Magnus to Mass., with Jamestown Jaunt, Day 23

Thursday, August 28

 It was a really chilly morning. I got up before Ed, so I took Molly for an extra long walk around and up onto the flood wall…and I got my socks soaking wet. (Socks with sandals--bad idea)  I was not unbearably cold, wearing two hoodies and sweatpants, but I wished I’d worn shoes.

Sherando Lake is a great place. I’d love to stay another day and do the trails. But for now, it’s off to the next.

Note during the drive:
Stop me if I've said this--a couple of hundred times--but it’s very frustrating to plan these trips with 3 to 4 hours drive time per day, only to have him decide to go 10 miles under the speed limit and blow my estimates to hell. For no good reason. We have this big honking diesel engine so we can go up the hills. Why not use it? It will be amusing to see how long this mode lasts. I hope.

Sorry about the griping—I’m just a little upset that my planning is going out the roof.

So we arrived at Warrior’s Path campground in Tennessee.  I was not thrilled with it at all.  There are two camping loops. The main campground doesn’t fit our size RV, but the Moody Bluff one is big and has full hookups. It’s nice, but it’s crowded full of old rich people with their yappy little dogs. The two spaces on either side of us are empty and there are a few spaces over by the dumpster which are empty.  But pretty much all the others are full.

It was very crowded but it is nearing Labor Day weekend. The whole place had the look and feel of an RV Park, and there was constant traffic noise. And there was no way a kid could ride a bike on the roads—too much traffic.  There was a river behind us, but you couldn’t see it through the trees and there’s no trails to walk down to it.

The campground did at least have nice hot showers. And technically speaking, I might stay there again if it wasn’t not a holiday weekend and I needed a quick and convenient place near I-81 in far eastern Tennessee. Maybe.

 REVIEW: Warriors Path SP in Tennessee

Headline: needs a bike trail between camping loops

 This place has two campgrounds, and whether you’re in a RV park or a state park depends on which campground you’re in. The RV campground (Moody Bluff) is crowded and has no “appeal” at all. The main campground, which is more suitable for smaller trailers or tents, seems to be very nice and park-like.  But the only way to get between the two is to walk alongside a very busy road with no shoulders.

However, I will admit that it was the Thursday before Labor Day weekend. Which might explain the crowding.  But it was still pretty awful. There was a constant stream of RVs going and coming.

Our site 118, was very large, pull-thru, and full hookup. Very, very unlevel. Paved driveway. Room to park the Jeep beside the Motorhome, but just a little too short to leave it hooked up. Plus the utilities are at the back of the site and staying hooked up would have required more sewer hose than we possessed.

The bathrooms were okay and the showers functional but basic, with private units. 

The camping loop is mostly cleared of trees—a few here and there—but there are big trees all around it making shade for the back-in sites. If you need satellite, best choose a pull-thru site or choose a back-in site carefully. In most of them you could put your dish on the ground at the front of the site and get okay sky access.

All of Moody Bluff had had the vibe of a private RV park—big sites very close together, few trees in the camping area, no view and and a lot of people. There was nowhere to walk the dogs, except round and around the campground, and no place for kids to ride bikes or play. The only road in or out was a narrow curvy one with cars going 50 mph in a 25-mph speed zone, with a lot of traffic and no paved shoulder. And very little grassy shoulder. 

Over in the main campground there are a lot of sites for smaller RVs and trailers.  And lots of places to walk dogs and for kids to play.   So if you’re staying at Moody Bluff and you want to walk any of the trails—and it does look like there are some good ones—I’d suggest driving over to the main campground and parking near the marina.

We had to check in at the park store, over in front of the main campground. No one told us this in email or on the web site, but it was pretty easy to find and the lady there was nice.  By the way, the campground’s emailed driving instructions told us what roads to avoid, but NOT which one to take.  Follow the posted signs, which direct you to turn on Hemlock Road and stay there. Easy.