South Harper Creek Falls

It started raining quite heavily around 2 Sunday morning - heavy enough to wake me up from a dead sleep. By the time we got up in the morning, however, the rain had tapered off. We had breakfast and then headed into the main Wilson Creek area for more hiking and waterfalls. Driving north on NC-181, we made a quick stop at Brown Mountain Overlook. The skies had cleared after the overnight rain, but there were still fog and clouds lingering in the valleys and around mountain peaks. Looking west to the eastern rim of Linville Gorge, Table Rock and Hawksbill Mountain were partially covered in clouds and were quite beautiful.

Similarly, looking east, there were misty clouds all around Chestnut Mountain and Brown Mountain. After a quick stop here, we continued on, heading into the forest on FR 464 and then turning right on FR 58. It was about 4 miles to a parking area at the western trailhead for Harper Creek Trail (#260). We got our stuff ready and started hiking down the trail. In about a mile, we passed a clearing with a view of the Kanawa community and soon came to an intersection.

Turning right leads to Raider Camp Trail, but we went left to stay on Harper Creek Trail towards South Harper Creek Falls. We passed the top of the waterfall and then headed down towards the base, first through some switchbacks, then got off the trail and made the steep scramble down to the base. A couple who were ahead of us strung up rope, which made our descent a little easier. Once at the base, we ate our lunch down here, while the other couple were trying to get photos. Due to the full sun on the open rocks, photography was a little tricky.

After we ate, the gentleman trying to take pictures and I waded and climbed up further to the base of the waterfalls. He was braver than I and brought his DSLR camera; I stuck with the waterproof GoPro.

We got some pictures and videos from here with a good view of the lower section of the waterfall, then headed back down. Once back, the couple headed back up, taking their rope with them. We stayed for a little while longer, enjoying the views, then started heading back up. Even without rope, it wasn't too bad climbing back up to the trail - going up always seems a little easier than going down. Back on Harper Creek Trail, we continued to the split and went straight to get on Raider Camp Trail (#277). Almost immediately, there was a stream crossing over Harper Creek. Before crossing, however, we scrambled upstream a short ways to see a nice cascade on Harper Creek.

In higher water levels, this might be considered a waterfall, but the flow was light today. After a few pictures, we headed back to the creek crossing. I was sure we would have to get wet, but Sandy found a route to rock-hop across. We then followed Raider Camp Trail up a series of switchbacks and took a spur trail to the cliff overlook for South Harper Creek Falls.

This is the only spot where you can see both the upper and lower portions of the waterfall and get a good idea of the complete size of this waterfall. Far below, we could see the rocks at the base where we had eaten lunch. It was a long way down. After enjoying the view for a little while, we made the hike back to our car.

It was still early in the afternoon, so we headed over to the Mortimer Campground and drove to the back for one more short hike. It rained a bit on the ride over, but had stopped by the time we parked. We hiked along Thorps Creek Trail (#279) for less than a quarter-mile to see Thorps Creek Falls.

This is a small, but very scenic waterfall with three distinct drops, followed by a slide that was also split in three.

After stopping here, we made our way back to the car and headed back to NC-181. We got a pizza from the gas station and ate dinner at Brown Mountain Overlook, enjoying the views of the late day sun over Linville Gorge.

When we first arrived, clouds surrounded the distinctive peak of Table Rock. I got some pictures right away; by the time we finished eating, the clouds were gone.

After dinner, we headed back to our campsite for a campfire before bed.

Repeat Adventure

For the Labor Day weekend, Sandy and I headed out to the Wilson Creek area to get some more waterfalls, mostly ones that I already had, but she did not. We left early Saturday morning and started heading west on I-40. We got off the interstate in Morganton and stopped at Subway to pick up a couple footlong subs - our lunch and dinner for the day. Then we continued on NC-181 into the mountains, turning right on Forest Road 982. After about a mile, we crossed Upper Creek and turned left on Forest Road 197. About half-way down this road, we spotted an open campsite and stopped to claim it. This was a lovely campsite across the road from Upper Creek with a decent parking area and a huge open, flat space for tents. It’s one of my favorite primitive camping sites in the forest. Unfortunately, whoever had camped here previously left a huge mess. We were in a hurry, so we set up our tent, and then continued up FR197 to the end. It seems that the Forest Road used to continue a little further, but part of the road washed out so the Forest Service built a jeep mound further back. We parked before the jeep mound and started hiking up road. In about a half-mile, there was another nice campsite and the road becomes more like a trail. Although there are no signs or blazes, I believe that this is Greentown Shortcut Trail (#268A). Although it may be an “official” trail listed on the Forest Service's website, it is clearly not maintained and has become very much overgrown with poison ivy, stinging nettle, and various other plants. And since this trail is not well-used, we also had to make our way through countless spider webs across the trail. The trail is rather scenic as it follows Upper Creek upstream past countless small cascades and tumbles, but we were too busy cutting through spider webs, trying to avoid noxious plants, and swatting at pesky insects to really enjoy the trail. The high temperatures and humidity didn’t make it any easier. The trail also becomes progressively more difficult. Initially, the trail seems to continue following an old and very overgrown logging road, then becomes more of a hiking trail. It becomes ever more steep and narrow and finally near the end, heads up to a ridgeline then back down to creek level, just before crossing over Burnthouse Branch. From here, we made our way through a mess of downed trees and then rock-hopped up to the base of Waterfall on Burnthouse Branch.

Sandy and I had attempted to visit this waterfall on Memorial Day, but were unable to find it. I had come back a few weeks later to get it, and now Sandy has gotten it too.

Good thing, as I was getting a little tired of hiking this very overgrown trail, now on my third time this summer. We climbed up onto some rocks near the base and ate half of our subs for a late lunch while enjoying the view of this waterfall. It’s a rather interesting waterfall. The water flows down a cliff face about 25 feet in two streams and then tumbles under and around a bunch of moss-covered boulders. In a few places, the water appears to be seeping out of the moss.

It’s hard to get a good picture, though. The cliff face that the water flows down is in the shadows while the top of the cliff is in direct sun. I might have to return early in the morning to try and get a better picture.

When we finished eating and getting some pictures, we started making our way back. Fortunately, the hike back gets progressively easier. We had to hike up to the ridgeline at the start, but it was all downhill from there. The trail got less steep and less narrow as we hiked, soon becoming an old logging road and then back to the car. The end of the Forest Road was surprisingly crowded with cars as quite a few families were here, enjoying the nice swimming holes on Upper Creek. We talked to a one man who asked about the waterfall and other swimming holes further up the creek. From here, we passed our campsite and drove back to NC-181, turning left and then an immediate right on Forest Road 228. It’s about 4 miles to the end of this narrow, gravel road. Towards the end, there are a bunch of big primitive campsites that were occupied by a very large number of campers. I’ve never really wanted to camp down here as the sites are just too overcrowded, each with five or six vehicles and probably more than a dozen campers. We parked at the end of the road and hiked along Steels Creek Trail (#237). In a quarter-mile, we came to a creek crossing at a nice swim hole. A guy here used the rope swing to dive into the pool at the base of a cascade. We were hot and sweaty, but the water looked a little shallow for diving. We crossed the creek and turned right on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail where the two trails join together.

The trail dips down to creek level, where we stopped to see some pretty cardinal flowers blooming on the water's edge, then climbs up to a ridge through dense stinging nettle.

We hiked cautiously to avoid any painful contact. Soon we reached the scramble path to Waterfall on Steels Creek. Due to recent rains, the rocks were wet and getting out to a good viewpoint for the waterfall was tricky, so we scrambled down slowly and cautiously.

We got a couple pictures of the waterfall and then made our way back. We were considering trying to figure out how to get to the lower section of the waterfall, but it was getting late in the evening and would likely be dangerous and everything was wet.  As we got back to camp, two Forest Rangers stopped by our campsite. We explained to them that all the garbage was here when we arrived and we promised to clean up as much as we could. Not planning for a litter clean up, we didn’t have many trash bags, but we did try to pick up as much garbage as we could. We built a nice campfire and ate the second half of our subs for dinner before turning in for the night.

Old Rag

Sunday morning, we woke early and broke camp. We were on the road by 8, arriving at the trailhead for Old Rag around 9. Despite our early start, the parking lot was already almost full. Old Rag is a very popular hike! Our initial 7-day admission receipt allowed us to hike Old Rag without paying another fee. From the parking lot, we walked down Nethers Road for just under a mile to the end and got on Ridge Trail to begin our ascent. The Ridge Trail wastes no time in heading up. For a couple of miles, it was switchback after switchback as the trail aggressively headed up the mountain. Although it was still fairly early and not too hot, this portion of the trail was very strenuous and we took several stops to rest and cool off from the humidity. Soon, the densely wooded trail gave way to the rocky open sections that Old Rag is so famous for.

It would be about a mile to the summit and it was almost all rock scrambling. Although the going was slow, this was an exceptionally fun scramble and made the strenuous hike up Ridge Trail all worth it.

We climbed up, over, under, and through the giant boulders and rocky outcrops along Old Rag.

At some points, we had to squeeze through a narrow chasm, at others we had to jump across a ravine. The hike was tremendously fun and very beautiful.

Some of the rocks we navigated around were positioned in such a way as to seem to defy gravity, looking like a giant dinosaur egg perched precariously on the cliff.

Soon, we made it to the summit of Old Rag and stopped here for lunch.

It was a brief lunch, however. Looking to the mountains in the distance, we could see storm clouds rolling in and it seemed likely to rain.

Old Rag is not a great place to be in the rain as wet and slippery rocks would be treacherous. So we quickly ate our lunch and continued on Saddle Trail, down from the summit and past Byrds Nest 1 Shelter and Old Rag Shelter. At Old Rag Shelter, we had a quick bathroom break at the privy and just as we were leaving, it finally started to rain. Fortunately, we were past the steep and rocky sections of the trail and now on an old fire road. In a short ways, we turned right on Weakley Hollow Fire Road and took this back to the trailhead. It rained pretty heavily the whole way back to the parking lot, but I wasn’t going to complain. The weather forecast had indicated rain the entire weekend and this was the first rain we had actually gotten. And hiking on a fire road in the rain isn’t so bad. Rock scrambling and hiking steep, rocky trails in the rain would have been dangerous and we were fortunate to have avoided that. Back at the parking lot, we changed into dry clothes and started making our way home. We stopped for dinner in Richmond at Mexico Restaurant for our usual post-hike dinner of fajitas and Mexican beer and then finished the drive home.

Little Devil Stairs

Saturday morning, we woke up early and started making our way north on Skyline Drive towards the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center. Along the way, we had to stop for some deer crossing the road.

Wildlife crossings are a common sight along Skyline Drive. We arrived at the visitor center and got ready for a short hike to warm up our legs. As we were getting ready, I walked behind the visitor center to enjoy a wonderful view of the valley beyond in the morning light.

Then we got started hiking across the street on Fox Hollow Trail. Initially, the trail passes through an open meadow with Queen Anne’s Lace and Bee Balm blooming.

Then, the trail headed into the woods and down into Fox Hollow.

We made a quick stop at the old cemetery, with graves of soldiers who had fought in the Civil War.

Then, we finished up the short loop back at the visitor center.

We stopped inside briefly and spoke with a couple rangers. After the disappointing waterfall yesterday, we inquired about Lands Run Falls. The rangers suggested that Little Devil Stairs would be more bang for the buck, so we skipped Lands Run Falls and headed towards the parking area for the longer hike. Sandy and I were a little behind the rest of the group driving south on Skyline Drive, when we had to stop suddenly for a bear crossing!

A juvenile black bear darted across the road and was poking around in the woods. I tried to get a picture of him, but he was far enough back in the woods that I couldn’t get a good shot. Then we continued on to the parking lot of Little Devil Stairs near mile post 19 to tell everyone why were late. After getting ready, we started off hiking down Keyser Run Fire Road, where we saw some beautiful wildflowers blooming along the trail and several Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies on the flowers.

At the intersection with Little Devil Stairs Trail, we continued straight on the fire road. In about 2 miles, we came to the Bolen cemetery, a much larger graveyard than the one we had seen previously.

We spent a few minutes browsing the cemetery, taking pictures and checking out the gravestones.

The young ages of many of the deceased were a reminder of how harsh life was in the mountains 100 years ago.

When we finished, we continued on the fire road to the end at a parking area, just outside the park, and got on Little Devil Stairs Trail. Almost immediately, the trail crossed a creek and we stopped here to eat lunch. While eating, we checked out some of the aquatic life that lived in this area. There were crawfish hiding in rocks and a surprising number of fish living in a pool below a small cascade.

Despite being so small, the pool hosted a surprising amount of life. After lunch, we continued on the trail as it ran parallel to Keyser Run heading upstream. The trail was gradual at first, but got more strenuous as we entered the Little Devil Stairs canyon.

The small creek flowed through a gorge with high cliff faces on either side.

Hiking through the gorge required climbing stairs, rock-hopping back and forth across the creek, and a few areas of rock scrambling.

Despite the challenge, the gorge was beautiful, and made for a very enjoyable hike alongside the steep cliffs and cascading creek.

Near the top was a small waterfall.

The twelve-foot waterfall on Little Devil Stairs wasn’t high, though it had much better flow than Overall Run Falls we had seen yesterday. Once at the top, the trail leveled off as it ended back at Keyser Run Fire Road.

A family who were just behind us had been attacked by yellow jackets. Fortunately, Sandy had some hydrocortisone cream in her bag to share with these people to help alleviate their stings. Back at the fire road, we turned right and hiked back to the parking area. We then headed back to camp, but it was still a little early, so Sandy and I headed to Skyline Drive to check out some of the overlooks. We went north and stopped at Rattlesnake Point and Little Devil Stairs overlooks.

From the latter, we could see the gorge that we had hiked through earlier in the day.

There was an old dead tree right at the overlook that looked quite ominous against the storm clouds on the horizon.

We then stopped at Mount Marshall Overlook and Gimlet Ridge Overlook, then started heading back.

Next, we stopped at Little Hogback and Hogback Overlooks, where clouds were rolling in over the mountains.

Back at camp, we ate dinner and then headed south on Skyline Drive. We made a quick stop at the tunnel parking for some pictures of Marys Rock Tunnel and then parked at Little Stony Man Parking.

From the parking lot, we hiked to the Appalachian Trail and turned left to go southbound. At the next intersection, we turned right to hike just a short ways on Passamaquoddy Trail to the Little Stony Man View Point.

Although there were some clouds in the sky, the late evening sunlight was beautiful.

Looking north, we could see Skyline Drive snaking along the ridgeline through the park.

After thirty minutes or so here, we backtracked to the last intersection and followed the AT as it switchbacked up to the top of Little Stony Man for even more phenomenal views.

Our plan was to watch the sunset from here, but clouds on the horizon prevented us from seeing the sunset.

However, before it went completely down, there were great views as the sun dipped behind the clouds before dropping below the horizon. A small pool of water below some rocks here created a beautiful reflection of the evening sky.

Once the sun was no longer visible, we hiked back down to the cars before it got completely dark. We drove back to camp and had a nice campfire, drinking tequila and beer and eating s’mores, before heading to bed.