Raven Rock State Park - Avents Creek
Sep. 25th, 2021 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flyminion
Today, I did a creek walk on Avents Creek in Raven Rock State Park. I had wanted to go to the mountains this coming week because there is going to be a three-day streak of warm weather with less than a 10% chance of rain Monday-Wednesday, which is pretty rare for late September. Unfortunately, I have a meeting at work on Wednesday, which means I would have to drive back to Raleigh on Tuesday, which means I would only really get to do anything on Monday. I decided that one day of swimming hole action wasn’t worth taking two days of leave, paying for two nights in a hotel, and finding a pet-sitter. Still, I wanted to at least do something creeky this weekend, so Avents Creek was my tenuous consolation prize.A few years ago, I had checked out the rapids Lanier Falls and Fish Traps on the Cape Fear River, as well as Campbell Creek and Little Creek on the south side of the river. The only legit swimming hole I have found in the park thus far is Lanier Falls, which Kevin Adams actually lists in the third edition of his North Carolina Waterfalls book (I guess he has low standards for piedmont waterfalls, if you can call them that, since they are so rare). He also lists a small four-foot waterfall called Jumping Fish Falls on Avents Creek, which is on the north side of the river. I checked out Jumping Fish Falls on an un-blogged trip back in 2017 and found it underwhelming, but I did note that Avents Creek seemed to have some broad pools near the falls that may have been deep enough to be swimming holes. I didn’t explore Avents Creek on that visit because my main objective was to go swimming at Lanier Falls, but I did file it away as something to check out if I got really bored. My plan for today was to take the West Loop Bridal Trail to the point where it crosses the creek at Jumping Fish Falls and follow the creek about half a mile downstream to the confluence with the Cape Fear River before heading back upstream to where it flows under the road (which is about a mile upstream of the river).
I got to the park around 3:30 PM, and it took me about fifteen minutes to hike from the parking lot to the point where the trail crosses the creek at Jumping Fish Falls.
The water had that typical fish-mud smell characteristic of Piedmont creeks and rivers. After the Jumping Fish Falls crossing, the trail followed Avents Creek almost all the way downstream to the river. I followed the trail until it took a 90 degree turn away from the creek and headed off into the woods. At this point, I dropped down to the creek and waded downstream.
Walking the creek was pretty easy in most places because it was wide and flat in this area, and the water was only about eight inches deep. The creek bottom was mostly silt and sand in this area, which I thought I would sink into, but my feet only sank about an inch or two as long as I didn’t walk on my tiptoes. The creek water was cooler than I had anticipated. I didn’t bring my thermometer today, but I would guestimate the water temperature was in the mid 70’s. It didn’t take long to wade to the confluence of the creek with the Cape Fear River.
The river water was noticeably warmer than the creek, probably in the upper 80’s or low 90’s (warmer than the air today). The creek emptied into the river just downstream of the Fish Traps rapid, and just upstream of the Northington Lock and Dam remains, both of which I had checked out in 2016. The river looked higher and muddier today than I had seen it on past visits. Fish Traps was almost entirely submerged (or perhaps I just couldn’t see it for the sun glare).
I waded back upstream and climbed back up to the trail. There was no point in creek-walking back to Jumping Fish Falls since the trail was right next to the creek, and I could see everything. The creek had a few small riffles, but no significant cascades or swimming holes (Jumping Fish Falls being the standard for a “significant” cascade on this creek).
After I got back to Jumping Fish Falls, I entered the creek and creek-walked upstream, as there was no trail along this portion of the creek. The only noteworthy (in the context of Avents Creek) thing I encountered was a small sliding cascade about four feet high that emptied into a small pool with a small overhanging rock slab.
There was a small pothole in the river right side of the cascade.
The rock was actually slick and smooth, and the pool at the bottom seemed to be about four feet deep (which I guestimated from sticking one of my trekking poles in), so one could possibly slide down it. For me, though, my feet would almost already be at the bottom of the slide if I were sitting on top of it.
There was nothing terribly interesting between this point and the road. I did have to content with some deadfall as the creek snaked around some curvy bends.
When I got to the road, I walked under the bridge, which was laden with uninspired graffiti.
I emptied the sand out of my Vibrams next to another small sliding cascade about five feet high just upstream of the bridge, which I had already seen on my 2017 visit.
I then picked up the trail, which basically ran along the road until it cut over to the parking lot. When I got back to my car, I changed into my dry shoes and drove into Lillington to eat at the Country Seat Sports Grille, which is my go-to restaurant after a visit to Raven Rock. I got my usual: the bacon strokeburger (i.e., bacon cheeseburger topped with a fried egg).
In summary, I didn’t find anything noteworthy on Avents Creek, although I wasn’t really expecting to. There were a couple of spots that may have been waist to shoulder deep, but no legit swimming holes. The only significant cascade I found that I had not seen before was the small slide upstream of Jumping Fish Falls, but it wasn't anymore interesting than Jumping Fish Falls or the small cascade at the road bridge. Avents Creek did make for a chill late-afternoon creek walk, which is really all I was hoping for. Of the three creeks I have checked out in Raven Rock (Avents, Campbell, and Little Creek), I would say Campbell Creek is probably the most interesting, which isn’t saying much, but it does at least have a few rock bluffs above it, unlike Avents Creek. I think Fish Creek is the only named creek in the park I haven’t checked out at this point.
