Devil's Bathtub
Sep. 3rd, 2016 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flyminion
Today, I returned to one of my (formerly?) all-time favorite swimming hole spots: Devil’s Fork near Fort Blackmore, Virginia. Devil’s Fork is a small crystal clear creek that runs along a trail that used to be an old mining railroad. The understory of the forest is covered in ferns and moss. Its main attraction is the Devil’s Bathtub, which is an oval pothole about ten feet deep that has been carved into the rocks, and it is shaped exactly like a bathtub. Just downstream is a larger swimming hole, also about ten feet deep. About a half mile upstream of the bathtub is a 15-20 foot waterfall that spills into Devils Fork from a side tributary (most people don’t see this, or at least they didn’t used to, as they turn back after reaching the bathtub). I had first discovered this area ten years ago in 2006 when I was trying to expand my swimming hole repertoire. At that time, this place was pretty obscure. There were no pictures of it on the internet, and the few sources that did mention it had really vague directions. I didn’t even find it on my first attempt. I first came out here with Miranda (on July 17, 2006, according to the time stamps on the digital photos), and as I recall, we drove all over the place before we even found the parking area, and even then, we couldn’t find the trail because there were several creeks converging on the vicinity, and we couldn’t figure out which one we were supposed to follow, so we gave up for the day. I came back with my brother the next day (I think), and we took an old logging road that we thought was the correct trail to the top of the mountain, and we came out in an area in the middle of the woods with a bunch of abandoned campers and trailers (it looked like something straight out of a Wrong Turn movie). We went back down to the trailhead, and we found a faint path through the weeds that connected to an obvious trail along another creek, and this ended up being the correct trail. When I saw the swimming holes, I immediately fell in love with them for how gorgeous and secluded they were. I came back here with friends numerous times from 2006-2009, and we usually didn’t see anyone else there. We rarely saw one or two other people.Up until 2012, I had only hiked the portion of the trail that goes to Devil’s Bathtub, but the trail is actually a 9-mile loop (7 miles according to the internet, but 9 according to people’s GPS tracks) that connects to the logging road my brother and I had mistakenly taken when we were first searching for the bathtub. My brother and I hiked the entire loop trail in 2012, and that was probably the most godawful hike I have ever done in my life. The trail beyond the bathtub was not maintained at all at that time, so much of the hike consisted of climbing over deadfall and bushwhacking through the forest trying to find the next yellow blaze. We had wanted to save the swimming holes for the end of the hike, so we started off taking the right fork of the loop, which goes straight up the mountain for the first two miles, and it just keeps going up even when you think it could not possibly go any higher. I was worn out by that point, and my hiking boots had rubbed the skin off my heels and pinky toes, but we still had 7 more miles to go. You would think the trail would stay with the ridge after getting to the top, but instead, it crosses through probably eight different hollows, dipping down into each one and coming back up the other side, until finally descending to the tributary of Devil’s Fork that produces the aforementioned waterfall. From there, the trail follows the tributary downstream to the confluence with Devils Fork and becomes the part of the trail with which everyone is familiar. These were literally all the highlights before the final three miles where the trail stays with the creeks:
As we made our final descent to the waterfall tributary, the trail followed the stream from high above, and it looked like there could be swimming holes worth checking out down below, but I was too beat to care at that point. I didn’t even get into the swimming holes on that trip, which is the only time I have ever been out there and not partaken. After the hike was over, we went to Pal’s (a regional fast food chain known for their awesome fries), and I ate a double hamburger and two large orders of fries, and I still felt like I had not even eaten. I will never do the entire loop again, although I was curious to return at some point (after I regrew the epidermis on my feet) and check out the potential swimming holes on the waterfall tributary.
Before today, the last time I went to Devils Bathtub was in 2013 with my friends Mary and Jordan. I can’t remember if this was on a weekend, but there had been about ten other people there, which was not excessive, but kind of unprecedented. Since then, word has apparently gotten out over social media, and the area has become mainstream. There was a news report from last year about the parking area filling up and people parking their cars illegally on private property. Mary had tried to go here in either 2014 or 2015, and there had been a large crowd, so she left in disgust. I had sort of written this place off as a loss after hearing about this, because it is not the type of swimming hole that can accommodate crowds, and part of its charm was that it was so secluded and obscure. Now there are signs everywhere making it easy to find. As bummed as I was to hear what has become of Devil’s Bathtub, I had been watching some youtube videos of people swimming around and going underwater in the pools, which made me want to go back. I had planned on going home to my parents’ house in Virginia this weekend, and I wanted to do two swimming hole treks (Steels Creek being one of them), so I figured a return to Devil’s Fork could be my second. My knees still have not quite forgiven me since Three Forks last month, but I figured they could take two more days of punishment this summer since they are about to have the entire winter to recover. I really need to invest in some trekking poles for next year, though.
I was worried that I might not get a parking spot if I got there too late this morning, so I got up early so I could be there by 11 AM. When I got to the gravel road that leads to the parking area, there were signs pointing the way to Devil’s Bathtub, and there were No Parking signs along most of the road. I didn’t see any cars parked along the road in the legal areas, so I figured that was a good sign. As I approached the parking area, I noticed this sign. Looks like they are trying really hard (in vain) to scare people off.
Calling this a strenuous hike is kind of hilarious. Sure, the whole loop is strenuous, but the part that goes to the bathtub is basically just a two-mile walk with a very slight grade and a bunch of creek crossings. Also, GPS totally works out here if you don’t rely on the internet to load the maps.
The parking lot was pretty full when I got there, but I spotted one space on really steep, uneven ground that I was going to have to do a three-point turn to back into. I had borrowed my step-dad's pickup truck, which has pretty high clearance; otherwise, I would not have been able to pull off parking here. A woman who was getting out of her car next to the space directed me as I backed in. There was a jeep in front of where I was parked, and I made sure I wasn’t blocking it in, but three more vehicles pulled in after I parked, and one of them blocked the jeep in from the other side. I thought about saying something to them, but I figured it wasn’t my problem (although the thought that the jeep owner might return and mistake me for the one who blocked them in niggled me throughout the hike). I mentioned to the woman who helped me park that this place had really blown up in the past couple of years. She said that this was her first time here, and that she had seen it on some “top 10 places to visit” list.
I started down the trail and encountered the parking woman and her friend at the point where the loop forks off in two directions. They were debating on whether to do the whole thing or just do the bathtub portion, and they asked if the long hike was worth it. I told them it wasn’t, in my opinion, but that it had been a while since I was last here, so the trail might be better maintained now that the area is more popular. They were still debating it as I walked off, so I don’t know what they decided to do.
The first significant pool is about halfway to the bathtub, where the creek flows out from between two large rocks. It’s not a very large pool, but it’s about 5-6 feet deep depending on the flow. Since I have been coming here, it has always had one log across it, but today it had three logs. The first picture is from today, and the second is from my first visit back in 2006.
After this point, the geology of the creek changes from relatively flat and stony to a series of pools and cascades that flow over mossy, layered slabs of rock. About another mile upstream is the largest swimming hole on the creek (which some people mistake for the Devil’s Bathtub proper). This pool is crystal clear and about ten feet deep.
I had trouble getting pictures today that did justice to the clarity of the water due to the angle of the sun and the ripples on the water surface, so here is my favorite picture of this pool, which is from my first visit back in 2006:
Just downstream of the pool is a sliding waterfall about 10-15 feet high.
Some sources tote this is a natural water slide, but the moss creates too much friction to slide, so it only works in high flow when the water is forceful enough to push you. I have tried it before, and it was not pleasant due to the bumpy texture.
After passing the pool, which had relatively few people standing around, I went to the bathtub a short distance upstream. There were probably 10-15 people standing around, and I managed to snap a picture with no one in it (save for some kids legs at the top of the waterfall).
Most people stop at the bathtub and turn around, but there is actually a 15-20 foot waterfall another half mile upstream. Well, there are actually two waterfalls at this point, with the main attraction spilling into Devil’s Fork from an unnamed tributary, and the second waterfall a couple hundred feet upstream from this point on Devil’s Fork proper. The latter is lesser known because it is not visible from the trail. The trail actually crosses the creek at the top of the waterfall, and you can see that the creek drops significantly, but you can’t really make out anything else without leaving the trail. As I left Devil’s Bathtub and continued upstream, I got stuck behind a man and two women, one of whom was smoking. Back in the day, you would sometimes see maybe two or three other people at the bathtub and/or downstream pool, but seeing people at the waterfall was unheard of. The crowds definitely thinned out after the bathtub, but there were still about five people at the waterfall when I got there. I decided to continue up the trail so that I could get some solitude. There were red rose petals all over the rocks where the trail crossed the creek above the hidden waterfall. Guess I missed the wedding.
From here, the trail starts up the ridge, away from Devil’s Fork, and goes back down the other side and crosses the tributary that produces the non-hidden waterfall. The trail then continues upstream, climbing higher above the creek, and it eventually switchbacks up the hill to the top of the ridge. I had marked the beginning of the switchbacks as the “point of disinterest” in my GPS (which was working fine, by the way), since I don’t recall there being anything else interesting past this point. The section where the trail parallels the tributary creek was the area I had seen in 2012 that looked like it might have more swimming holes. When I walked this area today, it didn’t look like there was anything interesting down there, but the flow was significantly lower than it had been during the 2012 hike. When I reached the point of disinterest, I decided to continue past it and go up to the top of the ridge, to see if perhaps the creek I was thinking about was in the next hollow. Once the trail reached the top of the ridge, it paralleled the next hollow for a while without descending down into it. Since I don’t recall there being anything interesting where the trail crosses the other hollows, I decided to turn back, but I took a moment to enjoy the tranquility. The only sounds were the breeze and the cicadas. There is no good view from up here; this is as good as it gets:
Before I started back, I turned on my fitness tracker to record my route. I went back down to where the trail crosses the tributary and headed upstream through the creek. My plan was to creek-walk upstream to the point of disinterest, and then creek-walk downstream to the waterfall at the confluence with Devil's Fork. There were a couple of small pools on the upstream hike no more than waist deep.
When I had come down into this hollow from the top of the ridge in 2012, I had first noticed a cliff above the creek before I noticed any potential swimming holes.
Today, when I got to the base of the cliff, the creek split off into two sub-tributaries. I went about 50 feet upstream on both, and both had very low flow and stony beds (unlike the rock slab beds that produce the swimming holes). I decided to head downstream, since the geology looked more promising in that direction. When I got back to the trail crossing, two parents and their kid were crossing the creek. The kid slipped and fell on the wet rocks, but he was fine after a couple of minutes. His mom took his picture while he was sitting on a rock recuperating, and he muttered that she was exploiting his misfortune for a photo opportunity; she didn't deny it. The mom asked if I had done the long part of the loop, and I said I hadn’t today, but I had done it one time before and once was enough. From here I continued downstream through the creek. The creek flowed over gently sloping moss-covered rock slabs for a ways.
It then dropped over a mossy ledge about five feet high.
After this, there was a miniature Devil’s Bathtub less than a foot deep. Isn’t it cute?
The creek then continued down a long mossy chute.
At the end of the chute, the creek spilled into a small pool about 3.5 feet deep.
Shortly after this, I reached the top of the main waterfall. From this vantage point, it looked similar (in shape and height, not backdrop) to one of my favorite waterslides, the Double Barrel Blast at Emerald Pointe in Greensboro, NC. I'm thinking the waterfall would probably be a lot bumpier, though. I’m showing the base pictures here as well, even though I didn’t get down to the bottom of the falls until later in the day.
I didn’t feel like backtracking up the tributary creek, so I started bushwhacking my way upstream along Devil’s Fork from above with the intention of getting to the hidden waterfall, since I did not get a picture of it when I first found my way to the base of it in 2013. On that visit, we had descended from the trail to the base of the tributary waterfall, and I was able to make my way upstream on Devil's Fork from there; I had to climb up some rocks and over a pile of dead logs just downstream of the waterfall to get to the base. The pool at the bottom had been chest deep on that day, but today it was only waist deep. After I bushwhacked down to the pool, I chilled below the waterfall and had a snack.
Rather than climb over the log jam and walk downstream, I decided to climb up the waterfall, since the trail goes across the top. I got up the lower tier fairly easily, since it is covered in moss and has a stair-step configuration. The upper tier was too steep to safely mount, so I had to bushwhack a short distance back to the trail. At today's flow, the upper tier was basically just a wet rock (first photo), but the second photo (taken on the dreadful 2012 hike) shows it at slightly higher flow.
I decided to creek-walk a little ways upstream on Devil’s Fork. There was one pool with about the same surface area as the main swimming hole downstream of the bathtub, but it was only waist deep.
I went back down to the tributary waterfall, and I encountered a younger couple. They asked me about the rest of the loop, and I told them the same thing I had told everyone else. They thanked me for saving them the trouble of taking a pointless six-mile hike, and they walked back down the trail. I took a scramble path down to the base of the waterfall for pictures (and by scramble path, I mean controlled butt slide). The last portion of the path is a steep drop of about ten feet, which I knew from previous visits, but today there was a rope at the steep part, so I used it to climb down. The pool here is about neck deep on me, but I rarely get in since the bathtub and the main swimming hole are better. After taking pictures of the waterfall, I decided to take 30 seconds to scramble back up the scramble trail to avoid more creek walking. When I got back to the bathtub, there were at least 30 people crowded around (mostly younger teenagers), and they had to take turns getting into the bathtub. It’s really only big enough for two people to comfortably get in at a time. It was sort of cool out and I wasn’t breaking a sweat (nor did I have a towel), so I thought swimming would not be ideal, but I can’t go to the Devil’s Bathtub and not get in (except for the 2012 debacle), so I got in briefly and then decided to go back to the big swimming hole, which for some reason had fewer people than the bathtub, despite being larger. After taking a quick dip in the big swimming hole, I headed back to the parking lot and was relieved to find that the truck was still there and intact. Neither of the two cars that had been blocked in earlier were still there. I had to use the 4 wheel drive to get out of the parking space. According to the tracker, I walked 4.7 miles, not counting the initial 3.5 to the top of the ridge. I finished the day off right by spending some quality time with my step-dad at Outback (and macking on a 16 oz prime rib). Normally, it's customary to go to Pal's in Gate City after a Devil's Bathtub trip, but I think I can live with today's exception.
In conclusion, I would say the crowds at Devil’s Bathtub take this place down a few notches. I overheard some people saying that they had driven over three hours to get here. Having to wait my turn to get into Devil’s Bathtub is some bullshit. Standing in line is for water parks, and that’s half the reason I prefer natural swimming holes. This used to be my second favorite swimming hole spot after Upper Creek Falls, but now I’m not even sure if it’s Top 5 material. Fortunately the aesthetics of the area haven’t really suffered yet (aside from the people themselves being eye sores); there was a plastic bottle and a beer can here and there, but the place wasn’t covered in trash like I expected it would be. Someone must have come through and cleaned it recently. One upside to the increased visitation is that the trail is in much better shape, especially beyond the bathtub, although I would personally rather have a rough trail and no crowds. Even though the creeks here aren't very big, I sort of want to explore some of the other creeks not accessible by trail, because it's really hard to find crystal clear streams as unique as these, and I would love to find an obscure swimming hole as pretty as the ones on Devil's Fork.
