Wilson Creek Gorge - Part 2

[flyminion]

With Hurricane Florence approaching the Carolinas, I was debating on whether or not to stick around or stay with family further inland. The storm would only be tropical storm force by the time it reached Raleigh, but that’s still enough to knock the power out and make the roads impassable. Being the first-world scum that I am, I was worried about being stuck for days without a/c, so I asked off work Thursday and Friday so I could get out of town and stay in Greensboro. On Wednesday, the forecasted track shifted further south, meaning Raleigh would probably not be taking a direct hit after all. I now felt a little silly for requesting time off and leaving town, but since I now had two vacation days, I figured I had to do something to validate taking that time off work. Although there was a hurricane headed toward the coast, today’s forecast for the mountains was 78 °F with only a 20% chance of rain, so I figured it would be a good day to get some last-minute swimming hole action in before the official end of summer. Miranda had been itching to go to a swimming hole all summer and happened to be off work today, and she wanted to go back to Wilson Creek Gorge, since she had lost her camera with the pictures from the last time we went. Our previous visit to Wilson Creek Gorge was in 2016, but we had focused on one small area of a four-mile section of creek. I had also passed through the gorge in 2014 and stopped to take a few pictures during my visit to Harper Creek Falls, but I didn't partake of any of the swimming holes that time.

Miranda and I met up in Lenoir and headed out to Wilson Creek Gorge. It was nowhere near as crowded this time (probably because today was a weekday), and the gravel roads were nowhere near as dusty. It looked like it had rained recently, because the road and ground were damp. We were first going to stop at Razorback, a rapid with a nice swimming hole that I had briefly checked out last time. When we got there, we could see through the trees that the water was higher and rougher than last time. The swimming hole was basically just whitewater today, so we decided to drive upstream and look for a calmer spot.

We drove up the road to Ten Foot Falls, which is the area where we swam last year. This swimming hole has a sliding rapid about 10 feet high that spills into a pool between two sloping rock walls (photos from our 2016 visit):



We could tell the water was higher here today because the waterfall looked lower, and there was way too much whitewater going over it to walk on it like we did last time. We could also see a strip of current going through the river-left side of the pool (the side we were on), but the right side looked calmer. We were able to swim across the current to the calm side of the pool. There was a rope here with a bucket attached, and Miranda used it to climb to the top of the sloped rocks and slide down. She got air before going into the water, and she started freaking out because the impact had caused her waterproof camera case to come open, and she couldn’t find her camera. I was hoping this wasn’t going to be a repeat of the incident earlier this summer at the Wishon Tule slide in California, where a guy lost his GoPro going down a slide, and we were never able to find it. I swam over to where Miranda was. The water was fairly shallow, as the sloped rock continued sloping underwater. I saw something dark on the bottom and picked it up, and it ended up being the camera. It wasn’t waterproof, but the screen was still on. Miranda decided she would set it out to dry.

I used the rope to climb up the rock, and I used the bucket to pour water on a different section of the rock than Miranda had used. I slid down, and Miranda floated through a rapid into the next pool, which had a beach next to it (photos from my 2014 visit):



From here, we decided to walk downstream a little to see what it looked like. I didn't have my camera with me for this part, but here are some photos I took of the same area during my 2014 visit:



We had originally wanted to float downstream and then walk back to the car, but the water was too rough. We climbed up on some rocks to get a better view downstream, but it didn’t look like there were any good swimming holes nearby. We crossed the creek in a fairly shallow area, but the current was pretty strong. Miranda decided to float through a rapid, which I didn’t think was a good idea, but she did it anyway. She went over a small drop and then shot up out of the water like she had hit a rock, and then she got pulled downstream until she grabbed onto a boulder. She made it to shore after she got to a calm spot.

We climbed up to the road and walked back to Ten Foot Falls. We swam, climbed around on the rocks, and slid some more. Three teenagers showed up and got in briefly before chilling on the rocks at the downstream end of the pool. Miranda and I sat on the rocks to dry off a little, and then we went back to the car to check out some of the points of interest (POIs) I had marked from scanning Google Earth that we hadn’t gotten to last time. I was hoping to find an area with a good jump. There was also a place I had seen in 2014 that I had set as my lockscreen wallpaper on my phone, and I was hoping to find that place again.

There was only one POI upstream from where we were, so we went there first. It ended up being a nice-looking slide, but the water looked too rough here for swimming.

Watch on YouTube

Driving back downstream, we saw a stairway access point near a rough-looking stretch of creek, so we went down to check it out. There were a couple of gnarly-looking rapids here with a channel of whitewater between them.

Watch on YouTube

According to American Whitewater, these rapids are called Boatbuster and Thunderhole, both class IV. A couple of kayakers went through the rapids while we were there. Just downstream was a nice cliff area (a Class III rapid called Dental Work, according to American Whitewater), but it didn’t look like there were any good swimming holes or jumping opportunities.



We drove down to the next stairway access point. At the bottom of the stairs, the path forked. I had come down here last time and gone right, but we went left this time and found a swimming hole with an 8-10 foot cliff next to it.

Watch on YouTube

Earlier I had estimated that the water was 67 °F (it felt warmer than 65 but cooler than 70). I changed my guess to 68 °F before taking the temperature, and Miranda guessed 69 °F. She ended up being correct. I got in to check for jumping opportunities, but the water was shallow beneath the cliff. It was only over my head in the middle of the pool. I went to the upstream end of the pool and rode the current down a couple of times, and then we got back in the car and continued downstream.

Miranda saw some big whitewater out the window, so we got out and walked along the road. The creek was about 50-75 feet below the road now, and it looked like there were some nice slides and pools down in the gorge (or would-be nice, if the water were lower). This was just upstream of Razorback. There was a also a nice-looking spot just downstream of Razorback with sloping rock sides similar to the Ten Foot Falls swimming hole, but Miranda didn’t want to stop again, so we kept going. I stopped at the last stairway access to put my dry shoes back on (I had been wearing my Vibrams since we first got into the creek). The creek was uneventful at this access point. One of the kayakers I had seen earlier was taking his boat out here. I changed into my dry shorts and shoes, and then we headed out.

When we left, I thought we had somehow missed the place from my lock screen photo, but after going back and comparing photos, I discovered the lock screen photo was actually the Dental Work rapid. I just hadn't recognized it today because the lighting and water levels were different. Here is a comparison of today's picture with the 2014 lockscreen photo:



So yeah, not a whole lot of new developments for Wilson Creek Gorge. I got a closer look at some places we had bypassed previously, but nothing terribly juicy in terms of new swimming holes. I would like to take a closer look at the areas just upstream and downstream of Razorback in lower water, so that will probably be my main objective for a future visit.
___

Update: I returned for a proper exploration of the Razorback area in 2021. Click here for that trip report.