Whitewater Rafting the French Broad River in Marshall, NC
In the lull after a Class III rapid, while whitewater rafting on Section 9 of the French Broad River, the second oldest river in the United States, our guide, Ethan, pointed up to a tree high on a rock island and said that during Hurricane Helene, he saw the water rise five feet above that tree. I twisted backward in my raft seat to quickly ask, “How did you see it?”
“I came down here because I wanted to see how high the water was rising,” said Ethan. “First, we stood on the train tracks, then we kept climbing higher up as the water rose. I wanted to see it because I knew it would never be that high again.”
The people and the towns in Western North Carolina’s dense mountain regions are rebuilding. The free-spirited towns, built on the grit of mountain dwellers with a hippie spirit, are slowly recovering. Marshall, a whitewater rafting town situated in the Appalachian Mountains and surrounded by Pisgah National Forest, is an example of that.
The community coffee shop, Zuma, was the only lunch spot open on a Monday, and it was full of volunteers in paint clothes wearing T-shirts that read, “Rebuild Marshall.” When we checked into Blue Heron Whitewater Rafting company, Nathan remembered me from my phone call, asking for advice on where to stop for lunch. “How was Zuma’s?” he asked.
The vegetarian chili was perfect. It was my first warm welcome back to Western North Carolina since Hurricane Helene brought catastrophic flooding nearly two years ago. Ironically, it was raining outside.
My 10-year-old daughter had five days of summer left before starting 5th grade on Friday. For summer break, she requested a staycation. She goes to a year-round school, and her last two breaks have been packed with travel, visiting 10 different countries.
This summer, my goal for her was to spend time in nature, near our hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. We played in the rivers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we camped in the woods at Rock Island State Park, she pitched a tent in the backyard and slept with friends, we paddle boarded in waterfalls, and she spent two weeks at forest camp.
Now we were on a road trip to Western North Carolina, visiting mountain towns and having new adventures together.
My last time driving around Asheville, Black Hawk helicopters were dropping supplies in Black Mountain, and intersections were set up with first aid stations. I was driving home, feeling helpless after a weekend trip taking my daughter to tour the College of Charleston. It was a long drive home.
I used to take regular day trips to Asheville for Iyengar Yoga classes, making the swift two-hour drive down Interstate 40 through the Pigeon River Gorge while my kids were in school. Later, when I owned a yoga prop business, my trips took me all over Asheville. I savored my trips up US Hwy 70 along the French Broad River, through Hot Springs and Marshall. Sometimes, I stopped for a mineral soak in Hot Springs. Sometimes I took the top off my Jeep Wrangler to enjoy every breath of mountain air.
As I threw out ideas for our mountain adventure with my 10-year-old daughter, she said, “Mom, let’s not plan too much. And just see where the wind takes us.”
After our five-mile rafting adventure, I asked Ethan about one of my favorite places on the drive between Hot Springs and Marshall, The Laurel River Store. It’s empty now, sitting above the banks of Silver Mine Creek. It was a uniquely unpretentious coffee shop frequented by whitewater rafters and through-hikers on the Appalachian Trail, and full of locally made goods, mountain crafts, knitted hats, and pottery.
Ethan assured me the shop survived the storm. I felt a sense of relief. According to him, the owner, Jemima, chose to close when traffic increased along the otherwise slow route along US Hwy 70, after I-40 washed away.
“She said she would open back up when I-40 opened. But she hasn’t. I think she’s working as a river guide now,” he said. “She just decided to do something different.”
I guess that’s where the wind took her. Or in this case, the water. Some things may never come back after the storm. There were bright signs. And abandoned signs. With a side of acceptance, that some things might never be the same again. I was glad we went.
If you visit Hot Springs (very close to Marshall), plan a soak and lunch at the Spring Creek Tavern. And check out the Appalachian Trail Hikers Resource Guide for Hot Springs. If you visit on a Monday, check in advance to see what’s open.
Glamping in a Creekside Dome Near Asheville, NC
So where did the wind take us? I read an article in Afar magazine about river snorkeling in Brevard, NC, organized by a local scuba diving shop, which inspired this trip. I really wanted to try it! Since becoming a certified scuba diver a week after her 10th birthday, my daughter has already dived in Thailand, St. Lucia, and Dominica. Putting on a thick wetsuit to swim in a cold river for 3 hours looking at small fish in rocks was a hard sell.
Instead, I researched the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail, packed our own scuba masks, and decided to investigate the idea before committing to a tour. She wanted to visit mountain towns, so we searched for a spot near Asheville and near the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail.
There are some wildly fun places to stay around Asheville listed on Airbnb! I have stayed in tiny houses in the woods, a house where you could bring a horse, a rustic cabin in Weaverville, a vintage camper with an outhouse, and now—a glamping dome with a creek beach in Canton.
The scene was set at the end of a dirt road, on someone’s property that had goats, a sweet white dog, and a couple of cats. It was great. When we were leaving, my daughter, who has been to 30 countries, said, “We need to come back to this place.”
- Instagram video of our glamping dome coming soon!
We committed a full day to walking around downtownAsheville, starting with the Early Girl Eatery and Malaprops, the best local bookstore there ever was. We wandered into funky shops full of silly things that made us giggle, bought new school shoes at Tops, snacked at French Broad Chocolate, ate ramen for dinner, and finished off the day with hula hooping in Pritchard Park to live music provided by Asheville Community Hoop and Flow Arts Jam, a weekly event on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:30 till August 25th.
Yes, Asheville. You are still awesome! We did our best to support you and your local businesses. The only thing we missed was the Asheville Pinball Museum. It’s closed on Tuesdays.
River Snorkeling on the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail in Canton, NC
After a chill morning in the clear waters of the creek at our Airbnb, we ventured to Downtown Canton, to find the Blue Ridge River Snorkel Trail on The Pigeon River. I was really winging it here. And hoping for to make an adventure out of my idea to swim in clear river water wearing a scuba mask. At this point in our staycations summer, I was feeling like a fish out of water.
Surrounded by the tourism of Asheville, Canton stays under the radar, and some people don’t want to be noticed. Like The Lunch Box Café. Knowing nothing except I needed to feed my child, I said, “Let’s go there!” We found freshly made chicken nuggets for her and perfect sweet potato fries for me. The waitress tipped us off that The Current Tavern rents tubes we could use for our DIY river snorkel adventure. These are things Google did not tell me! Now our adventure was taking a turn toward fun.
The woman renting the tubes and driving the drop-off van works with the Haywood Waterways Association and told us the best snorkel spots on the tubing route. She’s hoping to create an organized river snorkel tour. She had great tips!
- Watch the Instagram video of us on The Pigeon River in Canton, NC, doing more tubing than snorkeling.
The best part was watching my daughter lead the way to the recommended spots, tie off our tubes, and dive in to be in the middle of a fast-moving river with me, holding on to rocks to anchor ourselves from floating downriver, while we both held our breath under the cold water, looking for river fish, excited to see what we could see.
My three older daughters were too busy to tag along on this trip. But my tag-along daughter, my last M&M in the jar, was an adventure seeker leading the way for us. She vetoed any hiking on this mountain trip, but adventures in water are always a win!
I told her about Sliding Rock in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC, a giant naturally formed rockslide with fast-moving water that ends in a cold plunge pool of clear, cold mountain water. And I asked the waitress at The Lunch Box Café in Canton if it gets busy. She tipped me off again that the high school football coach was taking the team the next day. I made a mental note to go early!
Visiting Sliding Rock in Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC
Trying to go with the flow, the theme my daughter set for this trip, we checked out of our creekside hideaway and started driving toward Sliding Rock in the Pisgah National Forest. Normally, I don’t ask my family to take scenic drives like the Blue Ridge Parkway with me. The roads are windy, people get carsick, and simply looking out the window isn’t that fun for kids. I found this to be true even in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and winding through the Faroe Islands. It is what it is.
However, a beautiful drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway was the only way to get to Sliding Rock and to the town of Brevard, NC. I didn’t realize that until we started driving, or I would have planned to take the top off my Jeep. When we entered the mountains and lost cell service, I reached into my console to retrieve a trusty Sheryl Crow CD I’ve had since college.
I’ll admit, I was only volunteering to slide down a 60-foot slick rock for my child and to make this memory together. I was not looking for a bumpy ride or to risk being the middle-aged woman who landed in nature’s splash pool with a crowd of strangers reacting to seeing me hurt myself.
We got in three great runs sliding down the rock before the football team showed up. The waitress from The Lunch Box Café was right!
Imagine a team of 40 big, rowdy, country, Appalachian football players having the time of their lives in cold mountain water and sliding themselves down the rock like a trail of human toboggans, lacing their limbs together in groups of up to 11 guys. No one was watching me at that point. It was like a tsunami when they landed at the bottom.
By the time we got to downtown Brevard for lunch at 2:30, our options were a soda shop with hot dogs or The Square Root with vegetarian options for me and chicken marsala for my little world traveler. I felt like celebrating. I survived without a scratch.
Two bites into our ice cream from Rocky’s Grill and Soda Shop came the realization: School starts tomorrow. It’s time to start our three-hour drive home, back through the Pisgah National Forest, over to I-40 and down the Pigeon River Gorge. Construction to rebuild this stretch of interstate after Helene means it’s now a two-lane highway, still hugging the mountains and still at risk of rockslides. This time traffic was light.
Soaking up every moment of summer break, we arrived home for dinner, opened Amazon packages with back-to-school supplies, and laid out her new shoes for tomorrow. And went to sleep, with happy mountain hearts. Ready for 5th grade.