Thompson River
May. 31st, 2021 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flyminion
I’ve noticed over the past few years that there’s always a non-rainy window in the North Carolina mountains around the first of June. The Farmer’s Almanac suggested the whole week was going to be dry, so I decided to capitalize on it. As time grew nearer, it looked like only Monday and Tuesday were going to have nice weather, so I decided I would stay in Brevard for a couple of days and then spend the rest of the week chilling at my parents’ house in Virginia.Since the western NC rivers are not rain-swollen right now, I decided it would be a good time to explore one of what I am dubbing the Jocassee Four (the four rivers that drain into Lake Jocassee: the Toxaway, Horsepasture, Thompson, and Whitewater Rivers). Since I would be soloing today’s hike, I decided on the Thompson River, which offers a couple of swimming holes and several waterfalls. The main attraction is Big Falls (which for some reason I always think of as “Thompson Falls”, although I think that is also a recognized name for it). It first got on my radar in 2015 or 2016 when I saw it while perusing Google Earth and thought it looked enormous, but then I found actual photos of it and didn’t think it looked that interesting. However, several North Carolina waterfall connoisseurs including Kevin Adams speak highly of it and say photos don’t do justice to the size. Even so, it still didn't pique my interest until I found out that the long slide at the base ends in a deep pool. In addition to that, the Thompson River has several other waterfalls on the way to Big Falls (Simon Falls, Rich Falls, Standing Stone Falls), with Rich Falls featuring a legit-looking swimming hole. Multiple sources including the third edition of Kevin Adams’ North Carolina Waterfalls book talk about how the hike to Big Falls is a difficult 3.6 miles one way, and that it’s so remote you’ll be spending the night there if you get hurt. I was intimidated by this at first, but it occurred to me that I’ve done worse things over the past few years (there’s no way it could be worse than Curtain Falls), so I figured I’ve got this. Kevin Adams says it’s actually not that hardcore compared to bushwhacks and creek walks, but warns that you will get a workout. My plan was to hike all the way to Big Falls, and hit Rich Falls on the way back. I had no intention of seeing the other waterfalls, since they didn’t look to have good swimming holes, but I figured I might check them out if I had the time and energy.
I ate breakfast at the Sunrise Café in Brevard, and then I drove out to the trailhead. I was worried there might not be enough parking since today is Memorial Day (there’s no lot, so you have to park along the road), but there were only six cars there around 11:15 AM. I guess the Thompson River is more obscure than the Horsepasture River. The air temperature was in the low 60s, and it was a little chilly in shorts and a t-shirt. I wasn’t optimistic that this was going to be a good day for swimming in cold mountain streams, but I decided I should suspend judgment until after I had hiked over three miles and the air temperature had increased by 10 degrees. Most of the hike followed an old logging road and was on the easy end of moderate. When I neared the Thompson River, I could hear an apparent waterfall on a small stream below, and there was an apparent side trail leading down. I assumed this was Reid Branch Falls. I passed it up and decided I would put it in the maybe-pile for the way back. Shortly afterwards, I came to the crossing of the Thompson River, which was smaller than I had envisioned (I was expecting a big wide river, but it was about the size of the Wilson Creek Area streams). There was no way to rock hop across, so I went upstream a short distance on a faint path that gave out after about 50 feet. There were a couple of places I could almost make it across, but the gap between the shore and the first rock on the river left side was a little too wide.
I had marked one point of interest on Google Earth (a potential natural water slide) a few hundred feet upstream that wasn’t mentioned in any of the waterfall gurus' blogs or trip reports. I decided I would try to check it out if it wasn't too much trouble, but before I knew it, I was on my hands and knees crawling through dense rhododendrons. After a short but gnarly bushwhack, I reached the slide.
The slide looked to be about 12-15 feet high, and it came around the corner from upstream, so there may have been more to it than what was visible from the base. It wasn’t very steep though, so I figured it probably wouldn’t be very fast. The pool at the base looked to be about chest deep, but I didn’t get in to check, as it was still cool out, and I wasn’t ready to get wet yet. I was able to rock hop across here, and I found a faint path heading back to the main trail along the river-right side that quickly gave out. Even though this was still mostly a bushwhack, the woods were a lot more open on this side of the river.
Once I got back on the trail, I continued toward Big Falls. I caught obstructed glimpses of Simon Falls and Rich Falls as I passed them from high above. The river stayed loud downstream of Rich Falls but soon dropped out of earshot. I was sort of snoozing and realized I should probably check the GPS to make sure I didn’t overshoot the Big Falls side trail. The GPS indicated I was actually at the side trail now, and I noticed it to my right. I guess it’s noticeable if you’re looking for it, but it’s easy to walk right past it if you’re daydreaming. It’s partially camouflaged by grasses and herbaceous vegetation growing along the edge of the main trail. Today, it was marked by a small piece of flagging tape. The hike up until this point had been pretty easy. I didn’t feel at all like I had hiked three miles, and there was nothing sketchy or technical about it. That was about to change. According to Kevin Adams’ book, the side trail to Big Falls is a little over half a mile. It started off like the trail to California's Seven Falls (pretty much straight down the hill with some slight zigzagging but no real switchbacks, and it was covered in loose dirt and leaves). I used my trekking poles to keep from falling as I scurried down. The second half was even steeper; I would liken it to the climb from Catawba Falls to Upper Catawba Falls, or the trail down to Wolf Creek Falls. I had to put my poles away and basically just hang onto ropes as I went down backwards.
There was a steep rock crevice near the bottom, but I didn’t have any problems with it since I'm pretty tall.
The trail came to the river and followed it upstream a short distance to Big Falls. When I got my first full look at it, my reaction was that it looked about how I would have expected based on pictures. Geologically, it was very similar to Upper Creek Falls, although maybe a little higher. Adding to the similarity was the massive sloping rock face on the river left. The pool at the base was mostly boulder-strewn, but it did look like there was a small deep triangular area on the river-left side with a potential jumping ledge conveniently perched above it.
From my vantage point, the area where one could safely land without hitting a submerged rock looked pretty small in diameter. In pictures, the final section of the falls looked like it might be ideal for sliding, but up close it looked like there were a few notches in the rock that would make sliding painful.
I didn’t feel like getting in the pool and checking the depth because the breeze and spray from the waterfall were chilly, and the water was dark and choppy. The pool just wasn’t very inviting. The big sloping rock face on the other side of the river looked like a nice place to chill, so I took my shoes off and waded across. The water was freezing.
I walked up the rock face to where the vertical cliffs began and got a closer look at the upper portion of the falls.
After returning to the base of the falls, I stood on the potential jump and looked down into the plunge pool.
The ostensibly deep area looked broader from up here. I would have definitely jumped if I weren’t alone and had scoped out the depth.
Here is a video of all the vantage points I recorded of Big Falls:
It was about 2 PM at this point. I figured I would hang around until 2:30 to see if the sun would come out (it was behind clouds about 90% of the time) or if anyone might show up, but neither of those things happened. I kept hearing rumbling, and I wasn't sure if it was thunder or just waterfall noise, but I thought I felt the ground rumble at one point. I did know that I was on the wrong side of the river should the water level suddenly rise, so I crossed back over. The water temperature was 57 °F according to my thermometer. Yeah, no thanks. I’ve passed up nicer swimming holes than this for having water colder than 60 degrees. Now, don’t get me wrong; if it had been a humid 80-degree day and there had been other people there, I totally would have gone in. But there was just nothing appealing about it on a day like today. I had brought a pack of cookie dough Pop Tarts, thinking I would work up enough of an appetite to eat them all before the hike was over, but I wasn’t even hungry yet. I actually hadn’t done much work to get here (gravity had done that for me; all I had to do was not fall), so I didn’t feel like I had earned a treat. I knew climbing back out of here was probably about to change that.
Just before I reached the rock crevice, I noticed a faint path heading upstream beneath the cliffs.
I had no intention of seeing Standing Stone Falls, which is just above Big Falls, but I figured I would see where the side path led. It came out adjacent to the second drop of Big Falls.
It looked like you might be able to work your way along a rock ledge and pull yourself up to get past the falls, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you're on a suicide mission.
I returned to the rock crevice and climbed back up to the main trail. I was hot, sweaty, and breathing hard the whole way up. I normally don’t have to take breaks, but I had to stop and catch my breath by the time I reached the top. Swimming in 57 degree water was now starting to seem more appealing. After I recovered, I headed back to the Rich Falls side trail, which didn’t look any easier than the Big Falls trail. “Why am I doing this again?” I thought to myself as I scurried down, lunging from tree to tree to control my momentum as I basically slid down the hill. This trail was only half as long as the Big Falls trail, but it was almost sketchier because there were no ropes.
Rich Falls looked much more inviting. The waterfall was maybe 30-40 feet high, but it didn’t have as much wind or spray, and the swimming hole was larger. A boulder on the downstream end of the pool offered a potential jump of about 7 feet.
There were some small cliffs along the river-left side, but they were too covered in rhododendron to be serviceable jumps, even if the water was deep enough. There were three women there, and I could see one of them was reading a printout of what appeared to be the Big Falls listing from Kevin Adams’ book. One of them asked if this was my first waterfall of the day, and I said it was my second. I told them Big Falls was my first, and that it had been a workout. They nodded knowingly, insinuating they had been there before. I hoped the water here might be slightly warmer since the pool seemed to be more sun-exposed, but it didn't feel any warmer. I briefly got in and swam up to the waterfall, and slid down the small slide at the base. It was only a few feet long and not very fast. This was enough to dissipate the remaining heat from the Big Falls ascent. I wasn’t feeling putting my head under the cold water, so I didn’t scope the depth or try to jump from the boulder. The temperature was 58 or 59 here (not much of an improvement over Big Falls). It was actually starting to make my muscles cramp up as I swam across the pool. The women left, and I ate two Pop Tarts, which I had now worked up the appetite for.
Even after making my second climb back up to the main trail, I still didn't feel as worn out as I had anticipated, so I decided I would go ahead and check out Simon Falls on the way back. It was another steep descent, but it was even shorter than the one to Rich Falls.
Simon Falls was only about 15 feet high, and its swimming hole was existent but pretty narrow, and that was a damn shame. It looked like a miniature version of Drift Falls on the Horsepasture River. The river-left side of Simon Falls would be an absolutely PERFECT natural waterslide: about twelve feet high, kind of steep, and with a whoop-dee-doo right in the middle.
The only problem is that the plunge pool is so narrow that your momentum would probably cause you to overshoot the deep water and hit the rock face on the opposite side of the river. But if the rock face had only been about ten feet further back, this would be one of the finest natural waterslides in all of Appalachia. For shame.
I returned to the trail and took my shoes off to make the wade where the trail crossed the river. While I had my shoes off, I waded a few yards downstream to a cascade about eight feet high. It had an apparent swimming hole at the bottom, but it was nothing remarkable.
I also checked out Reid Branch Falls on the way back. It was a twin waterfall about 15-20 feet high over a wet cliff painted with neon green moss. For perspective, the front-most boulder at the center base of the falls is about six feet high. The waterfall wasn’t anything remarkable, but the mossy rock face was kind of cool.
At the end of the hike, my fitness tracker said I had gone 9.7 miles (including side paths and scrambles). It really didn’t seem that long, though. When I got back to the car, I drove back to the hotel, showered, and went to dinner. I was originally going to go for pizza, but I opted for pub grub at the last minute due to lack of pizza options open past 9 PM. I put away a tasty bacon cheeseburger and half a plate of bacon cheese fries at Dugan’s Pub. My goal was to eat until I was full of food but not full of regret, and I think I stopped at about the right time. The night is young, though.
In summary, I hesitate to pass judgment about the quality of the Thompson River's swimming holes since today was not a very ideal day for swimming. It was overcast and in the 60’s, and the water was in the upper 50s. I’m not sure if the water was so cold because it’s early in the year, or if it’s always that cold since the river is mostly shaded when it isn’t plunging over waterfalls. As for the hike, this was far from the most difficult hike I’ve ever been on. Most of the hike is on a fairly easy logging road. The only sketchy parts are the side trails (or perhaps I should say "slide" trails) down to the waterfalls. But Kevin Adams is right: you will get a workout. As for the swimming holes, the one at Big Falls does have a potential jump and is backed by one of the larger waterfalls of the region, so I wouldn’t rule out returning to it with company on a nicer day. Big Falls itself didn’t knock my socks off, but I may be a tough crowd after marathoning California swimming holes and Cumberland Plateau plunge waterfalls over the past few years. While not as high as Big Falls, Rich Falls does have a slightly larger swimming hole. I’m still bummed that Simon Falls didn’t have a larger plunge pool, because what an awesome slide it would be if the landing weren’t a doozy. So yeah, the Thompson River makes some decent offerings in terms of swimming holes, but today wasn’t very enjoyable for me (mostly due to the weather). I’m actually planning on checking out more of the Thompson River tomorrow near where it flows into Lake Jocassee. Hopefully the lower elevation there will mean slightly warmer temperatures.
