Fowler Creek Falls

Sunday morning, we headed to Nantahala National Forest for another difficult waterfall hike.  We parked on Bull Pen Road and hiked Ellicott Rock Trail (#431) into Ellicott Rock Wilderness.

The mountain laurel were really blooming along the trail.

We hiked through a couple rhodoendron tunnels, but they hadn't started flowering yet.

There were some galax blooming.

Partridgeberries were flowering but had not yet produced fruit.

We also saw some fairy wands.

In just over 2 miles, we came to the second left-hand switchback and got off the trail and started bushwhacking down to the creek.  It was very steep through a rhododendron hell.  About half-way down, it opened up a bit.  Still extremely steep but at least we could tell where we were going.  Finally, we came out at the creek below Fowler Creek Falls.

I climbed on the rocks to get a good view of the falls.

It's a real nice waterfall and we knew we wouldn't see anyone else, despite the popularity of the wilderness.

After a break down here, we climbed back up.  We continued on the trail down to Chattooga River and had lunch down here.

Then we made the hike back to Bull Pen Road.

We started making our way back, but stopped for one more waterfall in Pisgah National Forest.  We took Catheys Creek Road up a couple miles and parked along the road.  A short scramble path led down to Catheys Creek Falls.

It's a real nice waterfall and we hadn't made a visit in years.

Just downstream of the falls, the creek drops through a narrow chasm.  I followed a path downstream and scrambled to the base of this scenic drop.

Then we climbed back up to the car.

We headed into Brevard for dinner and got to-go from Hawg Wild and ate at Ecusta Brewing.  Then we headed back to the hotel for the evening.