Upper Whitewater Slot Canyon

Last weekend, Sandy and I headed to the mountains to visit the amazing Upper Whitewater Slot Canyon.  Sandy had to work Friday evening, so we left very early Saturday morning and drove out to the Ingles in Cashiers.  After meeting up with the group, we drove south on NC-107 to Heady Mountain Road and followed this to the end at the bridge over Whitewater River.  We got our stuff together and began our hike into the forest.  Shortly, we came to a dilapidated old house near the river.

Just past here, we got off the trail and started creek walking down to Nasty Falls.

We came out near the top of the waterfall and climbed down a steep rock to the base.  This small waterfall just above the slot canyon has a lot of downfall at the base giving it a nasty look, though I think the name came from the whitewater community.

Then we continued creek walking downstream to the top of Entrance Falls – the beginning of the slot canyon.

Entrance Falls is a series of cascades over pot holes as the river enters the slot canyon.  We had lunch here on the rocks at the rim of the canyon and enjoyed the amazing views.

A very steep and overgrown path led to a perch roughly in the middle of the canyon with views of the beautiful Sculpted Falls.

It was a treacherous overlook, so only stayed here long enough for some pictures, but this could be one of the most beautiful places in the world.  When we were done here, we creek-walked upstream a short ways and got on a trail that headed to the base of the slot canyon.  It was an easy trail at first, but became excessively steep at the end, requiring ropes to get down the steep sections.  The last part was really bad – we had to rappel down an almost vertical wet rock and navigate the tree branches while coming down.  Once down, we were at the base of Exit Falls, the other end of the slot canyon.

We waded and swam in the water here and got some great pictures of this waterfall.  Next, we headed up to the top of Exit Falls.  First, we had to climb through a cave near the base.  It was a little tricky rock scrambling on wet rocks in the dark.  Emerging from the cave, we were now about half-way up Exit Falls.  We had to jump up to an overhanging ledge and climb further up, then come back down to the top of Exit Falls.  Here, we swam around in the water at the slot canyon to view Little Canyon Falls, the last waterfall in the slot canyon.  To view the falls dry, I had to cross the top of Exit Falls and climb up a steep ledge for a view.

We unexpectedly ran into some other people in the slot canyon here.  They were canyoneering and were setting up rappelling gear to go down Exit Falls.  It was quite a surprise to see other people in such a remote location.  From here, we headed back down to the base of Exit Falls and follow a path downstream to Bedrock Betty Falls.

We first came out to the top of the falls, then continued on the path to the base.  We swam around in the pool at the base for a while then started making our way back.

Rather than backtracking, we followed the trail around to avoid the river and canyon on the way back.  We did stop for a little while at an old school bus along the trail.  I have no idea how it got here, but clearly hunters had been using it for target practice.   After some pictures, we headed back to the trailhead.  A few from the group headed home, while the rest of us headed to Ralph Andrews Park on Lake Glenville to camp for the evening.