us and Meghan had lots of fun playing in the water with them. Everything was perfect.

Thursday morning I was awoke by Craig yelling "bear" into the camper. A bear was at the site next to us. Needless to say, I thought that was pretty cool. Craig made a mistake in his haste to photograph the bear and wiped the camera lens on his damp shirt. Most of the pictures he took of the bear were hazy but we have a few good pics. Rangers were out in force and attempted to catch him but were not able to. The next day they caught two "yearlings"... Thursday was a lazy day of relaxing and watching Meg hang out in the water. Thursday evening we walked up to the fireflies and they were pretty dang amazing. We got back to the camper about 10:30 and thats when the not so great happened.....

The camper battery was totally drained. Craig was able to charge it up the next day just to see it drain right away as soon as we turned the lights on. So, looks like we have a short in the camper somewhere. We have no clue where or why??? I made a trip to Pigeon Forge and picked up some candles to use in the camper at night. We had no lights and no pump for the water. On the bright side, Meghan and I had lots of fun hanging out talking by candle light in the camper after Craig went to bed.
Hopefully we can get the camper wiring problem figured out soon.

All in all it was an amazing 4 nights. We loved the site we had. The river behind our camper was so loud I actually spent one night sleeping back in the bunk room so I could listen to it all night It was hot and humid and the bugs were plentiful. But it was easy to forget about that with the river and the beauty of the area. I finally met up with Donna (MerryKalia) and the girls on Saturday afternoon and it was nice to finally meet her in person.

I posted some pics if anyone is interested in seeing Elkmont. I am going to "try" and post a picture. I seem to be challenged when it comes to that.

I highly recommend Elkmont if you can deal with the no electric, water, sewer or cell signal. It is so beautiful and relaxing.

(Craig took the battery into Pigeon Forge on Saturday and, while it needed to be charged more, they said it looked fine)

link to the Elkmont album...

Elkmont

Sounds like.. over-all .. it was a good trip. The pictures are very nice.

Looks like you had a good time. I prefer to have electric an water at my site though.

the picture above was taken from my site.. I forgot to note that. I agree with you Cool.... we did 4 nights this time and I don't think I could do any more in a row. I was so happy to get home to my nice air conditioned house and my laptop. I can handle it for a few days just to be there on that river.

Thanks Chuck. It was. I will be relieved once we figure out whats wrong with the camper. I tried one of the foil recipes you posted! Note to self.... next time make meat bigger and veggies smaller

Our next trip is The 4th of July weekend at the KOA. Should be a great weekend if you like country music. Stop by for a beer Chuck if your in the area : )

Okay, so since we were there, I will chime in to say that the campground's beauty is amazing. The river (creek or whatever) was SOOO much fun. It was definitely COLD!!

We also had some troubles, but they started before we ever got going - our transmission went out - we had it put in back in December during the big snow. The garage that put it in covered it under warranty since he said it had to have been something wrong to have gone out that quickly. We had only pulled the TT one time (Smoky Bear) and it wasn't a bad haul. Anyway, we were supposed to have left at noon on Friday, but due to not having a truck, we didn't leave until after 5 pm. Finally got to Elkmont after dark, about 9:30 pm. We were in spot #K3, which is not a river site, but you could still hear the noise.

On Saturday, we and our neighbors (Lagows) who were from Norton and have 2 kids were joined by my sister, brother-in-law and their nephew took a walk down to the river just to see it right after breakfast. We told the kids they could get in the water, but only to their knees. That lasted about 10 seconds. Becky Lagow went down first, then my sister and then I did. Butch and Todd were quick to get in after that, but my brother-in-law (a city slicker) had on shoes, socks and WHITE SHORTS!!! Who in the world wears white shorts to a campground!!

We were probably in the river about 3 hours and when we returned to the TT, we had a note left on our truck by Betty. She had put her site # on the note and we went to visit her, but then she was gone. She did come back to our site in the afternoon so we did get to talk to her in person.

It was SOOO humid at Elkmont and we had purchased a battery powered fan from Walmart prior to going, but we couldn't get it to work.

We had our FANTASTIC fan on Friday night and it was pretty decent sleeping weather, but on Saturday night, our battery went dead and it was just stifling HOT.

We have decided that next year, we will make a reservation in the campground for the weekend (2 nights), BUT....we will take our camper to one of the full-service campgrounds in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg. We will take a tent to Elkmont and will spend the days there and the evenings for the bugs, but will SLEEP where we have air conditioning, running water and cable TV. (We really like our conveniences!)

We had a blast and will plan to do it again next year.

Betty - the pics are GREAT!!

Hey Donna, I wish I had known about your battery. You could have charged it with our generator! Did you enjoy the dinner show Saturday night?

I have to say it was alot hotter and more humid this year than last. And, the bugs were alot worse this year. Thats why I like Jellystone.. it's the closest I have found to Elkmont but with full hookups and kids activities : )

You and I are thinking alot alike about next year... on the way home today I told Craig he could pull the camper down next year but that I was booking a hotel room to go to at night if need be I am so glad we decided to cancel our reservations at Elkmont later this month. One time a year of dry camping is enough for me.

Our battery didn't fail until about 1:30 am and I don't think anybody would appreciate me starting a generator at that time of the morning!!! Butch just hooked the truck up to the battery about 7 am and charged it up for about 30 minutes and we were fine, but I agree, 1 time a year of dry-camping is plenty for me.

Sounds like fun.. I am not saying I would never dry camp.. but I do like my water and electric on site.

Looks great, glad you all had a great time.

glade everyone enjoyed them selfs and every one was safe Crawford

I thought I had a bear in the campsite next to me at Cove Lake, but it was just Chuck before he drank any coffee. We did get quite a "bare" show from the campsite though. Thank goodness I missed it.

Your pictures are just beautiful!! However I do not think I am ready to REALLY rough it. But I like your idea about splitting your time between there and a site with hookups. Is Townsend closer to Elkmont than Pigeon Forge?

We are going to be in Townsend next week camping but thankfully we have everything I need except for wifi so I am going to borrow my Moms air card.