South Mountains Hike

Sunday, we checked out of the hotel and headed to South Mountains State Park to take Harper for another waterfall hike.  After getting our stuff together, we hiked down Hemlock Nature Trail and then took Big Bear Trail.  It ended a short ways at the base of Big Bear Falls on Shinny Creek.

We stopped to get some pictures but soon more people started showing up.

So we hiked back down and took High Shoals Falls Trail up.  The many steps were tough carrying Harper in a backpack but soon I made it to the viewing deck for High Shoals Falls.

The water made a cool breeze that felt really nice.

The trail is closed above the waterfall, so we headed back down and made a stop at a scenic spot along the creek.

Back at the parking lot, I took River Trail to Raven Rock Trail and headed up.  It was quite steep with the humidity.  There was one spot with a nice view.

I went as far as the intersection with Upper Falls Trail and headed back.  I was surprised to see other people making the steep climb up.

As we were leaving the park, we saw several emergency vehicles entering, but I'm not sure what happened.  We drove back as far as Mebane and stopped for dinner at Bright Penny.

Harper Creek Falls

Saturday, we took Harper to see Harper Creek Falls as we recently got the kid carrier backpack to take her on more hikes.  We left early and got to the Harper Creek Trailhead in Wilson Creek around 8 and the parking was already nearly full, mostly campers I imagine so early.  We got Harper in the backpack and headed off on Harper Creek Trail (#260).  Shortly after the split with MST, we took the unmarked trail to Harper Creek Falls.  At the top, I took off the backback and did a trial run down the ropes.  First I went down to the middle section.  It was a little slippery and I didn't feel confident going down with Harper.  But the path leading down to the base wasn't so bad.  The lowest section with the rope was a little slippery but I could secure my feet in a crack going down.  So I went back up to get Harper and we all made it down to the base to see the waterfall.

After getting her back up, I was getting tired so Sandy carried her back.  I took the opportunity to get some pictures of the mushrooms growing along the trail.

With the recent hurricane, the mushrooms were really popping.

I also saw a dark morph eastern tiger swallowtail.

When we got back to the car, there were a lot more cars here.

We continued through Wilson Creek, getting on FR-464 and driving up to the trailhead for North Harper Creek Falls.  Hiking down the trail, I spotted some green elfcup mushrooms that had stained the decaying wood.

We also saw a little red eft cross the trail.

Harper Creek Falls Trail led about a mile to North Harper Creek Trail (#266) where we turned left and headed steeply down, eventually reaching North Harper Creek.  We went downstream a bit and headed out into the creek at the base of Chestnut Cove Branch Falls.

It's actually on North Harper Creek at the confluence with Chestnut Cove Branch.

It's not too exciting, so we continued upstream to the much more scenic North Harper Creek Falls.

There's a nice area at the base where we ate a snack and let Harper splash around a bit.

Wading in the cool water helped me cool off before the steep climb back up carrying Harper.

From here, we left the forest and headed into Morganton for dinner at Las Salsas.  Then we checked into the Comfort Inn and relaxed for the evening.