Cataloochee Ski Area - Maggie Valley, NC

Adventure Journal - Entry Date: December 2011

The Richardson Tribe has been to Maggie Valley several times over the past few years, but never in the winter when Cataloochee Ski Area was open. This Christmas, Santa brought the children gift certificates for ski school at Cataloochee, so we felt compelled to check it out. When visiting Maggie Valley in the past, we have always stayed at Stonebridge RV, so we booked their best creek-side site for the week leading up to the new year.

When we arrived at Stonebridge RV park (now owned by NASCAR), we were extremely disappointed in the seemingly poor condition of the park. It turns out, it pretty much shuts down for the winter. No laundry, no game room, inner roads blocked, and on this particular holiday week, the office was closed and no one was around. We couldn't even get horseshoes for the awesome looking horseshoe pits. There was a tarp on the office's roof, and there was a busted water pipe at one of the sites where the water ran all week. Rebecca spoke to the manager on the phone once, but he told her "Lady, I'm on vacation this week." He never returned my call. So, here we are, six of us for six days, with tons winter clothes and no laundry room. Fortunately, Rebecca had over-packed, so we managed. In all fairness, campgrounds winterizing and shutting-down for the season is pretty common. However, prior to our visit, we were receiving daily emails advertising how wonderful the place is in the winter. We'll have to reconsider where to stay on our next trip to Maggie Valley.
 

On our first full day in Maggie Valley, we thought we'd survey the situation at Cataloochee to determine when and where we needed to be the next morning to enroll the kids in ski school. Unfortunately, we were turned away a the base of the mountain because the ski area was filled to capacity. We were told to get there very early the next morning, and that's just what we did.
 

The kids' ski day was on the Friday before New Years Eve. Cataloochee Ski Area was packed with folks on holiday, but that didn't hinder the fun. Even with the crowd of people, everything went off without a hitch. We had all the kids in some exceptional rental boots and skis in no time. Although Santa brought some silly ski hats, we put helmets on the kids. The helmets were to protect the kids from other klutzy skiers more than falls. There were a lot of beginners out there.
 

After registering the kids for ski school, we left them in the care of the competent ski instructors (as we lurked in the shadows). They spent the entire day spoiling the kids with snack breaks and pizza for lunch. By mid-day, our four kids were all working with a single instructor that gave them lots of personal attention. By mid afternoon, the entire Richardson Tribe papooses were loading-up on the lift and skiing down the big hill. They seemed like naturals rarely falling at all. We expected them to be exhausted and sore after so much ski time, but we practically had to drag them away (especially Lainey - see group picture as we were leaving).

For lunch and occasional warm-up breaks, Rebecca and I visited the lodge. This two-story structure is very much utilitarian with a cafeteria-like food service area, a bar, and lots of tables and seating. The place was packed though, and finding a seat was a challenge. In general, the ski area is quite different from some of the ski resorts Rebecca and I have visited out west. It's a ski area, not a resort. We have to keep reminding ourselves not to compare. After all, flying west, renting a van, and finding affordable housing with four kids in Colorado would probably require a second mortgage. Yup, Cataloochee will do, and do quite nicely thank you.
 

For a complete write-up and dozens of pictures click here.

 

Townsend/Great Smokies KOA - A long weekend on Little River.

Adventure Journal
Entry Date: October 2010

The Richardson Tribe has just returned from our most recent adventure in the mountains of East Tennessee. We camped at the Townsend/Great Smokies KOA on Little River just outside the park for four nights.

While in the area, we visited Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and took a nice drive through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Yes, I am afraid we did the "tourist thing" on this trip, but we still enjoyed all the KOA's campground and activities.

We spent Saturday at the campground fishing, playing bingo (the kids loved it!), making tie dye t-shirts and various crafts, playing in Little River, and warming beside a toasty fire. The folks at the KOA in Townsend really know how to keep the kids happy, and the river and scenery keep everyone happy.

As usual, the night sky was a light show. I actually snapped a few time-lapsed shots this time, and realized there were many stars that I wasn't seeing with just the naked eye. We come here in the Winter between Christmas and New Year, and the sky is even more clear and brilliant at that time of year. For these and other pictures, click here.

John's Soapbox Moment:
I plan to write a series of articles on camping and RV etiquette soon. I may dedicate an entire segment on one neighbor's multiple offenses on this trip. For instance, one of the few negatives of this park is how narrow the riverside sites are. It's normal for water sites to be narrow, so I can't complain much. However, a courteous camper is careful not to intrude on their neighbor any more than necessary, and to try to make the area on the back-side of their camper as neat as possible (the back-side of one camper is the front- side of someone else's). Our neighbor on this trip had the patio-side of her old Class-A motorhome decorated with lights and FSU (Florida State) flags (and stickers, and pillows, and banners, and more lights, and flags, etc.). Her back-side on the other hand was disgusting (pardon the pun). She threw her sewer hose, water hose, and poser cables on the ground wadded-up in a mess. She stayed inside most of the time, except when laying out on the deck sunbathing and coming around to shake her sewer hose and grunt. She never said a single word to us in four days. I would move her sewer hose away from our picnic table only to find it back, almost on my patio, later. Unbelievable. I personally think other FSU fans need to hunt her down. She's giving your university a bad name.