This is the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground in Cruso, North Carolina. For the past few weekends, I've been visiting some of the motorcycle campgrounds in the southern mountains. I first stayed at the Willville Motorcycle Camp in the Meadows of Dan, Virginia. It was excellent, the best that I'd ever stayed in, and I've camped all over the U.S. The owner of the campground, Will Beers, knows how to make riders feel welcome and runs an incredibly clean and friendly camp. He suggested to me that I check out the camp in Cruso - my 'backyard' campground. I stopped by during a ride last weekend to take a look at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground. Invited in by the host, Phil Johnson, I was very impressed with the cleanliness of the site. Lots of shade, small clean cabins scattered around the site, a central bathroom and shower area, a camp cafe and dining area, the office with the big porch out front, complete with rocking chairs, porch swings, a pond, and on and on. The place is great!
That's my site above. The blue cooler was rented at the park office, complete with ice. They have most anything that the camper might need, making it possible to avoid hauling in large bulky items on your bike. The cafe and dining area is in the long white building.

Another view of grassy campsite in the center of the campground.

The shower area and bathrooms are in the building on the right. The group campfire circle can be seen between the two buildings. No individual fires are allowed in the campground, due to the danger of fires escaping into the surrounding Pisgah National Forest.

The office building and several of the small cabins can be seen in the photo above. A small stream, complete with a very healthy population of bullfrogs, runs through the site just beyond the bike in the photo. Inside the office building are a couple of vending machines, a coffee machine, lots of magazines and books (yeah!), and a large room for meetings. A BMW club was meeting at the campground on this weekend.

The trout pond (no fishing allowed!) Bullfrogs love this place!

A popup camper for motorcycles - there were at least two of those in the campground. It's amazing that so much can be packed into such a small package. That's pretty cool!

Another look at the pond and dock.

This was one of my favorite spots in the campground. A sheltered half-ring of porch swings by the pond made a perfect place for sitting out of the sun and swapping biking tales with some of the other riders.

A few of the cabins by the river that runs between the campground and Hwy. 276. The runnng water provides a great aid for deep sleep.

The Big East Fork of the Pigeon River runs right beside the campground. To get a different view of the river, check out these photos from the 'official' Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground website... they were taken during the deluge that hit the valley when Hurricane Ivan passed through a few years ago.

One of the highlights of the weekend was getting to meet this couple that rode up from near Greenville, SC. They are 'regulars' at the campground and were a ball to talk to. That is one heck of a rig that they have - a popup hauled by an immaculate Gold Wing with all the goodies. This is a new world of biking for me and I have to admit, it has its perks.
They had an interesting experience in Maryville, TN a few years ago when a truck hauling liquid soap sprang a leak in front of them. Their bike went down so fast that they didn't even have time to bail. The soap was both good and bad - though it caused the accident, it also kept them from injury by coating them, the bike and the road with a gooey, slippery mess. They had to stand in a car wash afterwards to spray away the goo. The trucking company provided full compensation for the slipup (get it? Slipup...)

The cafe - I had already eaten by the time that supper was served, but the sandwiches sure looked good to me. They post each weekend's menu on the website. Breakfast is also served and its very good. Reasonably priced too...

Good rides start right outside the campground. I highly recommend riding the Hwy. 276/Parkway/Hwy. 215 loop to any rider that is new to the area. It provides a wide range of mountain scenery with fairly light traffic along most of the route.
When I left out this morning, I cut up Hwy. 215, passing beneath the Parkway and dropping down into the valley of the French Broad River. I took the cutoff down into the Charlies Creek region, enjoying the light traffic and twisties as I worked my way over to Wolf Lake and then back to Hwy. 215 in Balsam Grove. From there, I rode back up the Parkway and headed east to Hwy. 276, Brevard, and home.
The scene above is a tree farm in the Charlies Creek region - an area that is very popular with local riders.

An old barn on the tree farm.

I like old buildings - this one was on a tree farm in the Pinhook Valley area off of Hwy. 276.