Harper Creek Falls revisited

[flyminion]

I went to Harper Creek Falls today with Miranda. I wasn’t super craving a swimming hole excursion this weekend, as I was still somewhat satiated from last week’s Florida spring trip and kind of wanted to relax at home, but I wanted to take advantage of the dry-ish weather while it was here for the taking. The trend for the previous two years was that early June was nice in the mountains, but then it rained pretty much every subsequent weekend until late July. After making the mistake of passing up the first nice weekend of June last year, I decided not to make the same mistake this year. This was my first time back to Harper Creek Falls since my first visit in 2014. It was pretty much the same as last time, except the bench at the top of the switchbacks at the beginning of the trail was gone, and the ropes on the river-left side of the upper waterfall had all been taken down, which meant I couldn't climb up to the footholds on the river-left side of the falls and jump (that didn't stop me from trying, though). There were some people there who had brought slacklines with them. One of the lines was stretched high above the falls, and they were crossing it with harnesses on when we got there (photo by Miranda):



After watching the guy walk the high slackline, we descended the steep rock face to the water below (second photo by Miranda).



The other slackline the people had brought was only a few feet above the water, which you can see in this picture of me trying unsuccessfully to climb up to the footholds (photo by Miranda):



The people who had been at the high slackline came down to the water and joined some others from their group, and they took turns playing on the lower slackline. They left their lines up after they left (I’m guessing they were camping and coming back the next day), so I tried to get up onto the lower line, but I couldn’t even stand up on it without falling. The water was 67 °F, which is on the warmer side for a Wilson Creek area stream. The weather felt like it was in the mid-70’s to low 80’s, and the sun was in and out of the clouds. The rocks on the river-left side of the upper pool were warm like last time, which was nice for warming up after a swim.

On the way out, I scrambled down a trail to the lower pool to take pictures from that vantage point, since I had neglected to do so on my first trip.

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As I was going down the scramble trail, my right knee started hurting like last week at Alexander Springs (it had gotten better after a couple of days that time, so I didn’t think much of it going into today). While I was taking pictures, a guy who we had earlier seen make an aborted attempt to rappel down the upper waterfall was now playing on the high slackline. You can see him in the background of the above pictures and video. Miranda and I stayed until about 6:30 PM, and it started raining on the hike back. The natural umbrella of the canopy kept us from getting completely soaked.

After we got back to Lenoir and went our separate ways, I went to get pizza at a restaurant in downtown Lenoir, but my pizza was mostly sauce and not much cheese. It was kind of disappointing after the appetite I had worked up.

Based on my first visit, I have regarded Harper Creek Falls as a candidate for the best swimming hole of the Wilson Creek Area, with Upper Creek Falls being its top contender. I suppose that still holds true, although the removal of the ropes at Harper has eliminated any non-sketchy jumping opportunities. There is also a slide, but I think Upper Creek wins in terms of natural water slides. I would say the pools per se at Harper Creek still beat anything else I’ve seen in the Wilson Creek area in terms of size, depth, and water temperature. The lower pool is so big that you could swim laps in it. I’ve had a hike on the back burner for three years that entails starting at North Harper Creek Falls and hiking along the creek all the way down to Harper Creek Falls, although I wouldn’t expect to find any swimming holes that beat this one.