Drive through Nantahala Gorge

Sunday, we went into town for a great breakfast at Everett Street Diner.  After breakfast, we headed west on US-74 through the Nantahala Gorge.  Our first stop was at the Nantahala Outdoor Center.  We walked across the street and down to Nantahala Falls.

The river release hadn't started and the flow was very low.  It's fun to paddle over when the water is higher but not much of a waterfall.  Then we went back up to the bridge and went down past the railroad tracks.  I think the road is closed and we couldn't make it to Townhouse Falls.

We could get a view of Wesser Falls from just past the bridge.  In the low water, this one looked nicer.

Then we took off and continued up through Nantahala Gorge.  We turned on FR-422/Winding Stairs Road, crossing the twin bridges over the river and then steep, bumpy climb up the road.  It was about 3 miles to a viewpoint of Queens Falls.

The view from the road in summer isn't great and I think all the land is private property.

So we headed back down the mountain and parked at a small area on the other side of the road.  A short trail led up across the railroad tracks and crossed Bartram Trail to Findley Falls.

This small waterfall on Ledbetter Creek is easy to reach, especially with a baby.  All the other waterfalls are much, much harder.

We let Harper crawl around a bit and then headed back.  We continued to Wayah Road and headed up and stopped at a nice drop on Nantahala River.

A fisherman was in the river but it would have been difficult to get down, so we continued to a parking area just a couple hundred feet up the road at the Cascades of Nantahala.

A short paved pathway provided nice views of the cascades.

We then continued to Old River Road and parked at the bridge over Whiteoak Creek.  Heading back across the bridge, Jagged Rock Falls was right across where Old River Road split from Wayah Road.

In low water and summer foliage, it wasn't too impressive but did have a lot of wildflowers blooming around it.

There was some thistle blooming along the river.

We then made the short hike to Whiteoak Falls.

I first climbed up to the pool at the base and rock-hopped out for a picture.  But I liked the view from further downstream better.

Then we headed back and drove just a short ways further up Old River Road to another parking area that was right at the top of Nantahala Cascades.

A short scramble path led down to the base.

It looked like there used to be stone steps but they had washed away.

We got some pictures and then climbed back up.

There were some wildflower blooming along the road here.

Driving back, we made one more stop to see a heron at the top of Whiteoak Falls.

Then we headed back to NOC to get lunch at River's End.  After lunch, we took Needmore Road into Needmore Game Land and turned on Big Dog Road, pulling over in a quarter-mile at the top of Rattlesnake Falls.

I didn't see a reasonable path down to the base and it really didn't seem worth it anyway.

There was some butterfly bush blooming along the road.

Driving back, we stopped at the Needmore Road Suspension Bridge.

There were nice views of Little Tennessee River and the wobbly bridge led to a gravel road on the other side.

Then we headed back to Bryson City and enjoyed the nice hot tub at our cabin.

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.

Elk in the Snow

Monday was out last full day in Franklin.  It snowed a bit overnight, but not too much in Franklin.  We headed north to Cherokee and parked at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Dogs are prohibited on most trails, but allowed on the Oconaluftee River Trail, which is hike 2 for #mst40hike for Alex.

We were fortunate that Cherokee had gotten more snow and there was a large herd of elk in the field.

After some pictures of the elk, we started off on the trail.  The river was very chilly looking in the light snow and ice.

We hiked past the Mountain Farm Museum, which was very scenic in the snow.

Dogs aren't allowed on the farm property, but we had a nice view walking by.

Past the outdoor museum, the trail continued to follow the river and there were a few small cascades.

The MST hike ended at the parkway, but we continued to the end at the park boundary.  On the hike back, we saw some of the elk herd just off the trail.

Alex seemed to be taking a keen interest in the elk, but we kept him and us at a safe distance.

Past the herd, we hiked along the closed Blue Ridge Parkway a short ways.  It was pretty in the snow.

A large flock of dark-eyed juncos were flying around the roadway.

We hiked as far as View Oconaluftee River overlook.  The river wasn't viewable from here, but the snowy mountains were nice.

Then we hiked back to the car.  US-441 was closed beyond Smokemont, but we made a quick stop just up the road before leaving the park.  A short trail led to Mingus Mill, which was beautiful in the snow.

Dogs aren't allowed, so we took turns going out to see the mill.

From here, we left the park and drove through Cherokee to the trailhead for Mingo Falls.

The wooden platform at the end of the trail was icy and rather slippery, but the waterfall was beautiful in high water.

After a few pictures, we headed back.

While in the Cherokee area, we drove down US-19 to the trailhead for Soco Falls.  The view from the overlook wasn't great so we scrambled down to the base.

It was really pretty in the snow.

After a few pictures, we headed back.

On the way back to Franklin, we made a detour through Highlands to see more snow at the higher elevation.  We drove through Cullasaja Gorge heading back and made a quick stop at Dry Falls.

It was scenic in the snow and high water level.  We walked behind and around the falls to get some views.

Then we drove back to Franklin.

For our last night in Franklin, we visited Currahee Brewing one last time.  Alex got one more chance to see Lola.  Then we headed back to Gooder Grove to pack up in the morning.