Sunday, July 17, 2011

Asheville West KOA Review


Asheville West KOA Kabin
Asheville West KOA Review
309 Wiggins Rd
Candler, NC 28715

So I am on a kick now to take road trips and stop in at KOA’s along the way.  You can rent a cabin, or Kabin as they are called for around $50 a night.  It gave us a chance to get the camping feeling and yet not have to wrestle with a tent.  What is even better is that the cabins have air conditioning and heat.  Most of them seem to have free WiFi and you know that doesn’t hurt either!

Asheville West KOA Kabin

We pulled in to this site in the Blue Ridge Mountains and it was beautiful!  We were greeted and sent round to our cabin to get settled in.  The attendant told us where everything was and mentioned that there was a game room out back.  I groaned silently, but went to peek into it later.  It was actually a game room, you know “no quarters needed”!  There were board games, puzzles,  a tv (with cable), crayons and coloring books, and a book swapping shelf!  

Everything at this campsite was impeccably clean!  The cabins were very near the restrooms, which is important when traveling with little ones!  There was a pool, and nice tot lot playground, lots of trails to walk, a cute camp shop with reasonably priced items.  Oh and good coffee!

Asheville West KOA Kabin
In the center of the ring of cabins there was a shelter that had a stove and sink, where meals can be prepared.  There was also a community campfire ring.  I was all set to start a fire to make smores when a storm came in.  It was not problem though, we sat on the porch swing, while my husband sat on the larger front porch of the Camp Store on the free WiFi to get some work done.  Next we went to the game room and had a very nice evening in there.  

 I loved the way the cabins were laid out too.  My 3 year old could run out the cabin door and there wasn’t too many ways she could get into trouble in the immediate area.  She could run around a bit and still be within my sight line form the porch.  Her favorite thing was the porch swing!  I love traveling with 3 year olds sometimes.  Expensive dinner?  Boring!  Porch Swing?  Best invention ever!  

Asheville West KOA camp kitchen
The campgrounds were quiet and peaceful and there was only one thing that I could complain about.  So here it is, the paper mill!  There is a paper mill nearby and you could smell it, mostly at night. We did run the AC at night just to filter out the smell, even though we really didn’t need it in the cool mountain night.   It wasn’t horrible and didn’t irritate my eyes or anything, but it was bothersome when everything about this mountain getaway was so perfect.  The attendant said that you can only smell it a couple of times a year and then it goes away.  I felt really bad for them at this family owned campground, because it was obvious that they take great pride in their business.

Asheville West KOA Camp Store & Office
The staff were extremely responsive.  We had a wasp starting to build a hive under our porch swing and the maintenance guy came right over to take care of it.  We loved walking the trails in the cool mountain air and watching bunnies from our front porch swing!  We spotted lots of birds too.   I cannot say enough nice things about this place.   We were there in June and it was hot enough to swim at midday and cool enough to warrant a sweater in the evening.

Asheville West KOA Pool
I didn’t get photo’s of the kids playground.  It was really perfect for my 3 year old though.  Little ones do need to be supervised there though as there is a little pond right next to it.  I know that I have been in the south too long because the pond looked exactly like a large alligator hole to me, and I kept catching myself scanning for ‘gators.  Duh, I was in the mountains!  No ‘gators here!  There was an awful lot of poison ivy though, so I would suggest wearing long pants and socks.  The good news is that the cool mountain will make the extra clothing very comfortable.  I wasn’t bothered by a single mosquito the whole time we were there.  I was waiting for them, but I suppose I was just barrowing trouble from my sub tropical home.

Asheville West KOA is less than 15 minutes to Asheville.  We spent a day in this great little artist/hippie town.  It was wonderful!  Great art galleries and restaurants there for sure!  I will be writing about that at a later time!

Asheville West KOA
Oh and they had a large pavilion with a fire place for large gatherings and meetings.  It would be an awesome place for a family reunion!  Even with the stinkie smell, I could have spent a few weeks here.  We had a wonderful visit there and hope to return when the paper mill is blowing the other way.
Asheville West KOA Camp Kitchen

Asheville West KOA  1 of many Trail Heads

Asheville West KOA Walk to the Playground

Asheville West KOA Pool

Asheville West KOA Field

Asheville West KOA

Asheville West KOA Community Camp Kitchen

Asheville West KOA

Asheville West KOA

Asheville West KOA

Asheville West KOA

Asheville West KOA

Asheville West KOA Game Room

Asheville West KOA Game Room

Asheville West KOA Game Room

Asheville West KOA Game Room

Asheville West KOA 

4 comments:

  1. Just booked this place for the weekend and was looking for some good info and pictures. Thanks for helping me feel comfortable with my decision :) Great post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let us know what you thought. I would be interested to know if you could smell the paper mill while you there.

      Delete
  2. So what were the worst times of the year to go to avoid the paper mill smell?

    ReplyDelete
  3. It seems to be random with the wind. I was hoping people would post here there experiences.

    ReplyDelete

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