With the children back at school, it’s open travel season. Whoo-hoo!!! We hit the road to explore farther than we had ever been on the Parkway in NC. We have camped at Peaks of Otter and Meadows of Dan on the Parkway in Virginia, but took other routes to get there. As we entered the Doughton Park Recreation Area, we loved the split rail fencing and ridge top meadows on either side of the Parkway. Just before the campground, captivated, we had to stop at the Alligator Back Overlook to view the spectacular pre-sunset sky, lit up with gorgeous light on the clouds and an amazing view. It was quite a welcome and a good indicator of what was to come that weekend.
We drove into the small RV section of the Doughton Campground, MP 239 to our assigned campsite #A14, but decided it was the least desirable on the loop, not wooded and on top of the neighbors. We spoke with the ranger then chose a better wooded, more private spot #A4, just thrilled that Labor Day weekend there were any available. We have found much success getting non-reservable available campsites at the Parkway campgrounds, which is great. Sadly, the entire campground was made to suffer one travel trailer running their generator all hours permitted…We had gotten there at dark, so decided to stay the night then evaluate our other options in the morning. After our morning hike the following day, the generator was at full tilt, disturbing the peace and serenity, we had gone there to enjoy. We hiked over to the Doughton Van/Tent Campground across the Parkway. Thankfully, we were able to get a perfect wooded site that Happy just barely fit in. Site #B20 had an amazing dropped campfire/picnic area on a creek below the parking pad. It was just what we were looking for. Great move to the quiet tent area.
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