First part of the trip went smoothly, although we ran into heavy snow just north of spartanburg...then what we did not expect was to be stuck around mile marker 42 on I-26W for 2 hours because of stuck semis. I had almost given up and thought we were going to have to spend the night on the interstate (we came prepared with extra blankets, food, etc just in case) but finally got moving again around 10:45-11PM and cruised the rest of the way. We counted about 42 abandoned around asheville and on the side of I-40 towards maggie valley. Very glad that we were not one of them!
We finally get to the ramada inn around 12:15 and another set-back...their computers didn't have our reservation and they were booked (I was pissed, but at least there were open rooms at the comfort inn, so thats where we headed). Close to 5 hours later we had a room. Sleet had already begun to set in (unfortunately)...
Up early the next morning, took a while to de-ice the car and get out of the parking spot, but no problems getting to the base of the mountain. A cop was there and (as I suspected) only 4wd vehicles were being allowed up. So we park, get all of our stuff together and figure we'd bum a ride off someone up the mountain.
A nice guy named Jason gave us a ride in his truck and we actually made turns with him most of the day since his buddies bailed on him.
Anyways...on to the pics!
the good ole honda got us there safely thank goodness
foggy as crap for the first hour or so of the morning, stuck around the lower half of the mtn a little longer than that
myself and my fiancee, John David
this came in handy:
fog lifting a little & crowds started picking up around 11 (when they started letting all vehicles up the mtn)
a piece of the nice thick crust caused by the sleet
crowds were pretty bad by the time we decided to call it a day around 4PM
on the road again....the roads were just fine the whole way home
Seneca only got a dusting
(this is what was left later this morning, last night we had enough to cover the yard and deck, but not the roads)Conditions were great...but not as great as we were hoping. The sleet the fell caused a nice THICK crust over all of the sweet powder, so untracked snow = a disaster. After a while and more people on the mountain, most of the crust was broken through and pow was thoroughly enjoyed!
