We hiked along Lost Cove Trail heading downstream along Gragg Prong. In about a half-mile, there was an easy creek crossing and in about a mile, there was a more difficult one that we had to wade. Fortunately, there were big rocks on the other side to sit down and dry off our feet. There was another easy creek crossing just past this one and soon we came out at the top of Upper Waterfall on Gragg Prong.
A large area of exposed bedrock provided a path to walk out next to the waterfall. Although not a large waterfall, the exposed bedrock provided great photo opportunities.
There were a lot of people here, including some camping next to the large pool at the base and quite a few swimming. The waterfall had a few pools in between cascades and a big one at the base. As one man got out of the water, I inquired about how cold it was. He said it was freezing, but his daughter didn’t seem to think so and she was jumping in and out of the pools.
We headed back up to the trail and went down to view the waterfall from across the pool where some folks had set up camp, although the view wasn’t the best from here as much of the waterfall was hidden behind the bedrock.
After this, we continued on the trail stopping at a couple of smaller cascades between the upper and lower waterfalls.
At one spot, there was an area of wet rocks where a large number of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies had congregated.
I guess they were drinking from the wet rock or perhaps there was some food there that I couldn’t see. About a quarter-mile from the Upper Waterfall, we came out at the top of the Lower Waterfall.
Usually, you can’t see much from the top of a waterfall, but this one has a gradual enough slope that the view is quite nice as the water slides down the rock into the gorge below. Sandy thought it would be possible to get down to the base from here. I really wouldn’t recommend that anyone try this, although she did make it to the bottom safely by holding onto a rope. Realizing she would never be able to get back up however, I headed back to the trail and continued a short ways and found a very steep and difficult path to bushwhack down to her at the base of the falls.
We got some pictures from here and then bushwhacked back up to the trail and then made our way back to the car. From here, we continued on the forest road to NC-90 in Edgemont and then got on Brown Mountain Beech Road at Mortimer and drove to the trailhead for Harper Creek Trail (#260). The small roadside parking lot was almost completely full with cars parked along the road as well, but we were able to find a spot and started hiking along the trail. It’s quite steep at first as it leads up to a ridgeline and then levels off when it hits the ridgeline. It’s about about a mile and a half to Harper Creek Falls and we passed Yellow Buck Trail and Raider Camp Trail on the way. Towards the end, the trail follows Harper Creek upstream, passing several great backpacking camping spots. As we approached the waterfall, the main trail split to the right and we took a left on a spur trail that leads to the falls. First we went down a steep section to the base, assisted down the final part by a rope.
There were a lot of people here swimming in the water and hanging out on the rocks. Sandy and I ate lunch and then I waded into the pool to get some pictures. Not surprisingly, the water was extremely cold and although the water looked inviting, I didn’t have a swimsuit or a towel, and the water was too cold for me anyways. After that, we climbed back up to the trail and went towards the top. A thick rope allows visitors to rappel down to the middle of the waterfall. As we were getting ready to go down, another couple with a boxer were also getting ready to go down. The woman went down first and the dog wasted no time, hopped onto the steep rock and somehow managed to get down. After that, Sandy and I headed down.
We got some pictures from the middle portion of the waterfall and then headed back up. I do wonder how that dog managed to get back up as its really steep. We hiked back along the trail and then drove out of the forest to NC-181. We drove south for a few miles to the parking area for Upper Creek Falls, our last waterfall for the day. It started raining, heavily for a minute or two, as we were driving here, but by the time we parked, the rain had stopped. We donned our rain jackets just to be safe and then started hiking down the Upper Creek Falls Trail (#268B). The trail is moderately steep as it descends down via switchbacks to the top of Upper Creek Falls, where we could see over the waterfall and looking upstream, could see some cascades above the falls with rhododendron blooming along the creek.
We rock-hopped across the creek and headed down to the base on the trail.
The water level was fairly high and the rocks were wet, so we couldn’t get too far out in the creek, but still managed to get some good photos from the base as well as a couple other points heading back up.
We then rock-hopped back across and returned to the car, making our way back to the campground for the night.
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