Peaks of Otter Waterfalls

Sunday morning, we woke up early and started breaking camp. It had rained heavily overnight, but was dry when we woke up around 7. Unfortunately, it started raining again before we finished breaking camp and everything got thoroughly drenched. From camp, we headed north on the Blue Ridge Parkway a couple miles and stopped at the Flat Top Parking Area at the edge of Peaks of Otter Recreation Area, which is at the other end of the trail we had hiked the day before. It was still raining, though lightly and it seemed that some of the clouds had cleared out. Across the parkway, we got on the Fallingwater Cascades Trail that makes a loop, following Fallingwater Creek for a ways. A sign at the trailhead indicated a bridge over the creek was washed out, so we hiked the trail counterclockwise so we would be able to see the waterfall if the creek was impassable.

In just under a mile, we crossed Fallingwater Creek above the waterfall on a bridge and headed down to the base.

There were some nice patches of fall color visible here, though the color had not yet peaked in this area and visibility was still poor. Fallingwater Cascades was a rather nice waterfall, better than I had expected.

A bunch of fallen logs cluttered the base, but it was still quite scenic, especially with the first signs of fall showing. I think that had it not been a rainy weekend, the waterfall would have been a lot less impressive. Even with all the rain, the waterfall did not have a particularly high flow. After some pictures, we continued on the trail following the creek downstream to the washed-out crossing. I couldn't help but laugh as this was one of the easiest creek crossings I've done.

After crossing, we headed back up to finish off the loop and head back to the parking area. From here, we headed just a few miles north on the Blue Ridge Parkway and parked at Sunset Fields Overlook at mile post 78.4. From here, we got on Apple Orchard Falls Trail (#17) and started the hike down to the waterfall. In about a quarter-mile, the trail crossed the Appalachian Trail and in another half-mile or so, it crosses Cornelius Creek Trail. Shortly after the second intersection, the trail crosses the creek and there was a small scenic cascade over some rocks.

This was not the waterfall, however; it was pretty much the top of Apple Orchard Falls, though we couldn’t see anything from here. We had to hike around and go down a number of wooden stairs and platforms to a nice viewing deck build by the Forest Service. The waterfall is quite big, but not terribly impressive as the water flow was low, even with all the rain this weekend.

We were kind of surprised given all that rain. Down here, however, the foliage was beautiful - the best we had seen all weekend.

Many of the trees had changed and despite the dreary weather, the trees were bursting with bright oranges and reds. Through the colorful trees, mist and clouds were hovering around the surrounding peaks and it was quite beautiful.

After a bit, we started making our way back up. Strangely, it seemed easier than going down and soon we were back at the parking area. From here, we stopped in Bedford to get a late lunch at El Cazador and then made our way home, actually arriving home at a decent hour for once.