Harper Creek walk

Today, I hiked to Harper Creek Falls, but instead of taking the trail, I hiked (almost) all the way there through the creek. The forecast for today was dry, but it was unclear if it would be cloudy. I had planned to do this hike if it was clear, but I had another one in mind if it were cloudy. It was overcast in Lenoir this morning, but the hourly forecast was sunny from noon to 2 PM, and then partly cloudy after that. I decided to go ahead and do Harper, since that meant it would be sunny for most of the hike, and late afternoon clouds might dissuade me from staying at the falls too long, since I had to drive back to Raleigh afterwards. This trek seemed ideal for a day where I was either arriving or leaving, because it’s less than a four-hour drive back to Raleigh, and I wasn’t expecting it to be too strenuous since the creek only drops about 100 feet over more than a mile.

I planned to enter the creek at its confluence with Wilson Creek and creek-walk upstream to the primitive campground near the confluence with Raider Camp Creek, where the Harper Creek Trail joins with the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST). On previous visits, I had caught glimpses of several sliding cascades over bedrock slabs on the quarter-mile section of creek just downstream of the falls, which I have never checked out, so I planned to re-enter the creek there and creek-walk the rest of the way to the falls.

( Click here for the full trip report with pictures and videos )

In summary, there are a couple of legit swimming holes (and several pockets of deep water) on the lower section of Harper Creek, but they are all forgettable in comparison to the pair of primo swimming holes at Harper Creek Falls. I'd say the new pools I found today would probably only appeal to fishermen looking for solitude upstream from the commotion of Wilson Creek Gorge.