Moncove Lake to Forest Lake

 Moncove lake was a nice spot to relax.  After taking the boys for a walk I got to see a lot more of it.  There are 2 camping areas here, an upper campground and a lower.  The upper campground has the electrical hookups, and is situated up the mild slope of the western ridge. We were on campsite #2 so on the base of the slope just up from the check-in station and water source. The further up the slope, the denser the forest surroundings.  

Our site was next to a narrow ravine that had a constant flow of water coming from the mountain ridge above, probably a spring but I never ventured far enough to find the source.  About midway up the slope, was a bath house and a crossroads where the upper campground loop made a figure eight.  More of a grassy meadow with a smattering of trees in the central sites, all of the spots on the outer edge of the loop were either under the canopy of trees or backed up to it.  With the mountain ridges on either side of the lake we enjoyed sunshine during the day but an abundance of shade in the afternoons.  The entrance to the park is on the far side of the lake and meanders throungh a green tunnel of trees with a few pull-offs along the way where there are spots to stop and fish or just relax and enjoy the view.  

A picnic area under a grove of tall pines at the south end of the lake just before entering the recreation area and campgrounds.  The Lower campground was off to the left down a small lane and into the woods.  This would have been the idealic spot to camp had there been electrical hook-ups.  I didn't venture in having already worn myself out exploring the recreational area down by the lake.  There is a large pool with plenty of loungers to take in the sun as well as a smaller pool I will assume was a shallower kiddie pool.  North of the pool, more picnic tables, a boat launch, ball field, backetball, voleyball, and a large pavilion for groups.  

All in all it was a nice place to relax and take in the fresh air.  The drive out Saturday morning was bittersweet leaving this campground but the trip was a bit more relaxed as our next stop was only about 200 miles away and we would have the pleasure of traversing the most tranquil views crossing what remained of West Virginia, and across the Blue Ridge mountains to the Thousand Trails camping resort of Forest Lake in Advance, North Carolina.  We purchased a membership to Thousand Trails when we bought the RV back in February.  It was a marketing gimick that promised free campsites across the southeast region for the next year.  I'll try to refrain from giving them any further a review till after we've had a few more of these locations behind us.  On this trip, this location provided us a spot not far from one of Lynn's cousins and another on our way back towards home.  Since our membership was already paid for, it made sense to schedule a stop whenever it fell in our route of travel.  Forest Lake at least appeared to be a campground in a wooded environment, with water and amenities available onsite.

We had selected site A26 as it was a site in the woods not far from the lake, clubhouse, pool, laundry and other amenities provided with the membership.  Unfortunately upon arrival, we were informed no-one could pick a site, all sites would be assigned on arrival and were were assigned site A9.  This turned out to be a considerable distance away from any of the amenities and meant it would require us to disconnect from our utilities and drive down to that area if we wanted to put any of it to good use should ther be a spot Georgie Girl could actually park or we could RENT a golf cart to get around the resort.  This appeared to be a good source of income for the resort as there must have been at least 100 golf carts roaming around the place everywhere you turned.

I guess I'm a bit of an old school kind of guy thinking of a campground as a relatively condensed area of campers surrounding a central facilities and/or amenities location.  Bear with me a moment and try to picture an old indian campground, you could conceive this as an area maybe covering 10 acres at most with 2 dozen tents surrounding a central fire pit.  What I like most about camping is the space, a peaseful location in the woods with just a little privacy.  This campground has what looks like more than 400 campsites spread out across a hundred acres or more with each site bunched up against the next.  I will say they did a good job of laying out the sites without cutting down too much of the forest, or at least in the area where we were assigned.  Some of the other areas appear to have been bulldosed out and laid out like a parking lot.  Thankfully we weren't assigned one of those spots.  We got a good nights sleep and awoke at 8:45 Sunday morning to a calm and cool 75 degrees followed by a torential thunderstorm that cooled the air but left my carpet drenched outside.  The sun came out and I hung the carpet over the fence to drain and hopefully dry out.  

Thats all for this entry, We'll be here for a few days and I'll try to upload another entry before we head out to our next destination.  From myself, Lynn, Toto, Bilbo, and Georgie Girl, have a nice rest of your weekend and we'll catch up again soon.