Little Falls on the Prairie

The second week of October, we headed to the Kansas City area to get waterfalls in Kansas and Missouri, 2 more on the 50 states waterfall challenge.  We got to Kansas City Saturday evening and drove to Topeka.  After checking in to the Hampton Inn, we had sushi for dinner at Mizu and soaked in the hot tub before heading to bed.  Sunday morning, we headed south towards Overbrook, and parked along 129th Street next to the bridge over Camp Creek.  We picked up the Landon Nature Trail and hiked north through a field.  The trail was very overgrown and it was lightly drizzling so we wore water shoes for the short hike.  In about a half mile, there was an old railroad bridge.  Turning left, we followed the creek upstream a short ways to Swissvale Falls.  Despite the rain, the water level was quite low.

The water tumbles about 5 feet over a creek wide ledge.  A bit of fall color was showing to make up for the low water.

After a few pictures, we headed back.

Driving west, our next stop was Pillsbury Crossing Wildlife Area.  Pillsbury Crossing is a low water ford of Deep Creek that is protected as a small nature preserve.  Just downstream of the ford is the waterfall.  The creek drops about 6 feet over a creek wide ledge.  Although not very high, it had much better flow than the previous one.

We forded the creek and found a path to climb down to the base for some pictures.  Spanning the entire creek, Deep Creek Falls was very scenic.

I scrambled up to the very base of the falls to get a panorama of the waterfall.

Then we headed back to the car.

Our next stop was Geary Lake Falls at Geary State Fishing Lake & Wildlife Area.  This one is not a  natural one, it's the outflow from the lake and can dry up completely.  I was concerned there might be no water at all, but we would give it a shot.  We parked at the north end of the lake and hiked across the dam.  It was raining now and the lake was very foggy.

Across the dam, we could hear falling water and took a path right to the top of the falls.  There was definitely some water flow although it was not a torrent.

Continuing on the path led down to creek level and then upstream to the Falls.  It was quite scenic, even in low water.

But the rain started picking up, so we just got a couple pictures and headed back.

Our last waterfall for the day was Prather Creek Falls at Chase State Fishing Lake, about an hour south.  Again, we parked near the dam and then hiked across, following the spillway downstream.  The waterfall has three sections, but unfortunately, there was almost no water flowing.  The middle section is the most scenic if there was decent water flow.

But today, only the lowest section really looked anything like a waterfall.

A bunch of branches and limbs had fallen down here, so we moved them away to get a couple pictures.

Just a little fall color was starting to show.  As we made our way back, we stopped to see some of the wildflowers blooming along the dam.

Smooth sumac, goldenrod and even some azure blue sage were blooming along the dam.

The rain had cleared so we could see the lake well.

Across the dam, we returned to the car.

From here we drove through the cute little town of Cottonwood Falls.

After getting gas, we drove a short ways north to Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.  After getting our passport stamped, we headed out for a hike, hoping to see some bison.  A ranger had indicated that they had been spotted along the Bus Tour Road about a mile or so in.  So we followed that trail towards Windmill Pasture.  There were some blue sage blooming along the trail.

It drizzled a bit at first, but quickly ended.  The prairie was quite beautiful and more hilly than I expected.  We passed a small pond shortly into the hike.

After about 1.5 miles, we saw our first bison - two enormous males grazing off the trail.  One kept an eye on us as we passed, but were otherwise mostly uninterested.

We planned to hike the loop with Davis Trail and maximize our chance of seeing Bison and we saw two right away.  But there were a lot more to come.  After about 2 miles, we came to a large herd right across the trail.  There must have been 40 or more bison here, including a number of calves.

We stopped a safe distance and watched them and got some pictures.  We thought they might eventually move along, but this was not the case.

So after a while, we just turned around as there was no safe way to get past this herd.  Passing the first two bison, one had moved on and the other was resting.

We continued hiking back on the Bus Tour Road.

Just after leaving Windmill Pasture, we turned left on Davis Trail and headed down to a stream crossing.  Just past here, some thistle was blooming and a spotted cucumber beetle was on one of the flowers.

The views of the prairie were just beautiful in the late afternoon light.

At the intersection with Schoolhouse Spur, we turned right and headed to the Lower Fox Creek School.

Built in 1882, this one-room schoolhouse had been restored and was part of the preserve.  Then we took Southwind Nature Trail back towards the visitor center.

Near the end, we spotted a green stink bug.

Southwind Nature Trail ended at the Spring Hill Ranch Complex.  The house was really beautiful and not what I'd expect from a ranch house.

It was built of cottonwood limestone quarried from the Flint Hills.  A beautiful old stone wall ran through the complex.

We walked around the area for a bit and checked out the really impressive 19th century ranch buildings, all built of limestone.

The barn was enormous and even the chicken coops were made of limestone.

We were starting to get hungry at this point, so departed the preserve and headed to Emporia to the Hampton Inn and checked in.  For dinner, we drove into downtown and had dinner at Radius Brewing.  It was a really good dinner and the Octoberfest Ale was delicious.  I was glad to try some Kansas beer.  Then we headed back to the hotel and retired for the evening.

Hiking in Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence had minimal impact in the Triangle area.  And although local parks, state parks, national parks and even national forests were closed, Triangle Land Conservancy did not close their nature preserves.  It was still raining on Sunday, but only lightly, so we took Alex to Horton Grove Nature Preserve, north of Durham.  It rained for most of the hike, but never too hard and the trees absorbed most of it, so we managed to stay mostly dry.  Along Jordan Trail, we spotted a box turtle along the trail.

He didn't seem to mind the rain.  And we made a stop at the farm pond along Sowell Trail.  The water level was up, but it didn't look like any risk of imminent flooding.

In fact, all the trails around the preserve were in good shape and none of the bridges had washed out.  Alex was getting frustrated being stuck inside, so it was nice to get him out for a hike.

Overall, we hiked about 6 miles around the preserve and had a great time despite the dreary weather.

Woods Mountain on Labor Day

Monday morning, I woke up and broke camp and left the Curtis Creek area.  Going east on US-70 to Marion, I took US-225 north to the Woodlawn Work Center where there is a trailhead for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.  Hiking MST westbound, the trail climbed gradually so was hoping it would stay this way.  After about a mile, however, it started to go down for about another mile to cross Toms Creek.

There were a lot of wildflowers blooming along here.  The devil's bite were particularly nice.

In a short ways, the trail then crossed South Fork Toms Creek at a concrete ford.  Not wanting to get my feet wet, I rock hopped a little downstream.  After this point, the trail started heading up very steeply.  With the heat and humidity, it was a brutal climb up.  It leveled off in places, but was all uphill to Woods Mountain.  A very overgrown spur trail led to the summit but there were no views from here.

A lookout tower had once stood here, but now all that's left are the concrete supports.  So I started hiking back down.  Before leaving the area, I wanted to get one more waterfall, so made the short drive to Toms Creek Falls.  Its only half a mile up Falls Branch Trail (#214) to the scenic waterfall.

I climbed around on the rocks to get some photos and then made the short hike back.

It was about a 3 hour drive home from here.

Green Knob and Hickory Branch

Sunday I woke up and had breakfast at camp and didn't have to drive from Curtis Creek.  My first hike was up the very steep Snooks Nose Trail (#211).  I had been up to Snooks Nose before, but this time I wanted to hike all the way up to Green Knob.  The trail is brutally steep, so wanted to knock out the climb first thing in the morning.  But it was still hot and humid before 8 and so the climb up was painful.  In about an hour, I made it to Snooks Nose and stopped for a break.

Snooks Nose looks east so didn't have much in the way of views with the bright sunlight.  The next 2 miles to the parkway were uphill but not nearly so steep.  After a total of about 4 miles, I made it to the end of the trail at Green Knob Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The overlook had great views looking down towards Curtis Creek.

Lots of false sunflower were blooming at the overlook.

Across the road, I picked up Green Knob Trail (#182) and went another half mile up to the summit.  There's a lookout tower here, but it's locked up so couldn't get in.

I did climb the stairs for a view of the Black Mountains hidden behind clouds.

After a snack, I started making my way back.  The views were better from Snooks Nose and I took a photo stop before the super steep downhill began.

Near the end, I got off the trail to find Slick Falls.  It's a tall waterfall, but the banks are so steep and overgrown with rhododendron, I couldn't get a much of a picture.

Back at camp, I had lunch and then started hiking Hickory Branch Trail (#213).  I stopped for some nice cascades along the creek.

After passing the Hickory Branch Falls, the trail crossed Hickory Branch twice and then a tributary.  Just past the last crossing was another waterfall.  Upper Hickory Branch Falls was a nice tiered waterfall, but there were several dead trees lying over it.

After this point, the trail got really steep and headed away from Hickory Branch and ending at Lead Mine Gap Trail (#212).  Going right, the trail became really overgrown and difficult to follow.  So I went the other way for about a mile before turning back.

I was pretty hungry by the time I got back to camp and headed to Las Salsas in Marion for dinner.

Old Fort Hikes

Saturday, I headed out to the mountains for Labor Day Weekend.  Sandy had to work at the last minute, so I went out solo and tried not to get too many waterfalls without her.  I had a reservation for camping at Curtis Creek and didn't want to add too much extra driving so went to Old Fort for my first hike.  Parking at the picnic area, I backtracked to Old US-70 and headed to the eastern trailhead for Point Lookout Trail (#203).  Point Lookout Trail is a paved trail following the old route of US-70 and had nice views of the foothills and Royal Gorge.

In about 2 miles, I reached Point Lookout with a nice long range view towards Old Fort through the gorge.  This was once a popular stopping point along US-70 when it followed this route.

Finishing the trail at the other end, I followed the road towards I-40 and then to the trailhead for Kitsuma Peak trail (#205).  This trail runs right along the interstate then steeply climbs up its namesake via switchbacks.  The summit of Kitsuma Peak is forested but some cliffs on the north side provide nice views towards Asheville and the Black Mountains.

I took a little break here as it had been a steep climb up and enjoyed the views.

After a short rest, I followed Youngs Ridge Trail (#206) back to the Old Fort Picnic Area.

My next stop was the Catawba Falls trailhead.  Being a Saturday on a holiday weekend, the parking area was packed but I found a spot.  I got my stuff together and set off on the trail.  Since the last time I visited, a bridge was built over Catawba River near the start right where the ruins from the hydroelectric station are.

No more rock hopping the river.  It was really crowded at Catawba Falls so I headed steeply up to the upper falls, which is my favorite one.

A few people were swimming here.  One guy climbed part way up the falls and did a headstand - no wonder so many people die at this one.  After some pictures I headed back down.  It was still crowded at Catawba Falls and poor lighting for a picture.

Heading back, I climbed down for one more waterfall, Lower Catawba Falls.

It looked like part of the dam had washed away, but this one was really scenic in higher water.  Then I made the short hike back to the car.

After stopping in Old Fort for dinner, I headed to Curtis Creek to set up camp.  When I arrived, McDowell County Sheriff's Deputies were blocking my site.  Another camper was drinking (no alcohol permitted in Curtis Creek) and being rowdy so I guess they were issuing a citation.  After they left, I was able to set up.  Once the deputies left, the guy cracked another beer and turned up the music on his truck.  And soon enough, US Forest Service Rangers came by again and gave another citation.  Didn't kick them out though.  There was still an hour or so of daylight and I didn't really want to hang around camp with all the drama, so made the short hike to Hickory Branch Falls.

It was very scenic in the evening light.  As the sun began to set, I hiked back to camp and went to sleep.  Fortunately, the rowdy family quieted down after dark.