{"id":103,"date":"2014-08-20T07:22:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T11:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/?p=103"},"modified":"2014-08-20T07:22:28","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T11:22:28","slug":"15-18-august-2014-back-mountain-falls-rv-resort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/?p=103","title":{"rendered":"15-18 August 2014: Back to Mountain Falls RV Resort"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So, August in Atlanta is normally a lot like sitting in a sauna, so we have made it our practice over the years to get a few days respite by traveling up to the mountains of North Carolina. For many years, that meant a small dumpy hotel in Cashiers, and lately it means taking Ace to the <a href=\"http:\/\/mountain-falls.com\/\">Mountain Falls RV Resort<\/a>. As described in a <a title=\"9-12 August 2013: Mountain Falls Motorcoach Resort\" href=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/?p=15\">previous post<\/a>, Mountain Falls is an unbelievably luxurious, upscale &#8220;RV resort&#8221; (even their website says, &#8220;Don&#8217;t call us an RV park&#8221;) where the lots go for, no kidding, $130,000 (for resales in the &#8220;lower&#8221; area) to $250,000 for the lots under construction up on &#8220;The Ridge.&#8221; That works out to $7+ million per acre. Slightly out of our price range. The owners next to us (he&#8217;s retired Navy) have a lot at Mountain Falls, where they spend 5 months, and another lot in Deland, FL, where they spend the rest of year.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s trip, we did something new &#8230; we headed off to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncparks.gov\/Visit\/parks\/gorg\/main.php\">Gorges State Park<\/a> for a half-day of hiking and waterfall viewing.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-105 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_0996-Custom.jpg\" alt=\"20140816 IMG_0996 (Custom)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_0996-Custom.jpg 640w, https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_0996-Custom-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_0996-Custom-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/>Wow. I read that the park should be called &#8220;Gorgeous State Park,&#8221; and I&#8217;ll second the suggestion. Getting over 90 inches of rain per year, with an elevation gain of 2000 feet in only 4 miles, the Horsepasture River presents one waterfall after another, culminating in Rainbow Falls.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1003-Custom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-106 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1003-Custom.jpg\" alt=\"20140816 IMG_1003 (Custom)\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1003-Custom.jpg 480w, https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1003-Custom-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 85vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s impossible to do justice to a waterfall with an amateur still photo, but even in this meager depiction, perhaps one can sense the beauty of this area. Or perhaps this more accurately captures my impression:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1004-Custom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-107 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1004-Custom.jpg\" alt=\"20140816 IMG_1004 (Custom)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1004-Custom.jpg 640w, https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1004-Custom-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140816-IMG_1004-Custom-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The area was fairly crowded, although not unpleasantly so, including a fair contingent of college-age young people. It&#8217;s said that for everything that exists: (1) if it moves, someone will figure out a way to race it, and (2) if it doesn&#8217;t move, someone will figure out a way to jump off of it. So, not surprisingly, waterfall jumping appears to be an important objective for the younger contingent.<\/p>\n<p>The next day we drove up and toured the Blue Ridge Parkway, including a hike to the top of of Devil&#8217;s Courthouse.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-1-Custom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-110 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-1-Custom.jpg\" alt=\"20140817 photo 1 (Custom)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-1-Custom.jpg 640w, https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-1-Custom-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-1-Custom-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Well, 3 of us hiked. Sally the Wonder Dachshund got a ride.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-2-Custom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-111 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-2-Custom.jpg\" alt=\"20140817 photo 2 (Custom)\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-2-Custom.jpg 480w, https:\/\/skiprd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140817-photo-2-Custom-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 85vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The weather over the entire trip was just as we expected: mid- to upper-70s each day, beautiful Carolina Blue skies with billowy white clouds, and a gentle breeze. We&#8217;re already looking forward to next year&#8217;s trip.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, August in Atlanta is normally a lot like sitting in a sauna, so we have made it our practice over the years to get a few days respite by traveling up to the mountains of North Carolina. For many years, that meant a small dumpy hotel in Cashiers, and lately it means taking Ace &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/?p=103\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;15-18 August 2014: Back to Mountain Falls RV Resort&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p68mhx-1F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skiprd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}