Adventures with the Professor

Sunday, we met up with Professor Scott for an off-trail adventure in Nantahala National Forest.  He asked us to keep the location a secret.  We met him in Franklin and followed him into the forest.  We pulled off for a roadside waterfall that was very tall, but also very cluttered.

We continued a little further and pulled off on the side of the road and set off into the woods.  The Professor knew where he was going and soon we came to the first waterfall.  A steep path led down to the base of the upper section.

There was some beautiful mossy rocks growing around the waterfall.

We had to climb back up to the trail and continue down to another equally steep scramble path to the base of the falls.  A few downed trees, but it was otherwise a really beauty.

We had a snack down here and continued down the creek.  There was some semblance of a trail and it was easy to follow, though we had to cross the creek or some tributaries a few times.  In about a mile, we came to a nice lower waterfall.  It was smaller but very nice.

Just a little further past here was a huge rockhouse.  It was lightly raining at this point and it made a nice spot to have lunch.

Then we headed back.  On the hike back, we spotted a nice waterfall on a tributary.

Then we bushwhacked the rest of the way back to the car.  After saying good-bye to Scott, we headed to Lazy Hiker for our second to last night in Franklin for dinner and beer.