Big Bear Falls

Saturday, we had breakfast and headed to the main entrance for South Mountains State Park to check out the park's new waterfall.  Hiking down High Shoals Falls Loop, we came to Big Bear Trail right before the bridge over Shinny Creek.  It was just a short hike to Big Bear Falls on Shinny Creek.

It's a small waterfall, but very scenic with the huge rocks all around.

There were some nice cascades downstream.

Then we headed back to High Shoals Falls Loop Trail.  A fishing access was just below some nice cascades on Jacob Fork.

At the split, we went left on the loop and passed by the Hugo Rockslide, where part of the mountain washed away during the high winds and rain from Hurricane Hugo.

Soon, the trail crossed Jacob Fork below some scenic cascades that could be considered the lowest part of the waterfall.

With the high water, Jacob Fork was really flowing and all these little cascades were really beautiful.

Climbing up the many stairs, the creek was really raging.  We made it to High Shoals Falls, but it was hard to get a picture with all the mist.

I climbed down below the main viewing deck, but it got harder to see through the fog.

There were some nice cascades above the waterfall as well.

Continuing up, we turned left on Upper Falls Trail and crossed the river.  In high water, the ford was quite difficult and Sandy got her feet wet.  Upper Falls Trail ended and Raven Rock Trail and we went right.  It was still really foggy up here.

Everything was coated in mist and the drops on the end of pine needles were really cool.

There were some reindeer lichen growing here.

Raven Rock Trail eventually came out on a paved road and we followed that past Dogwood Stamp Mountain.  In about a mile, we turned on Fox Trail.  Right near the start was a little picnic area and we stopped for lunch.

Although cloudy up to this point, the clouds started to break while we were eating and we got a pretty nice view.  The trail dropped down and crossed the Nettle Branch at a bridge and then climbed back up.  At Jacob Branch, we turned right and gradually descended to cross the upper portion of Jacob Fork on a bridge.

The trail then climbed back up to Upper Falls Trail.

We took a right and started hiking back towards the start.  In winter, there were a few nice views from the trail.

At High Shoals Falls Loop Trail, we turned left and descended back towards the start.  A short detour on Hemlock Nature Trail led along Jacob Fork River back.

The trail ended back at the parking lot.

Leaving the main area of the park, we stopped at Clear Creek Access again.

It wasn't raining today and we could enjoy our visit a little more.  We hiked up to the lake to take the Lake View Trail around it.

About half-way around the lake was Clear Creek Lake Waterfall.

It's a small waterfall, but made a nice break spot to sit enjoy the sound of falling water.

The trail finished up around the lake back near the parking area.  After finishing our hike, we headed into Morganton.

We got a pizza from Moondog and ate at Catawba Brewing with Alex.