With the weather cooling off and winter fast approaching, we decided to take a quick backpacking trip over the weekend. We decided we’d hike from Carvers Gap, go in a couple of miles, camp, and turn around and go home the next day.

One thing I was really excited about getting to see was the famous Over Mountain Shelter. I’d seen so many photos from weekend backpackers to thru hikers and since it was so close, we made the stop for lunch there.

The shelter was shut down right before our trip for being structurally unsound but it was still a very nice spot. I was impressed that the privy had such an…open view lol

Once we finished lunch, we continued with no definite destination. Our main goal was just to hike until we found the right designated camping spot (following Leave No Trace Principles of course).

One thing we were worried about after leaving Over mountain shelter was that running water was harder to find. We used the AWOL guide to located existing streams but most of the water sources had dried up. Thankfully there was a flowing stream by the Over mountain Shelter and we’d filled up before continuing on.

We found an absolute amazing campsite for the night that was close to the amazing views above. We set up our Hammocks and took the time to continue a little up trail to enjoy the views for the evening.

That night we had a barred owl couple chattering back and forth which of course was a wonderful break from the silence, but they were definitely close and loud.

The next morning we hiked to the views to watch the sunrise before we turned around and headed back home.

Once we made it back to the car, we decided to drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway to catch some beautiful sunset views.

Below is a sunset taken at Pisgah Inn

For this trip I decided to only bring my film camera.

Camera: Pentax SP II
Lens: 50mm lens
Film: Expired
Developed: The DarkRoom Lab California