Ever since we parked the RV under the old trees at Kings Mountain this fall, we have been startled by loud noises, almost like gunshots, at all times of the day and night.  We figured out the source very quickly:  the acorns are attacking.

We usually think of acorns as pretty benevolent things, helpful to chipmunks and squirrels and good for throwing at people on fall hikes.  When you live in a house, you are usually protected from the acorns by layers of insulation and attic.  In the RV, the acorns landing from the great heights of the oak trees around us, are loud enough to make us jump.

When the squirrels run over the branches, the acorns can drop at an alarming rate.  One night it sounded like a hail storm.  We were talking to our neighbor one evening and an acorn fell on his head – and caused a bump!

At the battlefield, we have chestnut oaks, whose acorns are the biggest we have ever seen.  We were sure the acorns falling on the RV had to be chestnut acorns and we were even concerned about damage to the roof or solar panels.  So Tom climbed up on the roof and found out the acorns are on the smallish size, from white oaks.  They sounded bigger!  Of course, white oak acorns are attacking us in a different way as well.  They are like marbles when you walk on them, causing you to slide around while looking suspiciously like a windmill.

People come into the Visitors Center and ask us about the chestnut oak acorns all the time.  We don’t tell them the acorns are attacking:  with rattlesnakes and bears in the park, they have enough to worry about.