Ah, mountains

Kinards is pretty much in the center of South Carolina and flat. But within twenty miles the terrain began to show some contours and by the time we approached the North Carolina boarder there were definitely mountains in the distance.

Ah, mountains in North Carolina.

We crossed the North Carolina boarder at about the sixty mile mark and within three miles there was a Rest Stop and Welcome Center.

This was the approach from the truck parking lot to the back of the Welcome Center. The parking lot was down below and we had to climb to reach the buildings.  It was lovely and for the first time prettier than the "car" approach.

Interior of the Welcome Center. You can see all the brochures along the walls. The furniture was beautiful; I didn't try it for comfort.

This quilt depicted the various regions of the state. We are in the pointy end on the left. 

In the quilt picture above you might notice the picture of a falls at the bottom center.  That is Pearson's Falls, about 15 miles from the Welcome Center, and when Frederick saw the picture he had to go see the falls.  We talked with the woman at the desk and found out that there was no good way to travel to the falls if you were towing a trailer, and no place to park. We decided that we would go to our campground and come back for the falls.

This next sequence of pictures is for everyone to enjoy, but especially Peter. They had a nice display of North Carolina minerals.

Huge piece of pyrite!

As we were leaving the Welcome Center I noticed with relief that the North Carolina vending machines are not "jailed".

In fact, they had their own little building.

We got to our campground, the West Asheville KOA, about 1:30 p.m., had lunch, then headed out to retrace our steps to fine Pearson's Falls.  We were amazed at the downward grade on the road we had so recently come up.  There were times that the grade was 7%.  

We had to leave the main highway, #26, and travel a few miles on a secondary road.  The grade and the twists and turns were exhilarating.  At the bottom, just south of Saluda, NC, we turned into the drive to the Gate.  Pearson's Falls has been owned and maintained by the Tryon Garden Club since 1931. We were so happy that we made the trip back because the Falls and the little hike to the Falls was lovely.

The man who took our $10 indicated that the new bathroom facilities used composting toilets; no water or chemicals.  He also said, at least what I thought he said, is that the roof was aluminum.  It turns our he didn't say "aluminum" but "living roof".  I know, it doesn't seem that these words would sound the same, but the North Carolina accent sure made them sound the same to me. Notice the plants growing on the roof. I guess that is what makes it "living".

A tree with some interesting bulges.  I asked the man but he didn't know what kind of tree it was.

I guess you can't really see the water dripping from these rock ledges, but it was lovely.  It was dedicated to one of the garden club women.  In fact, there were numerous plaques all along the trail to the Falls, all dedicated to women.

Lovely trail to the Falls.

Pearson's Falls.

Where did he go??!!