Then we headed to past Lake Toxaway on NC-281 to the "Little Canada" area. From NC-281, we turned on Charley's Creek Road and drove a short ways to a pulloff on the side of the road. Although Casey indicated that there had been some type of "trail" here, we couldn't see anything that even resembled a trail and so started bushwacking down. When we had almost reached the bottom, we could see that there was some rope buried under the leaves. So there was actually a "trail" here; it was just hard to see any signs of it, since they were buried. Arriving along Sol's Creek, we headed upstream just a bit to reach the Upper Waterfall on Sol's Creek. With the large number of rhododendron along the shore, even hiking up along the creek was challenging even though it wasn't terribly steep. I had worn a shamrock hat to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and planned to wear it all day, but with constantly ducking under trees, rocks, and branches, I decided it was too much trouble and took the hat off. At one point, I tried to climb up a steep section and realized I might fall here. So I let LeAnna get ahead of me, so I wouldn't crash into her again. And sure enough, following her up this part, I slipped and fell back down. But I made it on the second try, and shortly thereafter made it to the falls. This was a very pretty waterfall, probably over 50 feet for the main drop.
And it's possible to climb up on the rocks and get close to the side of the falls.
I put the shamrock hat back on for a shot with the falls and then we made our way back. Climbing back up the mountain was a little easier using the ropes and knowing they were under the leaves made them easier to find. From here, we drove back to NC-281 and headed back towards Lake Toxaway, making a turn on Rock Bridge Road, an old gravel road that leads into Nantahala National Forest. The road dead-ended at Flat Creek and we began hiking from here. We immediately had to cross a creek - there were a couple old logs to walk across the creek, but I opted to wade across, since the logs didn't look very stable. The trail followed an old logging road for a bit, then ducked onto a very primitive trail through dense rhododendrons. After a bit, it came back out on a logging road and started gradually heading downward until there were a couple of switchbacks leading down to Flat Creek. We had two more stream crossings before getting close to the falls. Through the trees, we could see Flat Creek Falls in the distance. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get close enough for a good view of the falls. The water level was much higher and rock-hopping would not have been safe. I tried wading up the creek as far as I could go, but had to stop when I reached a cascade.
So despite all the effort, we weren't able to really see Flat Creek Falls, which is an exceptionally beautiful falls according to Casey. After a few frustrating minutes of trying to figure out a safe way to go further upstream, we gave up and started making the trip back. The uphill portions of the logging road were a little tough after all the hiking and bushwacking this weekend, but we finally made it back to the jeep and began the long ride back home to Raleigh.
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