Bonas Defeat

Friday, Sandy and I headed to the mountains without the dog for a long weekend of hikes that are just too difficult for Alex. We left early and headed to the Grays Ridge Access for Bonas Defeat off NC-281. Here, we met Badger, Kitty, Scott and Mike and began our adventure. The first mile was down a gated road to a picnic area along the Tuckaseegee River. After crossing a bridge, a path led below the bridge and upstream to the confluence with Wolf Creek. Most of the water was coming in from Wolf Creek and we began creekwalking up Tuckaseegee River.

There was a path through the woods on river right to avoid some of the flat water. Soon, it became very rocky as we got closer to the gorge.  When we got to the slot canyon, we would have to find a way around.

There was a steep path through the woods on river right that we could use to go around the slot canyon.  It dropped us off in the river just above it.

Soon we came to Grandmas Kitchen Falls.  The sun was shining right on it so couldn't get a picture, but it was a great place to cool off.  So many potholes.  We climbed up the side of the falls to the top.

From here, we continued scrambling up through the gorge.

At Conundrum Rock, a gigantic boulder in the river, we had to go up through a keyhole on river left side.  It was steep and slippery but we soon made it up.  Continuing up this side of the river, we got back in the river at Talus Cave Falls.

This one was my favorite in the gorge.  There were two streams dropping inside a small cave in the middle of the river.

Just downstream was Grandmas Pantry Falls, but the lighting was really poor.

We continued up through the gorge, passing by an incredible number of potholes.  The hike is only possible because Duke Energy diverts the flow of the river for hydroelectric generation, exposing the river bed.

Natural or not, the riverbed is beautiful and the gorge is an absolute paradise for those who love rock scrambling.  A little further up, we reached Bonas Defeat Falls.

Unfortunately, a tree had fallen over it and the sun was shining on it.  There was a view of the massive Bonas Defeat Wall.  Just a few rock climbers come here due to the difficulty in access.

We scrambled and waded around for a side view of the falls.

And I found a sport for a frontal view, but couldn't avoid the log altogether.

This was our turnaround point and from here we started heading back.  The lighting was a little better at Grandmas Kitchen Falls.

After crossing the bridge, the gated road was all uphill back to the car and much hotter since we weren't wading the river.

After saying good-bye to our friends, we got dinner and drinks at Forks of the River Taproom and Mama Bears Food Truck.  Then we set up camp at Lazy J's and went to bed after a very long day.