2025/03/25 Shake Down Cruise at Lake Blue Ridge

March 24, 2025 Shake Down Cruise

We have been outfitting the van in some very basic ways to make her our own. Being no strangers to small spaces we feel the best way to figure out exactly what we need, and what we don't need, is to go camping with what we have so far and continue our to-do list from there. So off we went on a two night camping trip to a campground located right on Lake Blue Ridge in Georgia, which is only about 40 minutes from our house. 

This is our route from our home in Brasstown to the Morganton Point Campground on Lake Blue Ridge in Georgia

Many of the campsites are waterfront


We arrived at the Morganton Point Campground and found our well appointed site located on a bluff overlooking the lake. Sweet! The parking space and pad are gravel which really cuts down on tracking sand into the van. Hiking trails are limited in this campground and since it's so early in the day we decided to put out our chairs (and inconspicuously lock them to the picnic table) and drive the nearby Benton MacKaye ( https://bmta.org/discover-the-trail/ ) and Shallowford Bridge Rd Loop hike. A good starter hike at a little over 2 miles with an elevation gain of just under 400 feet.

This is the data of our hike from the All Trails app




Driving back to the campground I got us stuck!!  I needed to pull the van over for a quick second and picked the wrong spot. Just beneath the surface of this benign grassy pullover spot was actually muddy red clay. UGH!!! But there are lots of four-wheel drive trucks in these here parts and we were quickly helped out of our predicament by a nice local. Lesson learned!!



Spontaneity is how we roll so when we saw Trackside BBQ on the way back to the campground we pulled right in for some lunch. They had outside seating so Bella got to join us. They brought her ice water and some smoked chicken meat on the house! The Brunswick Stew was quite good.

Mike's Trackside BBQ in Blue Ridge, GA

Mike's serves up so very good Brunswick Stew


Soon after we were back at our site and we properly set up camp. The Travato is a breeze to set up. Back in to the flatest part, put the van in park, put on the emergency break so you can deploy the awning and you're all but done! But while it was a perfectly sunny day with a bluebird sky the wind picked up in the afternoon to 15 to 20 mph so no awning. We enjoyed cocktails and a light dinner in the van followed by a sunset walk on the lakes edge.

An easy one pan meal of chicken breast with mushroom gravy on instant mashed potatoes

Sunset on Lake Blue Ridge, GA

The afterglow of sunset

Our campsite


We got up and made coffee, went for a quick sunrise walk and came back to cook up t some bacon and eggs. After breakfast we decided to head out to the nearby Deadennen Mountain hike also part of the Benton Mackaye trail system. What a hike! Since the trees had not leafed out yet the views were spectacular. Lots of uphill on the way to the top for a total elevation gain of 837 and a distance of 3.33 miles. It was a challenging hike and took us about 3 hours with stops. Temps at night get down into the 40s so we are running out propane set at 60 and settled into bed early to stream a little Boston Legal.



The sunrise is making long shadows of us on the shore

Time for breakfast!









Nothing left to do but have some coffee, pack up, and go home. So far Bella Vato is shaping up to be the perfect camper for us!

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