Fairy Stone State Park

Friday, March 25, 2022

This is our first camping trip for the year, but not our last! We both left work at 2pm and headed home to hitch up and leave. We had a few last minute items to put in Dog-House-1, (the name of our camper), before we could leave. I have been letting Amy help me get the camper hitched and unhitched, so she is more familiar with the process. We made it to the campground with no problems and started setting up camp around 4:30pm. There were not very many people in the campground when we got there, but by dark there were several more.

It was time for supper, and we had brought with us some USDA beef patties that Tom and Myra Keatts of Cascade are now selling. We cooked them up on the fire with our new Lodge Cast Iron Grill Topper, and it worked great.

We ate supper at the picnic table and the menu included; Cheeseburgers on Keto Bread, Little Green Giant Cauliflower Tots, Pork-N-Beans and Sliced Tomatoes.

After dark, we made our favorite camp dessert, smores. This evening we just used graham crackers, milk chocolate and of course, marshmallows.

We hung up our new outdoor lights and were very pleased with them.

Saturday, March 26, 2022

We slept in this morning and did not get in a rush. We perked a pot of coffee before we ever got out of the bed. Not only that, but we used the Apple Flavored coffee from the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge. I went out to start breakfast and on the menu was scrambled eggs, Jimmy Dean Sausage, hash browns and toast.

It had turned off cold this morning, so I used a heater while cooking, and we ate our meal inside Dog House 1.

We did not do much this morning but mess around the campsite, but we did meet our neighbors, Richard and Bryan, more about them later. We ate lunch about noon and the menu included, Brunswick stew and crackers.

We left after lunch and drove to Floyd, VA. As we drove up route 8, I told Amy that I thought it might be raining. Well, it turns out it was snow!! It was pouring snow all the way up the mountain, but fortunately it stopped after we got to Floyd. We took some pictures, hoping to get the snow.

We shopped in Floyd for several hours and visited several interesting shops. Here are some pictures of some of them.

This is the Sacred Star and Stone, and they have plenty of gemstones and rocks. I had been looking for a small leather change purse and I found one in this store.

Our next stop was the New Mountain Mercantile, and we found some cheese knives that we purchased.

Our next stop was the Barking Dog Pottery where my wife purchased a beautiful coffee mug and some hand cream made from lard. They also sell fresh pork that is grown on their farm.

We stopped at the famous Floyd Country Store and looked around, and then purchased some candy and a Santa for my truck. He is riding in the front windshield now.

When we got back to camp, we started supper and a fire. For supper, we had what we call a "one bowl meal". This one included chicken, frozen mixed vegetables and Palmini rice.

We spent the evening around the fire and had a new variation of smores. We used chocolate covered graham crackers with our marshmallows, and they were delicious.

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Today we had to get up early so we could get ready for worship service at 11am.

For breakfast this morning we had pancakes, bacon and fruit.

We had planned to drive to our own church, but because of gas prices, we decided to go to a local church. We went to Fairy Stone Church which was about 6 miles from the campground. Their music is contemporary, and the message was from the word of God. Enjoyed the message and the fellowship.

After we returned to camp, we had lunch and on the menu was another "one-pot meal". This one was salmon, asparagus, cucumber, onions, green peppers and baby carrots seasoned with Tonis.

After lunch, we went for a hike. We started up Mountain View Trail and came back on Little Falls Trail. Amy tripped and fell on a root and scared me to death, but other than that it was uneventful. The scenery was beautiful and the trail fairly clear.

When we returned from our hike, we decided to make a pot of decaf coffee and invite the neighbors over for a cup. We met Richard and Bryan on Saturday morning, and here is the way we met. My wife seen their camp, and they were sleeping in backpacking hammocks swinging between the trees, and I was admiring their camp setup. She asked me the following question, "are they crazy?". So being the good husband I am, I went to find out if they were crazy or not. They of course admitted to being crazy and then introduced themselves. They were both from North Carolina and were up for the weekend to do some hiking. We talked Sunday evening around a cup of coffee for nearly an hour. I really enjoyed our conversations with them, and this is one of the reasons I enjoy campgrounds. We meet complete strangers, but you depart as friends.

Richard (left) and Bryan (right)

That evening, the wind had died down, and I was able to cook a good supper. The menu was garlic beef sausage and potato cooked in onions and bacon, with green beans cooked in onions and bacon.

That night we had a good fire because the wind had died down so much. We also had a different variation of smores, we used cookies and crème candy instead of chocolate.

I highly recommend them!!

Here are two videos of our favorite TV station.

This one is a standard video.

This one is in slow motion.

Here are some more pictures from Sunday evening.

Monday, March 28, 2022

COLD! Yes, it was cold. It was around 27 degrees at the campsite! I got up and stayed inside with a cup or two of coffee and read some in my book while Amy kept sleeping. I did wake her around 8am, so we could get going with breakfast. While she got ready, I fixed us some scrambled eggs, spam and tomato.

After breakfast, I started to clean up camp and get ready to come home. It took less than two hours to break camp, hitch up and leave. Keep in mind, I was in no hurry, but everything went in its place before we left.

Suggestions from our Experience

We stayed at site 43, and it was really level and a pull through. We walked the ring and noted that #3, #30 and #36 were pull through sites that looked nice too. #39 is a back in site, but we liked the layout.

The bath house was in the center of the campground, and it was a nice and clean facility. The restrooms are on one side of the building and there are 5 private showers on the opposite side.

There are enough hiking trails to keep you moving the whole weekend, so take advantage of them.

The camp store has firewood, ice and even hunting and fishing licenses for sale. We did not take advantage of the lake due to the cold weather, but I know a lot of folks who like going there.

Trail Guide

Facilities Guide

Emergency information

Rules and Regulations

Maiden Voyage of DOGHSE1

Amy and I purchased this little Camper a few years ago. We had just started remodeling our house and with our schedules we could only work on Saturdays. We were going to start camping in 2020 but COVID put a damper on that. Furthermore, we started working on the camper in July, of this year, and made some practice runs in August. Neither one of us have any experience pulling a trailer and wanted some practice before pulling any distance.

Staunton River State Park

This weekend, Amy's family had a reunion at Staunton River State Park, so we decided to go and camp. We left Friday afternoon and pulled into the Park about 4pm. I did a lot of reading and watching YouTube videos in the last few months and our first trip was a smooth one with only one "bump" and that was with my truck and not the camper. We had both practiced leveling the camper and putting the jacks under it. As a team, we were able to set up the camper and camp in about 45 minutes.

We were both hungry by the time we were finished setting up camp, so I started supper. We had Chicken Stir fry with Keto cornbread. After dinner, we started a fire and just relaxed around it until bedtime. Amy read some magazines and I kept the fire going.

I was up early on Saturday, I had to get a fire going, so I could cook chili. I had the chili in the pot about 7:30am and stirred it every 15 minutes until noon. (recipe below) Amy Leigh was up about 8am and I started breakfast. We had eggs scrambled in green pesto, sausage links, keto blueberry muffins and avocado.

Ingredients

1 40 oz. can of red kidney beans|
1 15 oz. can of red kidney beans
2 pounds hamburger
1 large onion
2 large green peppers
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
3-1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt (optional)

Instructions

Chop up onions and peppers and sauté in pot
Brown burger in Worcestershire Sauce with onions and peppers
Mix rest of ingredients together in cast iron pot
Cook over fire for 4 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. If it gets too hot, raise pot.

Powell Family Reunion

We left for the reunion a little after noon, and we only had to drive about 1 mile. The reunion was held at Picnic Shelter #2 at the Park. Amy was happy to see so many of her relatives and spent the afternoon catching up with quite a few of them. Nicole and Daniel came down from Lynchburg and joined us which made my weekend.

After the reunion, Daniel and Nicole joined us at the campsite, and we talked for quite a while.

After the kids left for home, Amy and I took a walk. Friday and Saturday night we could hear a flute playing, and on our walk we met the young lady that played the flute. We were camped at the bottom of the campground and her family were camping up near the top. They were from Greensboro, and she plays in her High School Concert Band. She practiced for 1 hour each evening, and we really enjoyed the music.

We did not eat dinner until late, and we really just snacked on leftovers from the reunion. While we were eating, we heard kids singing. There was a family behind us that had gathered around their fire and were singing. We really enjoyed their music and told them so.

We both went to bed and slept the whole night, we were more tired than we realized. For breakfast on Sunday we had scrambled eggs, ham, tomato and keto biscuits. We packed up camp and were nearly finished when we struck up a conversation with another of our neighbors. They were from Lynchburg and were there kayaking on the river. They liked our small camper and wanted to know a little more about it.

On the way home, we stopped by Amy's grandparent's home on Wolftrap Road in Scottsburg, VA. We came back to Danville and stopped at Checkered Pig for lunch.

Notes about Park

We stayed at site #3 and we liked the location. The sites on either side were fine as well.
The sites have nice graveled pads and fairly level.
There is one-bath house. The bathhouse is heated and has hot showers.

Men: 2 urinals, 2 toilets, 2 Showers (stall private, common dressing area)
Women: 4 toilets, 2 Showers (private)

There is a laundry room and public wash sink at the bath house.
Each campsite has fire rings that can be used for campfires or cooking.
Firewood is sold at the park, you are not supposed to bring your own. ($8 bundle in 2021)
Accepts outlets for 20 and 30-amp current.
There are no sewer hookups, but there is a dump station.