Western NC Fly Camp Hike and Fish (KAVL) May 20th - 23rd

middlebrook04

middlebrook04

Flight Levels
Fly in to Asheville Regional (KAVL) on Friday May 20th depart on Monday May 23rd. with shuttle form the airport to the North Mills Camp ground for a three days of camping, hiking, biking and fishing.
http://cfaia.org/north-mills-river-recreation-area-campgrounds-in-north-carolina/

Rustic camping (at least what parks service calls rustic) there is running water and a bathhouse, no power, plenty of hiking and biking trails but most of all the North Mills River (just a large creek), one of the best Delayed Harvest trout waters in this area of NC. I'm looking at the group camping area but if we don't get enough responses early it may be reserved before we call.

Fishing
I've talk to Hunter Banks Outfitters http://www.hunterbanks.com/ . For people who would like to learn how to fly fish, might not have fly fishing gear, or know how to fly fish but want to hone their skills, they will provide guides and gear at $117 a person for half day or $150 a person for a whole day. Pricey I know but guides and gear are not cheep. these waters are catch and release this time of year so no eating fresh trout after a long day of fishing. I do have enough gear for three people minus waders and don't have a problem teaching people to cast a fly. When you start out it is almost as aggravating as golf. Anyone interested in fishing must get their 3 day "out of state fishing license" $45 and make sure you get trout included. I suggest you buy them online and print them out.

http://www.ncwildlife.org/Licensing/HuntingFishingTrappingLicenses.aspx

Hiking/Biking
Pisgah National Forest is littered with hiking and biking trails. Many of them come right through this park.
http://11mjsg94ex5ggb0b7k6013aj.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/NMRMapforwebsite.pdf

This fly in is not as much a plane oriented fly in as it is a "use our aircraft to bring us together in nature" sort of thing. I know there are a lot who have no desire to "Rough It" (if that is what one would call this so called rustic camping) and that's fine this is not for you. For the slightly more adventurous of us I guess. There are amenities close to the camp ground like restaurants and grocery stores.

Average temp rain fall in the area.
http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/mills-river/north-carolina/united-states/usnc1295


I'm trying not to make this a jammed pack event, more of a relaxed leisurely congregation of BACers if you will.

I know this is early but I need to get some preliminary counts on this if anyone is interested so I can reserve the campsite.

Heads up this is the weekend between Mothers Day and Memorial Day.
 
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Looks like fun Donald .Nice work . Andrea and I can probably do a little hiking . I am marking the calendar .
 
Don, This sounds awesome. That's a long way from here, but since you gave us such advanced notice, we will try and make it.
 
Don, This sounds like fun. I have done some biking and hiking, camping etc in Pisgah. Great idea! It will be many months before I can figure out my schedule but I am interested.
 
Thanks for the early responses guys. Don't forget to get the spouses and kids in on this "like anyone could forget them right". Now that I think about it, if I take the wife and kids who's going to watch the kids? Might just have to leave my kids at home. We won't have to worry about things getting to out of hand because alcohol is prohibited in state parks.

I'll bump this tread up a few more times between now and the first of the year to keep it in front of every one. If we keep at least five people interested I'll make the reservation by then.
 
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I think this is going to be a blast. I've had some feedback from the membership on this and some suggestions. So to add to this event some options for those who may not be interested in "roughing it". There are hotels close to the airport for anyone interested and plenty of things in the area other than the outdoor activities I suggested previously. That being said I will not be hosting any of the none outdoor activities personally, the only transportation there will be is from the airport to the campground, hotel, or rental car if needed and back to the airport. Anything in between will have to be negotiated for yourself. This is not a BAC paid event everyone will have to pay their own way.


I'm planning to drive so I can bring my smoker, grill, tables and chairs unless everyone would rather eat sandwiches and/or go out to eat for meals maybe even take out. We can meet up at the campground and cookout for the meals and possibly go out on Friday and Saturday nights. For some reason JP wants to see me drunk.

My SUV is how I plan on shuttling people to and from the camp ground but if we get a lot of people signed up we may have to rent a van.

There is biking trails in the area but I know little about mountain biking so anyone planning to bring mountain bikes please do your research before you come. I don't plan on partaking in the biking myself (I don't want to have a heart attack up in them hills). I will be involved in the fishing and hiking.

Those who are interested in fishing or learning how to fly fish please let me know so I can make sure I have enough gear. I have enough for three people but do not have waders. It is hard to fish these mountain streams from the bank and almost imposable to fly fish from the bank. The waters will be around 50F so waders are a very useful piece of equipment. if you pay a guide equipment will not be an issue. If you are interested in a guide let me know so I can get that set up early. You can fish these waters with regular casting gear. No bait is allowed, you must have artificial lures with just one hook, no treble hooks. If your thinking about buying some gear and don't know what your looking for you can call me and I will walk you threw it (336-602-4750).

Who knows what the weather might bring. We'll do the best we can with what we get.

I'll start fine tuning the schedule of events as we get closer and we know about how many will be BACers plan on coming.

Any suggestions are welcome again I'm not trying to make this a cram packed event I'm trying to make this as leisure able as possible.
 
BAC country? BAC water? BAC in the hills?

OK, I got carried away. This looks like a lot of fun. Sign me up!
 
That's a long way for me to go for a 3 day camp out. Dunno if I'll be in the area at that time or not. Anything can happen. I have new fly fishing riggin' that hasn't got wet ..... yet. Bummer! Maybe I can test it out at the brook that flows under Trumpet Nelson's deck.
 
I haven't had time to go do some scouting in the area yet. This is fire wood season for me, the rain we've been having has really hurt me there. It's also harvest (deer) time and not to mention my plane issues. So I haven't had much time to get out. I seem to have this itch that I just can't explain but I think a fly rod will be able to reach it.
 
Suggested event names so far.

BAC Country
BAC Water
BAC In The Hills
BAC To Nature
BAC To The Hills

Any more suggestions? If not lets take a vote on a name, everyone welcome.

I was also thinking "BAC To Basics" but thought we should save that for a CFI (Paul). It would be a good title for general/basic flight training issues.
 
middlebrook04 said:
I haven't had time to go do some scouting in the area yet. This is fire wood season for me, the rain we've been having has really hurt me there. It's also harvest (deer) time and not to mention my plane issues. So I haven't had much time to get out. I seem to have this itch that I just can't explain but I think a fly rod will be able to reach it.
Click to expand...

I'm sure if you need help scouting hiking trails, Werbin and I could be enticed to come down and help out!
 
Good idea Alan! My backpack is still packed up from my last aborted trip (my hand injury), and my plane is still in the avionics shop (week 4 of a 2 week installation KSN770, ADS-B etc). And my winter hiking gear is anxiously awaiting a trip. Anyone else want to join a Fly-Hike in winter?
 
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