Lake James Catawba River Hike

Monday morning, it was chilly again when we woke up.  I went down to the lake for a view of the sunrise, which was really beautiful.

Then I did a hike around the Mill's Creek Trail.

When I finished, Sandy and Alex had woken up and we broke camp and got ready to leave.  On the drive out, we saw some deer grazing along the road.

We drove over to the Catawba River Access of Lake James State Park, which we hadn't yet visited.  Parking at the visitor center, we first hiked the Lake Channel Overlook Trail past the campground.

At the end, we had nice views of Lake James and Linville Gorge.

Then we hiked back and took Sandy Channel Overlook Trail out to the end.  There was another view of Linville Gorge, but not as good as the other overlook.

We then headed back to the visitor center and took the combined Fishing Pier and Fox Den Loop Trails.

After a stop at the pier, Fox Den Loop made a short loop around the western end of this section of the park.

After finished the loop, we had completed the trail in this section of the park.

We started making our way home, but wanted to get another waterfall on the way.  We went to the town of Granite Falls to the sewer plant and parked in front of the gate to see Granite Falls, the town's namesake.

There was a small viewing platform, so I think it's OK to stop and see the waterfall, but we didn't stay long.

We had barbecue for lunch at City BBQ and then made the drive home.

Wilson Creek Waterfalls

Sunday, we got breakfast in Morganton then headed into the Wilson Creek area up Brown Mountain Beach Road.  In about 3 miles, we pulled off at Ten Foot Falls, a small waterfall on Wilson Creek.

We scrambled down directly across from parking and could see a tributary waterfall.  For a better view, we hiked up the road a short ways past some boulders and then scrambled back down.

With high water and no foliage, this little waterfall was looking pretty nice.

Ten Foot Falls is a small waterfall, more of a rapid, really.  But it made a really nice scene this morning.

Then we continued a little further up the road to where it crosses Harper Creek and parked.  Phillips Branch Trail (#252) started across the bridge.  After about a half-mile, we had a nice winter view of Phillips Branch Falls.

Just past this spot, a steep scramble path led down to the base.  We couldn't see the upper part of falls from down here though.

After some pictures, we headed back.  Our next stop was just up the road at Harper Creek Trailhead.  It was about 1.5 miles to Harper Creek Falls.

There was some common apple moss growing from rocks near the top of the falls.

I was going to go down to the middle section of the falls, but the rock was very wet and slippery from spray, so I opted not too.  I did climb down to the base of the falls.

The water level was high so I didn't wade.  Then we made the hike back.  Sandy spotted some amphibian eggs in a puddle near the trailhead.

From here, we drove up to NC-90 in Mortimer and parked at the picnic area since the campground was closed for the season.  After walking through the campground, we picked up Thorps Creek Trail (#279) to follow the creek upstream.

It was less than a quarter-mile to Thorps Creek Falls.

The waterfall looked nice in high water, but the lighting was poor.

We waited for a while for a cloud, but one never came, so we headed back.

We still had a few more waterfalls in the area, so continued on NC-90 to Anthony Creek Road.  Right before the road crossed Woodruff Branch, we pulled off to see the roadside Woodruff Branch Falls.

A short path on river left led up to the main drop and I climbed down a bit for another view.

Down from the road, there was a nice cascade on Anthony Creek and what looked like a great swimhole if the water was warmed.

We continued another mile or so up the road to Walker Hollow Falls.

It's another little roadside waterfall though rhododendron was blocking the view.

We got a couple pictures and headed back towards Morganton and went to Fonta Flora Brewery for dinner.  After dinner, we headed back to Lake James State Park and stopped near the swim beach for a nice view of the lake.

Back at camp, right around sunset, I went down from our campsite and found a cute little beach.  It was looking the wrong way for sunset, but the sky was really pretty.

We built another big campfire to stay warm and enjoyed the cool night.

Shortoff Mountain

Saturday, we took Alex out to the mountains for a long weekend of camping.  We left early and arrived at the Wolf Pit Trailhead for Linville Gorge before 9, but the parking area was already nearly full.  I was surprised it was so crowded in February, but it was nice weather, albeit a little cold.  Linville Gorge is Alex's favorite place to hike, especially on a cold day.  We set off on the trail and headed up though not too steeply.  There was a little bit of ice on the trail.  After meeting up with Mountains-to-Sea Trail, we started getting some nice views and there were a lot of icicles up here.

With full sun and rising temperatures, the icicles were melting quickly.  Continuing on, we started to get views of the gorge as the trail turned north.

There were great views of Table Rock in the distance.

We went to the last good viewpoint and had a break here.  I think this is one of the best views around and shows the depth of the gorge along with the cool rock formations below the Chimneys.

We had a snack up here and then started making our way back.  There were some more nice icicles to see but I don't think they'll be there much longer.

On the way down, I ran into two backpackers who weren't sure where they were going to camp.  I suggested the spot where we had taken a break as one of the best campsites around and it was still open as of when we left.

There were some nice views of Lake James on the hike down.  I also talked to a guy from Marion about the history of Duke Tobacco and cigarettes.

It was still too early to check in to camp, so we headed up NC-181 to the trailhead for Upper Creek Falls.  We started on the upper section of the trail and descended to the top of the waterfall.  With the water way up, crossing the creek was difficult.  Two other people with dogs managed to get across, but Alex didn't want to, so Sandy took him back to the car.  I waded across to see the waterfall, but the light was poor, too bad since the water level was so high.

I then headed down to the lower crossing, which was even more difficult.  The two guys with dogs gave up and headed back the other way.  I was able to get across and took the switchbacks back up the car.

From here, we went to Carbon City Grill for dinner and then to Lake James to set up camp for the night.  It got rather chilly once the sunset, but we made a nice fire.  Even Alex slept with a blanket to stay warm.