Our second family tent camping trip was to Linville Falls Campground in Linville, NC. We stayed at site 9, which is the covered tent site with water & electricity. Initially, booking a covered site felt a little over the top. However, when a huge storm blew through on our first night, we were extremely thankful to have it!
This trip to the mountains of North Carolina was our big “field trip” to wrap up our Earth Science unit. Our plan was to visit a cave and let the kids do some gem mining.
On the way up, we decided to break up the trip by stopping at a new-to-us state park for lunch. We chose Battle of Musgrove Mill State Historic Site which was right along our route. Musgrove Mill was an important site in the American Revolution. The small visitor’s center has great information on the battle and examples of the solider’s uniforms.
Exploring Linville Falls, North Carolina
Our first morning, we headed just down the road (about 10 minutes) to visit Linville Caverns. The kids loved getting a close-up look at the rock formations. The guide was very knowledgeable and the tour was informative.
Outside the caverns, you can walk down to the river and do lots of exploring! Our kids enjoyed climbing the rocks back up instead of taking the stairs, of course!
After the cave tour, we went back to our campsite for lunch. On this trip, we packed sandwich ingredients and chips to make quick & easy lunches. After lunch, we headed out again, this time to hike to Linville Falls. This was a super easy trail, but also really crowded. The kids enjoyed the hike and seeing the waterfall from a distance.
Back at the campsite that evening, we bought three small bags of “gem mining” rocks from the camp store. The kids were able to sift through and find treasures to bring home. We had planned to visit a place that lets you “mine” from a bucket, but this was much more budget friendly and convenient.
We spent a long time on the campground’s pirate ship playground after gem mining. Then, we headed back to the campsite to have dinner and make s’mores.
Pros & Cons of the Trip
The biggest pro of this whole trip, besides just general *fun* was the bathrooms at the campground. I bet you weren’t expecting that, were you? Linville Falls Campground has the most amazing bathrooms I’ve ever laid eyes on. You feel like you’re in a guest suite at a friend’s home. They are cooled and heated, extremely clean, and private. Each locking bathroom has a shower, toilet, sink, and a large bench to store your items. The bathrooms were just steps away from our site, but we still had plenty of privacy from other campers thanks to the vegetation and fence.
And the biggest con? The temperature! The mountain nights were EXTREMELY cold. We got through it, but it may be a while before we brave the 40s at night again! The kids wound up sleeping in hats, gloves, and sweatshirts on top of pajamas. Certain little people cannot be convinced to get inside their sleeping bags, which makes it difficult to keep as warm as possible!
Back Home Again…
Of course we brought some of our experience back home with us for more learning! After unpacking, the kids grabbed our Rock & Gem Encyclopedia to try and find matches for what they found gem mining.
You can check out our other tent camping adventures here!
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