Independence Day at Sam Branch

Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel and starting heading east.  In Waynesville, we took NC-215 south and parked in a hairpin turn just after Sunburst Falls.  After getting our stuff together, we scrambled up a steep path and followed an old logging grade to Lower Sam Branch Falls.

We crossed at the base of the upper section and got ready to climb further up.

Since we were across, we made a quick stop to see Wash Hollow Falls.

Early in the morning, no one else was here so we could get a couple pictures.

Then we started the steep climb up next to Lower Sam Branch Falls.  A path led up along the waterfall and then turned to the left to climb away from the creek towards Victory Wall.  We got off the trail here and went down to the creek, coming out near this small waterfall.

From here on, the trail was the creek and we had to rock-hop, scramble and wade up the creek.  The only time we got out was to buchwhack around the many small waterfalls.

For a creek walk, it wasn't too bad and the bushwhacking parts were short.

The creek itself is absolutely beautiful was countless waterfalls and little cascades.

Turning around, the view looking away from the creek was beautiful as well.  I bet it's stunning in fall foliage.

The very last bushwhack, we had to get out on river right side to get around one last cascade and then came to the base of Sam Branch Falls.

We had a snack and waited for a cloud for some pictures of the waterfall.

It's a beauty but much of the appeal is the really fun hike to reach out.  After some pictures, we headed back down.  We were able to skip one bushwhack section by staying in the creek.  Back at the bottom, we stopped at the base of Lower Sam Branch Falls.

It had been a while since we visited and much of the logs and downfall at the base had been cleared out by floods I suppose.

Then we hiked back to the car.

From here, we started making our way home on the Blue Ridge Parkway and made a quick stop at East Fork Overlook.

Yellowstone Falls was just barely visible through the foliage far below.

More rosebay rhododendron were blooming near the overlook.  I like them much better when I don't have to bushwhack through them.

There was also a lot of phlox flowering.

After some pictures, we continued on our way home.

Clingmans Dome MST Hike

Sunday, we needed to complete the only hike for #mst40hike that Alex is unable to do.  Heading west from Maggie Valley, we entered Great Smoky Mountains National Park at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.  There was only appeared to be one elk in the field and we weren't going to stop initially, but then realized there were two - a mother with her nursing baby.  So we made a stop to view the baby elk that still had spots, like a fawn.

Then we drove up to the parking lot at Clingmans Dome to do the first MST hike without Alex, since dogs aren't allowed.

Despite bright sun down in the valley, it was very foggy at the top with no views so we got right on the combined MST/Appalachian Trail.

The high elevation forest was really beautiful in the fog.

We followed the combined trail for several miles in the fog with only a few sprinkles here and there.

Some mountain woodsorrel was blooming among the ferns.

We crossed over the summit of Mount Collins and hiked as far as the Fork Ridge Trailhead, where the MST splits from the AT to complete hike 1 and then started making our way back.  Sandy spotted a bird's nest with some babies.

We also saw a cool mushroom on the hike back too.

Although it rained a little, the skies cleared by the time we made it back to the summit.

So we stopped at Clingmans for a couple pictures before returning to the car.  With the clearing weather, it had gotten really crowded up here.

Driving back down US-441, we made a quick stop at Cliff Branch Falls.

It's a small roadside waterfall, but worth a quick stop after the recent rains.

Then we continued back to Maggie Valley.  BearWaters had been really good and close to the hotel, so we stopped there for dinner again and got burgers.  Then we headed back to the hotel to start getting packed up.

Middle Creek Waterfalls

Saturday, we headed to the mountains for the Independence Day weekend.  We took my new car as I wanted to get a good picture out here.  We drove out to Highlands through Cullasaja Gorge and first stopped at Bridal Veil Falls, hands down the best place for a new car picture in NC.

After a couple photos, we continued on NC-107 to near the Georgia state line and parked at a school bus sign.  A thin strip of Nantahala National Forest leads from the road to Middle Creek.  After passing power lines, we turned right on a short path that led to a view of Upper Middle Creek Falls.

It was very foggy and quite a beautiful scene.  The rosebay rhododendron were putting on a show.  Little did we know that they would nearly be the death of us before the hike was over.

We scrambled down to the creek level for some pictures as the sun started breaking through the fog, making a really cool scene.

After some pictures, we headed back to the split and turned right to continue down along Middle Creek.  The trail was overgrown and hard to follow in places, but at least it was a trail.  In a quarter-mile or so, we came to the top of Middle Creek Falls.

There's a huge boulder up at the top and some nice cascades, but no way to get further down.

More rhododendron flowering up here as well.

We backtracked 50 feet or so and continued down to a view point of the main upper drop of the waterfall.

The clouds were cooperating and we could get some nice pictures of this beautiful waterfall.

I scrambled down on the rocks down to creek level for one more shot and then we continued on.

There was essentially no trail further down the creek.  We found a slightly open path through the dense rhododendron and slowly started making our way down.  It took nearly an hour to get down to the very bottom of Middle Creek Falls.  I think there used to be an old logging road around here, but we never found it, just incredibly dense rhododendron.  We creek-walked a ways to avoid some of the worst rhododendron and heard what we thought was the waterfall, but it was not.

This small waterfall was just above our target and I actually liked it better.  More brutal rhododendron and we finally made it to Dome Falls.

It's an interesting waterfall where the water flows over a big rock dome, which splits the flow.

Most of the water was on the river-left side.  There was an island immediately down from the falls, but it was too close to get a picture of the whole thing.

Interesting or not, this was excruciatingly difficult and I would not ever want to return.  Now, we just had to make the climb back up, which was just as miserable.  After a total of almost 8 hours, we made it back to the car.

From here, we drove to Maggie Valley through a big storm.  We checked into Stony Creek Lodge and then went to BearWaters Brewing for dinner.  They had excellent food and good beer.  After dinner, we went back to the room and checked out the swollen creek from the storms.  We took a quick shower and then went to bed after a very long and difficult day.