Weekend at Betsey’s ole Country Store and Campground

March 30-April 1

Mike and I

A few weeks ago when we were hiking Hunt Fish Falls I called Bruce, the owner of Betsey’s to come to where we were on the road and pick us up because we could not make it back to our car before dark. He rescued us so to speak! That was very nice of him. Mike has been wanting to come up here and camp and support his business again. He came up here last year for his oyster roast and blues fest. This weekend he has his annual Easter Dinner with live music by King Bees. This is how Mike feels when he gets live music, food and camping. 😁

This is one of his many events he puts on to raise money for the clean up of Wilson’s creek. If you’ve ever been here you know how important that is. It’s a natural wonderland with raw beauty everywhere. Can you tell how much I like it here? Well wait till the end you will see.

We got here about 5 pm Friday evening. First had to have some hotdogs from Bruce’s store. Chili and ketchup for me, 2 chili slaw onions for him. Then set our camp up. Mike brought everything! Including the corn hole boards. My car was loaded.

To make this weekend easy I made foil meals before we left. We have shrimp boil packs, siracha chicken with Brussels sprouts, and garlic chicken with Brussels sprouts. I even made eggs, ham, cheese and onion packets for breakfast. Only things we needed were a fork and tongs.

We walked around the trout pond which has a campsite along the river. Next time we will camp here. Can’t drive here so we will have to carry our stuff around the pond. If you camp here you get to listen to the river behind you and maybe some wild turkeys, they sure were vocal tonight.

We got set up, got the fire going and cooked 2 chicken packets. We are camped along the road looking at the trout pond and the mountains in front of us.

I have to admit it is hard for me to do nothing. Especially without tv! I tried to read then it got dark. I was a little bored but we are here to chill!

When the moon came over the mountain in front of us it was awesome. I wanted to hike and wait for a sunset but I got a moon rise instead. 🌙

We had a good fire going and it was nice and toasty but get away from the fire and brrr. I planned to sleep in my car and Mike brought a small tent.

At 10 the campground was all quiet. I went to bed. Under 3 blankets and on top of a pillow for comfort. Mike stayed up of course even though we didn’t even bring any alcohol! I’m not quite sure why we didn’t but oh well.

I fell asleep but woke up when I heard voices and Mike was talking to someone. He said a random guy was walking down the road with a drink in his hand and wanted to chat. It was 3 am. Weird thing is there is that there isn’t anything around here so where he was going who knows.

I woke up bright and early and really had to go to the restroom! Nothing like getting out of warm blankets into the cold. The car windows were frozen. I had heard if you keep a window cracked it will keep the condensation to a minimum. This clearly doesn’t work for frost!

I think it was about 37 last night. So I put on my shoes and headed to the bathhouse. Not gonna lie that thing was spotless, smelled good and had heat! I contemplated getting my blanket and staying in there! I went back to my bed and took a little snooze and when I woke up Mike had a roaring fire. Heck yea! He snores. Sometimes loud. He said he thought someone kicked his tent and woke him up! 😜 probably not but I wouldn’t blame them!!!!

Betsey’s has 2 cabins they rent. One is a cabin and one is a teepee. It is cool it’s made out of some type of concrete or something.

It was already daylight at about 8 am and although I didn’t see a sunrise I did watch the sun come over the same mountain as the moon did.

The sun is shining it’s gonna be a beautiful day. I made our egg foils. They turned out great. Already had salt and pepper. All we needed was a fork to eat them with. We didn’t have one but a spoon worked fine. 🤦‍♀️ Then I went to the bathhouse and got a shower changed my clothes.

They had just stocked the trout pond yesterday so it was feeding time.

That was cool. Now what? I find it impossible to just sit and chill all day although it was my intention to do just that. I didn’t bring any hiking stuff either! Well I lasted about 20 minutes and I said bye to Mike and off I went to see Harper Creek Falls!

Here is the thing about me, I’m a big chicken. Unlike Sherri and Lisa I have NEVER hiked alone. I have never wanted to either. Mike clearly wasn’t interested and this trail is only about 2 miles out and back.

Yesterday there were lots of cars at the trailhead so I went. There were lots of cars this morning too. Mike brought his walking stick so I took it “just in case”. The first 1/2 mile of the trail is quite steep. It has switchbacks but I was winded. In fact all trails in Wilson’s creek are moderate to difficult.

After that part of the trail it’s a pretty nice path through campsites, rocks, and along the river. The whole way to the falls you can hear the stream flowing. It’s really awesome. It’s so peaceful and beautiful. I truly think Wilson’s Creek is some of the most beautiful area in North Carolina. I haven’t seen a soul except the occasional backpackers and campers down by the river. There were lots of great campsites down here.

I seam to always say that I never hear any birds or see any small animals like squirrels etc when I’m hiking. This path was full of all sorts of bird sounds.

I met some people fishing and got directions from them on the best way to view the falls.

The trail forks and the MST goes high and Harper creek goes low.

I stayed low and it dead ended at the falls. When I got there there were two guys on the other side standing between the upper and lower falls. I looked but could not find a way over there so I took some pics sat and soaked it in awhile then headed back.

Just back a few yards is a steep trail that goes down to the base of the falls. It has a rope to climb down the last 10 feet.

I started down then decided since I was alone I wouldn’t attempt it. While I was walking back those two guys appears above me (frightened me just a tad!). I said is that how you guys got there? I couldn’t figure it out? They said to follow the MST trail and take a spur trail down to where I saw them. One of the said it was a narrow, steep, rugged trail. He wasn’t kidding. The farther I went the worse it got.

My responsible side said to go back and soooo…. I did.

I wonder if anyone thru hikes the MST trail? Every area I’ve ever stepped foot on was very rugged. It has to be a super hard trail, at least in the mountains.

When I got back to the trail head I decided to go back to the gorge area and get some pictures. I am in love with this area. It a wild and scenic river. I agree especially scenic! I haven’t seen it wild yet but when they get a lot of rain it floods and flows up to 5 ft higher than normal and all the kayakers come out to enjoy. I’d like to see that. I stopped at a bunch of overlooks and took pics. There are lots of guys fly fishing up and down the river.

I was getting hungry so I headed back to camp thinking Mike might just be worrying about me. Absolutely not! He was asleep in the tent!

I had to wake him up to get some money for dinner tickets. Just $10 for ham, macaroni salad, green beans, potato salad, deviled eggs and desert! As I said earlier the proceeds go to the cleanup of Wilson’s Creek! It was so good! I took to much but I’ll eat it in a little while. They have music playing and the sun is out. It doesn’t get much better! We took a little walk to the creek. So relaxing!

The King Bees come on at 6. Mike and I played some cornhole. He won one then I won one. We had to play a couple more then have a playoff. I won of course! 😜

The King Bees are a blues and roots band. They have played with some famous people like B.B. King and Bo Diddley. They played till 10. The girl camping next to us brought us over something that changes the color of the flames of the fire. It was really cool.

We cooked some more foil packs in the grill. We only ate the shrimp ones. We sat by the fire and listened to the band until they finished. It was time for me to go to sleep. Mike of course sat by the fire till who knows when. I’m glad I’m not an insomniac!

Last night wasn’t so cold. I got up pretty early and started packing. Today is Easter and my kids will be home. Mike woke up early and finished loading and off we went.

Really an awesome couple of days. 🐣