Our best (and worst) food, hikes, campsites and souvenirs from Cruising Across Carolina

It was incredible, all of it.

But a few things stood out when photojournalist Travis Long and I stopped to think about some of our most memorable finds from our travels across the state.

Here is a random collection.

Favorite hikes

Travis: Fodder Stack Trail in the Doughton Park Recreation Area off the Blue Ridge Parkway. A less than 2-mile hike that features a rocky ridge surrounded by fields of wildflowers with stunning views and a wild blackberry patch.

Martha: Occoneechee Mountain Loop Trail, a 2.3-mile loop inside Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, Hillsborough. Starts off so close to I-85 you can hear the traffic, but gradually retreats from the road and the noise of life before reaching the summit.

Favorite campsites

Travis: Back Country Camp 47 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park features a challenging 3.2-mile hike rewarded with a rustic pedestrian bridge over Raven Fork and a primitive riverside campsite with 2 fire rings, rock features and trout fishing. Completely isolated from all signs of human life. Don’t even think about getting a cell signal.

Also, Frisco Campground on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Car camping in the sand dunes. A short walk from the beach. Beautiful night sky with little light pollution. Able to hear the ocean at night. Ramp access to the beach. Beach driving requires 4WD-vehicle with reduced tire pressure and an Off Road Vehicle permit.

Martha: Frisco Campground, a site on the high dune that overlooks the ocean in the distance. At night, the light from nearby Hatteras Light sweeps over the tent as you drift off to sleep.

Also, Lake Norman State Park, staying in a vintage trailer at a site designed for a tent. No electricity, but no noise from other people’s machinery, either. Easy walk down to the lake. Feels much farther away from Charlotte than it is.

Favorite eats

Travis: As a vegetarian, finding good food on the road is sometimes a challenge.

▪ Breakfast: Biscuit Head, Asheville. (Three locations). Giant cathead biscuits topped with traditional breakfast favorites or more creative options. Features a handmade jelly and jam bar with dozens of choices.

▪ Lunch: The Bluffs Restaurant on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Like stepping back in time. It is all about the atmosphere. The veggie burger and the collards were decent too.

▪ Dinner: Pangea Tavern next to the Avon Pier. Great seafood selection, full bar and friendly staff. Owner Joe Thompson (known as “the mayor of Avon”) regularly comes out and chats with patrons. He owns the pier as well. I ate the vegan chorizo empanadas and paella the two times I ate there.

Martha:

▪ Breakfast: Small B&B Cafe, Pittsboro. French toast is a house specialty and was so light and fluffy it was like eating slightly syrupy air.

▪ Lunch: Grilled shrimp on the deck at Mermaid’s Island Grill, Holden Beach. Spicy and fresh.

Also had a lot of great salads, including a huge one with homemade dressing at Boondocks Brewing in West Jefferson.

▪ Dinner: Indian food at a table on the street at Chai Pani in downtown Asheville. We had to wait over an hour for a table, but enjoyed walking around the city until it was time to eat. A shrimp dinner at the Rio Grande restaurant in Madison also was a real treat.

▪ Dessert: An alternate name for this travel series could have been “Cruising for Ice Cream Cones,” for the amount and variety of frozen dairy I ate. Favorites were the coffee-chocolate-chunk from McB’s Mercantile in West Jefferson and the brownie fudge sundae from the Ice Cream Shoppe in Statesville.

Best souvenirs

Travis: A metal vanity license plate from the Avon Pier that hangs on my chicken coop in Raleigh; and a tiny pillow filled with Fraser fir needles that hangs from my rearview mirror as an air freshener, bought at the Mount Mitchell State Park gift shop.

Martha: A Mayberry Hotel key fob from the gift shop of the same name in Mount Airy, for room #27, the one Briscoe Darling booked the first time he and the boys came to town. Also, a collection of little stickers from different places I visited that will be affixed to my giant insulated drink cup. Bought a bag of grits from the Old Mill of Guilford in Oak Ridge that taste so much better than what I get at the grocery store it’s like a different food item. Also collected more than four dozen olive shells and a bunch of fossilized sea biscuits on Holden Beach.

Worst souvenirs

Martha: Picked up a nail in my tire in West Jefferson; got a chip in my windshield coming through Shelby; a parking ticket at Holden Beach; and several big bruises from falling backward into a fire pit at Carolina Beach State Park.

Travis: A speeding ticket in Manteo. (Municipal code. Sec. 46-77 states ”No person shall drive a vehicle on any street in the town which is not a part of the state highway system at a speed in excess of 20 miles per hour.”) A tick bite behind my right knee that I picked up somewhere on the Outer Banks, and a lingering poison ivy rash from the Southern Mountains. Just looking at that nasty plant gives me itchy blisters.

Most memorable drive

Travis: U.S. 19 in Soco Gap descending into Cherokee from Maggie Valley. A challenging 5-mile curving descent that requires down-shifting into low gears to keep from burning your brake pads. It starts at the summit where the Blue Ridge Parkway intersects with U.S. 19 and descends into Cherokee’s Wolftown Community. Along the route is Soco Falls, a beautiful underrated waterfall that is a short hike from U.S. 19 featuring makeshift rope guides to navigate to the bottom. On ascent (in the opposite direction) there are two passing lanes to help navigate past slow-moving flatlanders in white Cadillacs with Florida tags.

Martha: The ascent to Mount Mitchell via N.C. Highway 128, for the elevation gain and views you enjoy while listening to a ranger on a static-filled AM station talk about how cool the park is. Any 20 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway when I wasn’t behind a flatlander in a white Cadillac with Florida tags.

Favorite side excursion

Travis: Horseback riding at Smokemont Riding Stables in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. An hour-long loop that fords the Oconaluftee River twice and navigates through a low tunnel. Spectacular during leaf season!

Cruising Across Carolina by the numbers

▪ Six sections of the state, each explored for about a week at a time.

▪ About 600 miles driven exploring each section of the state.

▪ Spent zero nights in conventional hotels.

▪ Visited or passed through about 75 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Our best (and worst) food, hikes, campsites and souvenirs from Cruising Across Carolina."

Martha Quillin

The News & Observer

919-829-8989

Martha Quillin writes about climate change and the environment. She has covered North Carolina news, culture, religion and the military since joining The News & Observer in 1987.