High and Big Falls

This past weekend, I headed to the mountains to see High Falls on West Fork Tuckaseegee River. August 22 would be the last time this year that Duke Energy would be opening the dam on Lake Glenville for a whitewater release. Sandy had to work this weekend, so I headed out solo. I drove up Friday evening and stayed at the Quality Inn in Sylva, as I wanted to get a quick start in the morning and be there before the dam opened at 10 AM. I had Subway for dinner and saved the second half for lunch the next day. Saturday morning, I checked out of the hotel and headed south on NC-107. Just before Lake Glenville, I turned right on Shoal Creek Road and parked just beyond the gated road, arriving around 830, with plenty of time to make it to the waterfall. This land is private property, but the landowner is kind enough to allow public access to view the beautiful natural resources. After getting my stuff together, I hiked down past the gate and went left at the fork. The trail loops around and then follows West Fork Tuckaseegee River upstream. In about a mile and a half, flagging tape indicated a short spur trail to the right that led to the river. Across the river, Rough Run flowed into West Fork Tuckaseegee River at Rough Run or Thurston Hatcher Falls.

The other side of the river is private property and marked as No Trespassing, so I could only go as far as shore of the river to get a picture of this waterfall. Then, I hopped back across and finished up the trail at the base of High Falls.

It was still another thirty minutes or so before the dam would open, so I took the time to walk around on the rocks at the base of the falls that would soon be completely underwater. There were a couple of cairns right at the base of the falls – they wouldn’t be lasting much longer!

As it got closer to 10, I found a nice big rock to climb up where I would be safe from the rising water and be able to get some good pictures and video. Around 1020, it actually started. I’m not sure how long it takes for the water to get from the lake to the waterfall, but when it started, there was no mistake. First, the top section of the waterfall got huge. Then the lower part started in two sections and finally, the river below the falls began to fill up.

It took a total of about five minutes before the waterfall and river got to their full flow. After getting some pictures and video from the top of the rock, I got back down to the edge of the river and then went up to where the kayakers were putting in. The mist and spray from the falls made it difficult to get pictures. I even climbed up to the middle of the falls, where the spray was overpowering.

I watched some kayakers take off down the now Class V rapids and then made the hike back to the car.

On the way, I stopped quickly at Thurston Hatcher Falls - there would be no crossing the river now. While I was here, I met Tim, who wanted to go to Big Falls on Thompson River afterwards. I never pass up an opportunity for adventure on Thompson River, so we drove over to the trailhead on Brewer Road, just off NC-281. From here, we hiked down the old gated logging road that follows Thompson River downstream. In about a mile, we passed the side trail that leads to High Falls and shortly after that, we had to ford the river. The water level was lower than the last time I was here as there were several exposed rocks sticking out above the surface. Not enough to rock hop though, so we had to wade across. We continued down the path another 2.5 miles to the turn for Big Falls. It’s not terribly obvious, but I spotted the flagging tape and cairn at the turn. From here, it’s a steep climb down to river level. It starts off moderate, but gets steeper and steeper. Ropes tied to trees help with the steepest parts near the end. Once down to the river, we had to go upstream a bit to the base of Big Falls. A downed tree made getting to the base difficult the last time I was here. It appeared that another tree had fallen and it was now near impossible to get through the mess of branches and logs. Instead, we climbed onto some rocks before the trees and were able to climb under them from river level. Now, we could see Big Falls.

This certainly was a day for massive waterfalls. I ate the rest of my Subway and then we waded across the river and climbed onto the big rock on the other side. I went up as high as I could go to view the top of the waterfall up close.

Tim was going to slide down the falls, but ended up changing his mind. The water is mighty cold. So we started making our way back up. It wasn’t too hot, but was extremely humid, which made the climb back up that more difficult. But soon we made it to the top and started hiking back. Although he had talked about it on the way in, Tim was too tired to get any of the other waterfalls along Thompson. He decided to set up his hammock, while I headed down to Waterfall #1 on Thompson River.

I had never been to this one before and for being on Thompson River, it was pretty easy. And it’s a pretty nice waterfall too! I was glad I made the quick detour here. I also saw some tiger swallowtail butterflies puddling along the river bed.

I hiked back up to the main trail and met back up with Tim, resting in his hammock. He packed it back up and we finished the hike back out. Along the way, we ran into some guys who had been looking for White Owl Falls. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the trail to take. We told them how to get to it, but they didn’t want to take the time to get that one. We talked to them along the hike out. Tim headed home and I went into Brevard to stay at the Hampton Inn for the night.