flyminion: (Shine)
Today, I did a river walk around the entire Babel Tower peninsula in Linville Gorge with my brother, Brian, and his girlfriend, Rachel. We had scouted the river downstream of Babel Tower to the Devil’s Hole Trail in winter of 2021, and I had river-walked upstream of Babel Tower in summer of 2022, but I had yet to explore the section of the river that rounds the Babel Tower peninsula. There is no trail along that section, so it’s only "safe" to attempt in summer temperatures when the water is low. This was the perfect time to do it, because we are currently in a drought with single-digit rain chances. As with my previous Linville Gorge entries, all rapid names are per American Whitewater and A Wet State.

I got a sneak peak at this section of the river during my first visit to Babel Tower Falls in 2017 with my friend Ty. I wandered about a quarter-mile downstream, but he was waiting for me back at the main swimming hole, so I turned back at a rapid called Nowhere to Run, where the river flowed through a 250-foot-long channel with near-vertical cliffs on both sides. It looked like passing through this area might involve a full body swim, which would be problematic with a backpack. I bought a smaller mesh backpack last year with this specific excursion in mind (but also in anticipation of some Yuba River tubing in California that didn’t come to fruition), and this was my first time getting to use it. I brought a Ziploc bag for my socks, so the only things I needed to keep dry were my hiking boots, and I figured I could hold them above my head if there were any mandatory swims. I thought my snorkel might poke a hole in my bag, so I only brought my diving mask (so all mentions of me "snorkeling" don’t actually involve a snorkel).

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

In summary, this section of the gorge had a little more going on than I thought. We found several legit swimming holes, some with low jumps (or maybe higher ones if you’re confident with precision landings). The most significant pools were Used to be a Portage, Sweet Shoulder Boof, Up Against the Wall, and Nowhere to Run. I didn’t spend much time scoping out the latter two, especially Nowhere to Run, but that one is relatively easy to reach from Babel Tower Falls, so I could possibly explore it further on a future excursion. None of today’s new swimming holes usurped the ones on my Linville Gorge top 3 list (Cathedral, Bob Ross Gorge, and Cave Falls), but this was a very scenic river walk, and I would say it’s the most rugged section of the gorge floor that I’ve seen so far.
flyminion: (Shine)
Today, I checked out the waterfalls on the Tuckasegee River in Panthertown Valley in the Nantahala National Forest. This area had been on my back burner since the third edition of Kevin Adams’ North Carolina Waterfalls book came out in 2016. The state is currently experiencing an uncharacteristically long stretch of dry weather, and the rivers in the southwestern part of the state are very low, which opens up some of the larger ones for swimming. I had wanted to take advantage of this by checking out some new spots on the Horsepasture River, but they were too secluded to check out safely, and I couldn’t rope anyone into going with me. I thought about revisiting the touristy parts of the river, but I felt like I should check out something new, so Panthertown it was.

Panthertown Valley has over ten waterfalls, so today I planned to hike downstream along the Tuckasegee River and check out Warden, Jawbone, Riding Ford, Elbow, and Red Butt Falls. A sixth waterfall, Lichen Falls, spills into the river from a small tributary stream about half a mile downstream of Red Butt Falls and is only accessible by creek-walking or bushwhacking. Jawbone Falls was the only one on today’s agenda with a guaranteed swimming hole, but Elbow Falls looked like it might also have a small one. Panthertown’s most popular waterfall, Schoolhouse Falls on Greenland Creek, was only a quarter-mile detour from my route, so I planned to check it out as well, as it was unclear from pictures if the pool at its base was deep enough to be a swimming hole.

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In summary, I wasn’t really blown away by any of the waterfalls or swimming holes today. I thought they were all kind of mid, as the kids say, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be Warden Falls, which I would not have expected. It was the second best waterfall and the overall nicest spot, since it had a legit swimming hole. The best waterfall per se was probably Jawbone Falls, but its swimming hole was disappointing due to the underwater clutter and lack of flat rocks for lounging. The middle portion of Red Butt Falls passes with a C- for a legit water slide. It wasn’t very fast or steep, but it offered a good 10-15 feet of smooth sliding. I’m not sure I would make a special trip to check out the rest of the Panthertown waterfalls, but I might consider returning to tie up loose ends if I happen to be in the area and need a filler excursion. It might have to be on a day with subpar weather, though, because I kind of regretted passing up a sunny, low-flow day at the Horsepasture River for this.
flyminion: (Turtle)
Today, I returned to Lost Cove Creek for the first time since 2015 to explore the area downstream of Hunt Fish Falls. The last time I visited, I did it as part of a combined hike with the waterfalls of Gragg Prong (a tributary whose confluence is a little less than a mile downstream of Hunt Fish) along the Mountains to Sea Trail (MST). I didn’t check out any other areas of Lost Cove Creek because I assumed Hunt Fish Falls was its only point of interest. However, when I was swimming at Gragg Prong on the return hike, a kid mentioned that there was a good slide just downstream of Hunt Fish Falls, so I’ve always been slightly curious to return and check it out. I subsequently looked on Google Earth, and there did appear to be some possible slides between Hunt Fish Falls and the Gragg Prong confluence. A recent kayaking video on YouTube seemed to confirm this, but it’s hard to tell in high water if a slide is hospitable for butt-sliding in summer flows. There was only one way to find out.

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

In summary, I guess Lost Cove Creek is a one hit wonder after all. I didn’t really find anything interesting downstream of Hunt Fish Falls. There were a few small swimming holes, but they were fairly unremarkable. The swimming hole about a mile upstream of Hunt Fish was also nothing interesting. There were three small slide cascades downstream of the falls, but they weren’t suitable for butt-sliding. It’s possible that the kid who mentioned a slide there was referring to the sloped bedrock along the side of the Hunt Fish Falls plunge pool, as opposed to one of the cascades.
flyminion: (Turtle)
Today, Brian and I walked upper Wilson Creek between FR 192 and Edgemont Road. We had previously hiked the Wilson Creek Trail in 2018, and creek-walked the section of Wilson Creek between the trail and FR 192 in 2019. During the latter excursion, we had briefly looked at the creek just downstream of the Edgemont Road bridge and saw that it had some small sliding cascades and was hemmed by cliffs as it quickly dropped out of sight. We had always been curious to return and walk the creek between FR 192 and Edgemont Road to see if there was anything interesting there, but five years went by and we never got around to it. On our previous excursions, we had checked out 13 out of 15 points of interest (POIs) I marked on Google Earth as potential swimming holes. POIs 14 and 15 are upstream of FR 192, and there is no good satellite imagery upstream of POI 15, so the upstream half of that section has always been a mystery. I wasn’t expecting to find any significant swimming holes there, but I thought there could be some nice cascades since the creek loses over 600 feet of elevation between the two roads.

I’ve noticed that the first weekend in June is almost always dry, which held true this year, although it wasn’t particularly warm in the mountains (today's forecast called for mid 60s). Since the weather wasn’t ideal for swimming, I decided now was the time to check out upper Wilson, since I wasn’t expecting to find any significant swimming holes.

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In summary, this section of Wilson Creek didn't have anything remarkable, but there was one legit swimming hole, and a 25-30 foot waterfall about 100 feet back on a small side-stream. Other than that, the creek was basically a series of small sliding cascades and shallow pools, similar to Little Wilson Creek upstream of Edgemont Road. It did seem like the slides were starting to get bigger toward the upstream end of the walk, so it’s possible there might be higher cascades upstream, between Edgemont Road and the Blue Ridge Parkway. However, I probably wouldn’t check that out unless I really needed something to do.
flyminion: (Slide HC)
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.

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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.
flyminion: (Shine)
Cascade #7Today, I finally got to tackle the waterfalls of Flat Laurel Creek, which has been up there on my wish list since the third edition of Kevin Adams’ North Carolina Waterfalls book came out in 2016. This is a stretch of creek that loses about 800 feet of elevation in a series of cascades and waterfalls over three quarters of a mile. I wasn’t sure if there would be any swimming holes, but it seemed like the creek walk would be worthwhile regardless. Also, there are a couple of roadside attractions in the immediate vicinity (Bubbling Spring Branch Cascades, Sunburst Falls on the West Fork Pigeon River), and I knew that the former had a swimming hole. I was curious to see if Sunburst Falls did as well.

The main obstacle for the Flat Laurel Creek walk is that it’s a thru-hike where you leave a vehicle at each end of the trailhead (otherwise you have to backtrack through the creek down hundreds of feet of cascades), so I needed a second person who was both willing and able to do this type of hike. My friend, Chris (who did Cave Falls with me last summer) was up for it, so we planned to do it today since the forecast was cloudless and bone-dry.

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

In summary, Flat Laurel Creek lived up to my expectations and was worth the wait. It was definitely one of the best creek walks I’ve been on in terms of effort vs reward. It was a workout, but it wasn’t super strenuous or technical (for experienced off-trail hikers). Chris got through the whole thing without getting his feet wet (except for intentionally soaking them in the main swimming hole, with his shoes off). Once the cascades get going, they are pretty much non-stop all the way to the top. I wasn’t sure if there would be any legit swimming holes, but there was one at the base of cascade 7(ish). There were also a couple of smaller pools that looked like they might be legit. The creek walk would still have been worth the price of admission even if the main swimming hole hadn’t been there, but it really rounded things out. That particular spot was probably the highlight of what we saw today.

As for the roadside attractions, Bubbling Spring Branch Falls failed to impress after Flat Laurel Creek. The supposed swimming hole at the top looked kind of dinky, so unless there was something upstream that I missed, then I would say it’s probably not worthy of a return visit unless I happen to be passing by for some other reason. Sunburst Falls, on the other hand, looked like a legit swimming hole, so now I’m interested to find out if it’s a one-hit-wonder or just a sneak peak at what else the West Fork Pigeon River has to offer.
flyminion: (Slide HC)
The log pool on North Harper CreekToday, I finished up my explorations of North Harper Creek. I normally wrap up my swimming hole explorations around the beginning of September, since it’s usually too cool in the mountains for swimming to be pleasant after that, but I saw an unseasonably warm, dry stretch of weather coming up this week, so I decided to take the whole week off work to take advantage of it. After all, I haven’t really taken a legit vacation this summer due to the lack of dry weather here in the Carolinas, and airfare to California being super steep.

When I explored North Harper Creek last summer, I spent two weekends checking out some points of interest (POIs) I had marked on Google Earth. The first weekend was cut short when I had to abort the hike to get help for a woman having an allergic reaction to yellow jacket stings. On the second weekend, I managed to check out all of the remaining POIs I had marked, but it seemed like there might be some interesting parts of the creek that were not visible on Google Earth. I had marked seven POIs on North Harper Creek (numbered in order from upstream to downstream), and it was starting to get dark by the time I got to POI 1. After that, the trail rose high above the creek, and it sounded pretty busy between POI 1 and Chestnut Cove Branch Falls. I also had not marked any POIs upstream of North Harper Creek Falls, but there were almost certainly some cascades there judging by the noise and the amount of elevation gain (but I couldn’t see them because it was almost completely dark). My objectives for today were to creek-walk the area between POI 1 and Chestnut Cove Branch Falls, and check out the area upstream of North Harper Creek Falls in daylight.

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

In summary, I didn’t find anything super noteworthy on the section of North Harper Creek I explored today. The section of the creek between POI 1 and Chestnut Cove Branch Falls was pretty uneventful, but the section above North Harper Creek Falls proved to be worth a look. There were no major swimming holes (a couple of small pools that may or may not have been deep), but there were a few cascades that were nicer than any of my marked POIs, a couple of which were at least 15 feet high. I would say the nicest one was the one that I had to scoot down the fallen tree to get to. Normally I would be bummed about not finding a swimming hole, but given the cool weather today, I was fine with just doing a creek walk.
flyminion: (Shine)
Cave FallsToday, I finally got to go to Cave Falls in Linville Gorge, which has been on my to-do list for a while. I had tried to get to it alone last month by swimming through the Bob Ross Gorge and climbing up the rocks next to a rapid/small waterfall the boaters call Seal Launch Portage (aka A Good Way to Die), but I decided it was too sketchy to do alone (as with my previous entries, all rapid names are per American Whitewater and A Wet State). I’ve been trying to find people online who are into this sort of thing, and I networked with this guy Chris from Asheville who said he liked intense hikes and might be up for it, so we planned to meet up and tackle it today. Unlike my previous trips to this section of the gorge where I had used the moderate Spence Ridge Trail, today we would be using the more strenuous but more direct Devil’s Hole Trail, which loses about 1000 feet of elevation in a about a mile and meets the river about a quarter mile upstream of Cave Falls.

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In summary, Cave Falls is a pretty cool spot. It has a large swimming hole with a low jump of about six feet, and it’s surrounded by some pretty impressive geology. From what I’ve seen so far, I would say the best swimming hole in the gorge is easily Cathedral, both in terms of swimming hole functionality and geological grandeur, but Cave Falls is a contender for runner-up, along with the Bob Ross Gorge and Babel Tower Falls (the latter actually isn’t one of my top picks, but it’s a fan favorite, so I felt obligated to throw it in there). I was hoping to tie up a few loose ends from my winter scouting trip (e.g., Jailhouse) today, but we were unable to do so since the rain cut things short. After experiencing the Devil’s Hole Trail for the first time, I can say one thing for sure: I did NOT skip leg day.
flyminion: (Shine)
4 Foot Ledge rapidThe weather forecast in the mountains has been mostly rainy this month, but it looked like this Friday and Saturday (and possibly Sunday) were going to be dry, so I decided to take advantage of it. Although the rain showers this month have been frequent, they must not have been torrential in the Linville Gorge area, because the river has remained at a relatively swimmable summer flow. I decided to take advantage of this, so today I checked out a rapid called Four Foot Ledge (hereafter, 4FL) on the Linville River. This one wasn’t high on my to-do list, but I am running out of points of interest in the northern half of the gorge that would be safe not completely moronic to check out alone, and I haven’t done much research on the southern half of the gorge (I plan to focus more on that next year), so 4FL it was. In kayaking videos, it looked like a nice bedrock slide, with more bedrock slabs just downstream and possible swimming holes both above and below the rapid. However, kayaking is done in much higher water, so it’s hard to tell what this spot would look like in a summer flow. There was only one way to find out.

Four Foot Ledge is located where the river snakes around a series of peninsulas, culminating with Babel Tower, before straightening out and flowing generally south. I’m not sure if the peninsulas have names, but Allen T. Hyde mentions in his book The Linville Gorge and Wilson Creek Hikers Guide: An Introduction that there’s an unofficial side trail that he refers to as the Island Ridge Trail that goes across the ridge of the peninsula immediately to the west of Babel Tower. He also mentions a “Hyatt’s Knob”, but it is unclear if this is the Island Ridge peninsula or the next one to the west of it. For the purposes of this entry, the peninsulas (going from west to east) are Brushy Ridge, Hyatt’s Knob, Island Ridge, and Babel Tower (with the caveat that I might have the first three names wrong). While we’re on the topic of nomenclature, American Whitewater and A Wet State give conflicting names for Four Foot Ledge; the former refers to it as California Dreamin, but the latter calls it Four Foot Ledge and instead refers to Bynum Bluff Falls (a small waterfall at the base of Brushy Ridge) as California Dreamin’. I’m going to use A Wet State’s naming scheme on this entry, as they do a better job at naming the rapids upstream of Babel Tower.

Now that we have all that out of the way, 4FL is located between Island Ridge and Hyatt’s Knob. It looked like the most direct route would be to hike to Babel Tower Falls via the Linville Gorge Trail (LGT) and then follow the river upstream along the riverbank. There is another rapid called Two-Tiered Slide (hereafter, 2TS) a little less than 0.5 miles upstream of 4FL, so I was considering making a loop all the way around Hyatt’s Knob and picking up the Cabin Trail (a short but steep rim-to-river trail about a mile west of Babel Tower that ends at the western base of Hyatt’s Knob), but that would be about a mile of river-walking alone in an area not paralleled by a trail, so I was only going to try that if it looked super easy.

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

In summary, Four Foot Ledge was nothing spectacular compared to some of the other swimming holes in Linville Gorge, but it was a nice, secluded area (today, at least) with a pool for swimming and plenty of rock slabs for sunbathing. Even though the swimming hole per se was nothing special, I felt a certain affinity for this spot, perhaps due to its Californian aesthetic. I blew off Two-Tiered Slide today because river-walking all the way around Hyatt’s Knob didn’t seem like a good idea to do alone. Ascending the upper portion of the Cabin Trail turned out not to be as bad as I thought, so I might take it all the way down to the river at some point and approach Two-Tiered Slide from upstream.
flyminion: (Shine)
Point of Interest #1 - Lower Section of Upper Creek, NCFor the last day of my Asheville/Boone trip, I decided to explore the lower section of Upper Creek. I had previously hiked the trail that follows this section of the creek in 2016, when I conquered Raven Cliff Gorge with Mary and Orin. We had seen that there were some possible cascades and swimming holes on our way up the trail, but we neglected to check them out since they were not on the agenda for that excursion. Returning to check out this section of the creek was never high on my agenda, but I chose to do it today because I had to drive back to Raleigh afterwards, and I wanted to do something that I thought would be relatively quick and easy. This particular trailhead was only a couple of miles off the paved road, and it was farther south (i.e., closer to I-40) than most of the other swimming hole attractions in the Wilson Creek area, so I would have more of a head-start for the drive back. I had scanned the creek on Google Earth and marked six points of interest (POIs), and my plan was to hike all the way to POI 6, which was the farthest upstream at about 1.5 miles from the trailhead, and then work my way back downstream. This would allow me to scope out all the side-trails down to the creek on the way in so I would know all my options for accessing my POIs on the way back.

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

In summary, the lower section of Upper Creek does have some cascades and swimming holes, but nothing that really holds a candle to Upper Creek Falls or Raven Cliff Gorge. The best cascade was probably the lower one at POI 2, which was about 7-8 feet high. POI 1 ended up being the highlight of the places I checked out today, boasting two cascades and two legit swimming holes. I wouldn’t say it's worth making a special trip, but it would make for a nice short hike and swim if you happen to be camping at one of the sites along FR 197. With today’s trek, I am one step closer to exploring all of Upper Creek between FR 197 and Upper Creek Falls. The only section I have left to explore is between Upper Creek Falls and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which will be one hell of a creek walk.
flyminion: (Turtle)
Wilson Creek Cameo (a stretch of the Linville River that resembles Wilson Creek)Today I did a river-walk along Wilson Creek Cameo in Linville Gorge. To be clear, this is actually a spot on the Linville River, not Wilson Creek, but the kayakers call it that apparently because the riverbed features large bedrock slabs that resemble those in Wilson Creek Gorge (as in my previous Linville Gorge entries, all rapid names are per American Whitewater and A Wet State). This spot had caught my attention during my hike last summer to check out Adam’s Wall and scope out a route to Cave Falls. Wilson Creek Cameo is about a half-mile stretch of river that is mostly obscured by summer foliage from the Linville Gorge Trail (LGT), but the glimpses I caught through the trees of the bedrock slabs and potential pools inspired me to plan a return visit for some up-close exploration. I knew I needed to take advantage of the lower water levels on the Linville River at some point during this trip, and Wilson Creek Cameo is about the only thing left on my Linville Gorge to-do list that seemed safe-ish enough to do alone.

After being lazy this morning, I drove up from Marion but had to take a 15-minute detour to Pineola to get gas, because the Mountain Mercantile in Jonas Ridge was apparently out of gas. I’m one of those people who can’t stand being below a quarter tank, especially on remote gravel roads.

I had considered dropping down to the Linville River using the Devil’s Hole Trail this time, but the parking area there was full as usual (even on a Monday), so I continued on to the Spence Ridge Trail, which had a couple of empty parking spots. The Devil’s Hole Trail is shorter but has about 400 more feet of elevation loss, so I wasn’t too bummed about not trying it today.

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

In summary, Wilson Creek Cameo is a relatively uneventful section of Linville Gorge, but that also means it makes for a relatively chill off-trail river hike. It had a couple of legit swimming holes, and while they were nothing worthy of making a special trip for, they made nice bonuses to a river hike. The areas of this stretch that actually looked like Wilson Creek were pretty limited, which I guess is why it’s a cameo and not a guest star.
flyminion: (Turtle)
Small sliding cascade on Avents CreekToday, 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).

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

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.
flyminion: (Tub)
Second swimming hole at Dental Work rapidAfter last night's tiring drive back to Abingdon, I slept in today and got a late start this morning afternoon. My plan had originally been to go to Twisting Falls today, but the weather was going to be cool and partly cloudy in the mountains. This in conjunction with my late start meant that something quick and at a lower elevation was in order. Completing my explorations of Wilson Creek Gorge has been on the backburner for a while. It’s a great swimming hole destination, but it’s unfortunately right off the road, so it’s overrun with visitors on the weekends. Since today is a weekday and school is back in, I thought this might be a good opportunity to get back down in there. I first discovered Wilson Creek Gorge in 2014 on my way to see Harper Creek Falls for the first time, but I didn’t have time to explore it. My first full visit was in 2016, when Miranda and I found some great swimming holes at a rapid called Ten Foot Falls. I had tried to investigate another nice-looking swimming hole at a rapid called Razorback farther downstream, but I didn’t have a chance to fully check it out because Miranda wanted to leave. We returned in 2018, but the water levels were high that time, and Razorback was basically just whitewater, so that particular spot remained a loose end for me. I was by myself today, so my objective was to finally check out Razorback and explore the area downstream of it. My plan was to park my car where the Pisgah National Forest land begins just upstream of the Brown Mountain Beach Resort, walk along the road to Razorback, and hike along/through the creek back to the car.

Check out the full trip report with pictures and videos )

In summary, although the weather and my late start led to a lack of sunlight for this afternoon’s excursion, I still maintain that Wilson Creek Gorge is a prime swimming hole destination. The water is crystal clear with a moderate temperature, and the gorge is lined with cliffs and sloping rock slabs. I only wish it were a three or four mile hike to get there instead of being right off the road so it wouldn’t be overrun with people on the weekends. Fortunately, it was relatively deserted today, so I had a nice quiet creek walk down the last mile of the gorge. From what I have seen, I would say the top three swimming holes in the gorge are Ten Foot Falls (see my 2016 trip report), The Bathtub, and Dental Work. Razorback was also decent, but the pools there were smaller and less striking, although the scene was still pretty great. Now that I’ve mostly explored Wilson Creek Gorge, it would be fun to tube down it sometime (portaging around the more dangerous rapids, of course).
flyminion: (Shine)
Waterfall on the Thompson RiverToday, I kayaked up Lake Jocassee to explore some more swimming holes on the Thompson River. I was sort of intent on reaching a swimming hole by unconventional means, and my first idea was to bike (well, partway) to Wintergreen Falls on the Toxaway River, but renting a bike seemed like too much trouble, so I decided kayaking might be fun. Plus, my lower body got a workout yesterday, so I figured I would give my upper body a workout today. Yesterday’s hike at the upper Thompson River had nice waterfalls and a couple of swimming holes, but none that were really primo (plus the air and water were both too chilly for a swim to be pleasant). I was hoping the lower section of the river might be an improvement on both counts, since it looks less shaded on Google Earth and is at a lower elevation. I had noted a couple of significant-looking sliding waterfalls with pools on Google Earth, and it looked like the river had continuous cascades and pools from the lower slide down to where the river flows into the lake. When researching Lake Jocassee, I had also come across Wrights Creek Falls, one of several waterfalls that spill directly into the lake (that was actually how I got the idea to go kayaking in the first place; I didn’t actually decide to do the lower Thompson River until after finding out it fed into the lake near Wrights Creek Falls).

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

In summary, I found the lower stretch of the Thompson River to be a little more swimming-hole-licious than Big Falls and the other upstream waterfalls. There were at least three legit swimming holes and one potentially slide-able sliding waterfall. I would say the best swimming hole would be the big one with the log over the cascade that spills into it. I didn’t check the depth there, but it was the largest swimming hole and seemed to have the most potential for vertical tomfoolery. The water was also slightly warmer less frigid here than the upper section, although if you want warmer water, then you might as well just swim and cliff jump in Lake Jocassee, which was about 12 degrees warmer than the Thompson River today. That said, this lake is on my “would come back to” list. The weather was still a little cool for a swim to be totally refreshing, but the lake would be great on a hot sunny day. It has clear blue water and a lot of nice coves to explore. I probably wouldn’t rent a kayak and try to redo an excursion like the one I did today. Having to return the boat at a certain time made things too rushed, and I didn’t have much time to just relax and enjoy being out on the water. It would have been nice to have an extra hour or so. My upper body is sore and stiff from aggressive paddling, my legs and shoulders are sunburnt, and the paddle blisters on my hands are epic. I’m looking forward to a hot bath in the jaccuzi tub and some aloe vera when I get to my parents’ house in Virginia tomorrow. I am now ready to collapse from exhaustion.
flyminion: (Shine)
Brian jumps into the swimming hole at Cascade #4I originally wasn’t planning on doing anything this weekend, but I saw that Saturday and Sunday were both supposed to be in the 80s and dry in the mountains, which will probably be the only time that happens in the foreseeable future, so I quickly decided on Friday that I was going to go to the mountains. My main goal for this weekend was to finish “Cinnamon” Creek. That isn’t the creek’s real name, but rather the alias I gave it in my first entry to keep the location secret. I had originally planned on doing Cinnamon Creek as an end-of-summer trek, since it is pretty high on the treachery scale, and I wouldn’t want to break my ankle or something right at the beginning of summer and be out of commission for the rest of swimming hole season. However, with all the coronavirus restrictions, I don’t have high hopes for this being a productive swimming hole year, so I decided to go ahead and go for it. It has rained pretty torrentially for the past few weeks, so I knew the creeks and rivers would be high, which is bad for larger waterways but works to the advantage of smaller streams like Cinnamon Creek. My brother Brian, who had gone with me to Cinnamon Creek last time, said he was free both days this weekend. We originally planned on Saturday, but he remembered he had something going on that night, so we changed to Sunday. I figured I would hit a different swimming hole on Saturday, so I made plans with Miranda to go to Upper Creek Falls. I knew the creek would be high, but I thought that also might make the slides better. I went by Kohl’s on Friday after work to get a new swimsuit, since the only one I had that was good for butt-sliding and had good pockets got ripped at California’s Rock Creek last summer.

Click here for the full trip report with photos and videos )

In summary, I’m glad to have finally conquered all of my points of interest for Cinnamon Creek. There ended up being seven waterfalls in total (eight if you count the ten-footer halfway between the road and the main waterfall zone, which I didn’t mention in this entry). Cascade #4 had a legit swimming hole with a low jump, and cascades #5 and #7 had pools that were deep but a little too small in diameter to be ideal for swimming (illegit swimming holes, I guess?). From a waterfall viewing standpoint, I would say the highlight cascades are #5, #7, and #2, in that order. As I predicted, the creek was a little higher this time, so the waterfalls had a bit more volume than last time. This is not really a place you would go if your main objective was to see a waterfall or go swimming, because you can do better in both departments at more easily accessible areas. The allure for me was more the adventure of finding something completely on my own without being spoon-fed any information whatsoever by published sources. I probably wouldn’t go to the trouble of bushwhacking to and then climbing down these waterfalls a third time, but this was still a cool little secret spot.
flyminion: (Turtle)
Small swimming hole - Wilson Creek, NCLast year, my brother Brian and I hiked the Wilson Creek Trail along an upper section of Wilson Creek upstream from the more popular Wilson Creek Gorge. Before that hike, I had scanned the creek on Google Earth and marked 13 points of interest (POIs) that looked like potential swimming holes. We got to the first ten POIs on the previous hike, but the trail left the creek and headed back up to the road between POIs 10 and 11, meaning that POIs 11-13 would require a creek walk. It was already late by the time we had reached this point in the trail, so we decided we didn’t have time for POIs 11-13 on that trip. There were several weekends with nice weather this summer that I wanted to try and wrap this up, but Brian usually had other plans.

After swimming-holing the hell out of August with back-to-back trips to Tennessee and California, I was really looking forward to just chillaxing at home and doing absolutely nothing this weekend. I haven’t had a full day of downtime since the beginning of August, and I’ve been exhausted all of this past week, probably due to jet lag from returning from California. However, the weather in the North Carolina mountains was supposed to be warm and sunny all weekend, followed by an extended period of rain, so I figured I could squeeze in one last weekend of swimming hole action before fall arrives and I go into hibernation. Brian was free this weekend, so we decided to knock out the rest of the Wilson Creek Trail today.

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

In summary, this excursion did nothing to change my mind that the highlights of the Wilson Creek Trail are on the downstream end, even though the new stuff we saw today technically wasn’t along the trail. We didn’t find any legit swimming holes that we had not already seen on last year’s hike, but it was a decent and fairly easy creek walk, and it was nice to satisfy my lingering curiosities from last year. We might make it a point to creek-walk the upper section of Wilson Creek between the Forest Road and Edgemont Road, but that will probably be more for a time when I just want to do something outdoorsy and am not itching to go swimming, as I would not expect to find any legit swimming holes there.
flyminion: (Shine)
Looking down on the big swimming holeFor the sixth and seventh days of our 2019 California swimming hole marathon, Cade and I decided to devote two days to the North Fork Stanislaus River to accomplish our two objectives for that area: finding an elusive swimming hole upstream of Candy Rock, and giving Blue Streak (one of our favorite swimming holes) our undivided attention. Today was devoted to the former objective, which we knew would require a time-consuming boulder scramble and creek walk.

This entry is a follow-up to the entries “Candy Rock & Blue Streak” from 2017 and “Candy Rock & Blue Streak - Part 2” from 2018. To save you the trouble of reading those, here is a brief recap of our previous adventures in the Candy Rock area that led up to today’s excursion.

PREVIOUSLY, AT CANDY ROCK:
On the last day of our first California swimming hole marathon in 2017, Cade and I visited the swimming holes Candy Rock and Blue Streak on the North Fork Stanislaus River for the first time (Cade had actually been to Candy Rock once before, but not Blue Streak). We liked Blue Streak a lot, but we thought Candy Rock was just okay. After returning home from that trip, I realized we had not actually seen the spot from the photo that initially attracted me to Candy Rock (hereafter, “the mystery photo”, which you can see here). I e-mailed the person who took the photo, Swimming Holes of California author Timothy Joyce, and he said that spot was further upstream than the main Candy Rock swimming hole, but he did not remember the exact location as he had taken the photo in passing about ten years ago. I also noticed from Google Earth that there was a large pool just above Candy Rock that we had somehow missed on our first visit, so I wanted to go back and check it out. I couldn’t find anything that matched the spot from the mystery photo on Google Earth, except for possibly one pool about half a mile upstream of Candy Rock with no trail access.

We returned to the area in 2018 near the end of that trip. We wanted to hit Blue Streak for a quick pick-me-up after missing out on Yosemite earlier that week due to the Ferguson Fire and having to resort to backup plans. However, I also wanted to venture down to Candy Rock to take a stab at finding the pool from the mystery photo. We found the pool we had missed just upstream of Candy Rock in 2017, and we started boulder scrambling upstream to the mystery pool, but after making it only a quarter of the way there in 20 minutes, it became obvious that we would not have time to see the mystery pool and go to Blue Streak in the same day. Cade just wanted to get to Blue Streak, so I blew off finding the mystery pool on that trip. It was obvious that we would have to devote two separate days to this area if we didn’t want finding the mystery pool to keep us from getting to Blue Streak.


AND NOW…

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

In summary, we found a few small swimming holes and one big one, but none of them were the pool from the mystery photo. That means either we did not go far enough upstream, or that the photo is from a different location (it actually looks more like Rock Creek than the North Fork Stanislaus River). The main pool we found upstream of Candy Rock was a legit swimming hole. It was large, deep, and had a couple of good jumps. However, I felt uneasy there because of how treacherous the approach was, and the difficulty of a potential rescue in that area if something happened. Unlike Rock Creek, which somehow seemed a little safer, the boulders and rock faces at the North Fork Stanislaus River are a lot more smooth and slippery, and one slip could lead to big trouble in such a remote area not accessible by trail. So yeah, the main pool we found today was a good swimming hole, but it seems kind of pointless to bother with such an arduous and treacherous approach when the superior and more accessible Blue Streak is available downstream on the same river.

Rock Creek

Aug. 28th, 2019 11:59 pm
flyminion: (Tub)
Upper Rock Creek swimming hole, CAFor Day 4 of this year’s California swimming hole marathon, Cade and I went to Rock Creek, a tributary of the North Fork Feather River outside of Oroville, CA. This was sort of part 2 of my “what if?” curiosities from Day 5 of our 2017 trip. On that day, we intended to go to Seven Falls but couldn’t because the road was closed, so I had to choose between Curtain Falls and Rock Creek as a backup plan. I went with Curtain Falls and couldn't decide afterwards if the swimming hole was really worth the effort, so I have always wondered if Rock Creek would have been a better choice. Rock Creek has numerous swimming holes. Timothy Joyce’s Swimming Holes of California book lists a lower, middle, and upper Rock Creek. Middle Rock Creek seems to be the most popular from what I have seen, as it boasts a large, deep pool of crystal clear water and a natural water slide. It looked like there was going to be too much at Rock Creek to see in one day, so we opted to start off at Middle Rock Creek and play it by ear from there. Upper Rock Creek sounded like it would be quite a challenge to get to, so while it didn’t look like it would be a highlight swimming hole, I sort of wanted to get to it just for street cred.

After eating breakfast and stopping by Wal-Mart in Chico to get a replacement pair of sunglasses to preemptively replace my current pair that is on the verge of breaking, we drove about an hour to Rock Creek. We drove through an area damaged by the Camp Fire last year, and it looked pretty devastating. There were a lot of homes that were destroyed to the foundation (I noticed one where only the chimney remained), and it looked like people in the area were mostly living in motorhomes. The damage ended only a few miles away from the confluence of Rock Creek with the North Fork Feather River.

The canyon that the North Fork Feather River flows through was pretty spectacular and almost rivaled the scale and ruggedness of Kings Canyon, which we drove through last year (I didn't blog that day since we didn't go swimming). There were areas where the road was at least 1000 feet above the canyon floor. We had to drive through several tunnels as we neared Rock Creek. When we pulled in, we went under a train trestle and passed up the trail for lower Rock Creek, which was close to the entrance. We took the gravel road up the hill for a couple of switchbacks until we found a small parking area with enough room for about four cars. There were already two vehicles there. One was for some school, and the other was for some sort of adventure/discovery group. Before we got started, I decided to only take a small gym bag, as my regular backpack would be a huge pain for the amount of boulder scrambling and ledge scaling that probably lay ahead.

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

In summary, I rather enjoyed Rock Creek, even though boulder scrambling normally gets on my nerves. Most of the strenuous and technical stuff we did today was optional. The granite rocks here were textured enough that they were pretty easy to maneuver around on, and there was a good mix of small and large rocks that created incremental steps to various height gaps when we needed to get up or down. I joked that the two most important exercises one should do to prepare for Rock Creek are dips and lunges, as I definitely used my arms just as much as I used my legs to get around today. I did do a couple of things today that were probably sketchier than I should have done in such a secluded, rugged area, but the only casualty was my swimsuit. It’s kind of sad that it won’t be making it home from this trip after all of the swimming holes it has been to with me. I now only have one swimsuit left in my suitcase for this trip, and it has no liner. We are planning to do another boulder scramble at Candy Rock the day after tomorrow, and I’m thinking I might have to do that one in my underwear, since my second swimsuit doesn’t have a liner.

Anyway, back to the swimming hole situation at Rock Creek. The swimming holes here were gorgeous and crystal clear, ranging from emerald green to sapphire blue. The water temperature was cool, but not so cold that it took the fun out of swimming (at least not for me). It was kind of a bummer that the slide had a downed tree across it, though. I would say Middle Rock Creek is the highlight swimming hole. Upper Rock Creek was nice, but I would really only recommend it if you just want to do it for the adventure and satisfaction of conquering it, as the swimming hole per se isn’t necessarily any better than Middle Rock Creek. Getting there was basically a half-mile jungle-jim of boulders and logs. We didn’t get to see anything below Middle Rock Creek today (other than some obscured views from the cliffs above), so I would like to come back in the future and explore Lower Rock creek.

So, did I make the right choice two years ago when I chose Curtain Falls over Rock Creek? I would say yes, because I eventually got to do both, and I wouldn’t have actually known that Curtain Falls was more trouble than it was worth without having gone there. Curtain Falls looks more impressive in pictures, so I probably would have lived with a bigger ghost if I had passed that one up.
flyminion: (Shine)
Cummins Falls State Park, TNFor the fifth and final (full) day of my Tennessee trip, I went to Cummins Falls State Park just north of Cookeville, TN. This entire trip was actually inspired by Cummins Falls. I had been seeing pictures on the internet of cool-looking waterfalls, usually with swimming holes, that often turned out to be in Tennessee, and Cummins Falls was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back in inspiring me to plan a Tennessee swimming hole trip. The main visual allure of Cummins Falls is the natural rock platforms with water flowing over them that lead from the swimming hole up to the base of the main drop of the waterfall. It’s almost majestic looking, like a royal staircase leading up to a waterfall palace, as corny as that sounds. I’m pretty sure that when anyone sees pictures of Cummins Falls, their inner child is like, “I wanna climb on those waterfall stairs!”

In many cases, photos don’t do justice to the beauty of waterfalls and swimming holes, but Cummins Falls is an exception. What you see is what you get, and most people would agree that what you see is pretty awesome. For this reason, it has become “Instagram famous”, which means that it is almost always #crowded. I read that it gets so full in summer that the parking lot fills up, and they have to turn people away, so I made it a point to go on a non-holiday weekday.

I didn’t think I was going to get to go to Cummins Falls on this trip because they closed access to the gorge in June due to an investigation following a flash flood that resulted in a toddler drowning (and there was a similar incident in 2017 where two people died and about 40 were rescued by helicopter), and no re-opening date had been set. When I committed to doing this trip, I decided I would just cross my fingers that the gorge would re-open in time, and if not, I would make a return trip sometime in the future. Two days ago, when I was at Fall Creek Falls State Park, a woman mentioned that they were re-opening Cummins Falls on August 14. Cummins Falls State Park’s website seemed to confirm this, and I called to make sure yesterday morning. They said the gorge was back open, weather permitting. I also asked what time they normally fill up on weekdays, and the person on the phone said they probably wouldn’t fill up during the week now that school had started back, but that it tends to get more crowded in the afternoon. This was a similar scenario to Blue Spring State Park in Florida this May, where I thought I was going to have to get there at the break of dawn but ended up getting to sleep in. I was anxious to go to Cummins Falls as soon as possible, so I wanted to go yesterday instead of kayaking to Fancher Falls. However, yesterday ended up being kind of cool and cloudy in the morning, and my mom overheard someone today saying they closed the gorge at Cummins Falls halfway through the day yesterday due to a popup shower upstream, so it was probably for the best that I waited until today. The forecast was mostly sunny in the mid-80s with a 10% chance of rain.

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

In summary, I would say Cummins Falls lives up to the hype. Well, I guess there actually isn’t much verbal hype, but the copious pictures on the internet make it look pretty enticing. The clear aquamarine swimming hole and the perfectly sculpted and climbable rock stairs with water flowing over them make this a pretty attractive place to explore, even for those who aren’t normally interested in going to waterfalls and swimming holes. Cummins Falls was actually number three on my wish list for this trip (behind Rock Island and North Chick) because I assumed all you could really do there is swim, but the fact that there is a jumping opportunity adds to the coolness, even if the jump is only six feet high. It’s one of those places you want to drag your friends to just to show it off, because you know it will be a crowd pleaser. Apparently most people agree, because Cummins Falls is one of Tennessee’s worst-kept secrets. Today was a school day, and probably not everyone has caught wind of the gorge reopening, and I still counted about 40-60 people there at any given time. The swimming hole and surrounding area are big enough to accommodate that many people without it feeling too crowded, but sharing that space with over 100 people would get pretty annoying. I would say this swimming hole is probably good enough to be worth contending with crowds, but I would still aim for a non-holiday weekday if you want room to move around.
flyminion: (Turtle)
"Cinnamon Creek", NCToday I got to finally (partially) knock off something that has been on my to-do list for the past two or three years. After checking out Gragg Prong and Steels Creek in 2015, I got into the habit of scanning creeks and rivers on Google Earth and marking points of interest (POIs) that looked like potential swimming holes or waterfalls. It started with scanning larger creeks with known swimming holes, like Upper Creek and Harper Creek, but I admittedly got a little carried away with it and even started scanning smaller tributaries. I would first check topo maps for areas where creeks dropped significantly over short distances, and then I would scan those drop zones on Google Earth to see if I could see any whitewater. There was one creek in particular that caught my attention, which I will call “Cinnamon Creek” to keep the location a secret (I know this spot is probably too esoteric for most people, but I don’t want to be the first to give up the location on a place that has avoided the internet thus far). Cinnamon Creek drops about 200 feet over less than a quarter mile, and a scan of Google Earth showed a few obvious cascades and one possible swimming hole. These features didn’t look that significant, but I’ve been to quite a few good swimming holes that look like nothing on Google Earth, so I was curious to get down there and check the area out for myself. I had marked three points of interest (POIs) numbered in order from upstream to downstream. POIs 1 and 3 were possible waterfalls at what appeared to be the beginning and end of the drop zone, and POI 2 was a potential swimming hole. The stretch of creek between POIs 2 and 3 was largely hidden by shadows and canopy on Google Earth, so I refer to this area as the “shadow zone”. I had no idea what could be hiding in the shadow zone. I've scoured the internet looking for information on this creek, but I could find literally nothing about it other than the occasional hiking blogger mentioning that they crossed it while hiking on the Mountains-to-Sea trail. Even waterfall guru Kevin Adams makes no mention of it in the latest edition of his North Carolina Waterfalls book, and he lists some pretty obscure spots. It was pretty clear that if I really wanted to know what was there, I was going to have to explore it myself.

I kept this excursion on the back-burner for 2016, as I still hadn’t finished checking out all the highlights of the Wilson Creek area at that time. I was hoping to get to it in 2017, but several different stars needed to align for this excursion to happen: I needed 1) a bone-dry day, 2) on a summer weekend, and 3) when a buddy was a available who wouldn’t beat my ass for dragging them on a “creekwhack” (creek walk + bushwhack) that potentially offered no reward. There was one day that met all those criteria during the first weekend of June last year. I foolishly passed it up thinking there would be another opportunity that summer, but there wasn’t. The only person I know within driving distance who would be down for this type of trek is my brother, Brian, who is a pretty hardcore hiker and backpacker (his credentials include hiking the entire Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails, among others). Our schedules don’t match up most of the time, but he was off this weekend and up for an excursion. As of two days ago, the forecast called for both Saturday and Sunday to be dry, so I planned to do back-to-back swimming hole excursions in the Wilson Creek Area this weekend. Tomorrow (Sunday) has been changed to a 60 percent chance of rain, but today was still supposed to be dry, so I decided today would be the best day to do Cinnamon Creek.

Another place I have been wanting to check out is Zigzag Falls on an unnamed tributary of Steels Creek. It didn’t seem worthy of a special trip, but it is close to the road, so I figured it would make a good tacked-on ending to another excursion. I got close to it in 2016 after I went to Wilson Creek Gorge with my friend Miranda, but she didn’t have any desire to bushwhack to it (or to wait on me to bushwhack to it), so that has been somewhat of a loose end for the past couple of years. Kevin Adams mentions in his book that the upper portion of the waterfall has a pool in it, and Google Earth seems to confirm this, so I was interested to see if the pool could be a swimming hole.

I spent the night in Greensboro last night and drove up to Pineola this morning. Brian met me at the Pineola Inn where I am staying, which is super convenient to most of the swimming holes in the Wilson Creek and Linville Gorge areas. I ate a Jersey Mike’s sub that I had picked up on the way over, and then we headed out to Cinnamon Creek.

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

In summary, we saw some pretty cool stuff today. I would have thought Cinnamon Creek was kind of "meh" had it been along an established hiking trail with other people around, but the secret hideout feel and the fact that there was literally no trace of anyone ever having been there made it a fun adventure. We didn't find anything major, but I do enjoy a good creek walk, and it’s nice when there are at least some cascades or swimming holes to make things interesting. I would say it was nice to have finally satisfied my curiosity for Cinnamon Creek, since I explored the area I was most curious about and actually found a pool that I would say could pass for a legit swimming hole (although it was not the pool I had initially thought would be the swimming hole). However, it feels incomplete since I didn’t make it all the way to the bottom of the waterfall area. We probably could have done it if we had gotten started an hour or two earlier. Not getting to the bottom is going to be a loose end for me. It seemed so attainable, but better safe than sorry, I guess. Each time we descended a cascade, we were potentially getting ourselves into deeper and deeper shit from a getting-help/rescue standpoint should something go wrong, and the thought of that became too much after we were four cascades deep with only a couple of hours of daylight left. I am curious to see the rest of the waterfall area, but I would want a group of at least four people next time, and I’m not sure I could round up enough people who are both willing and able to complete this trek (I would probably lose even the most adventurous people I know at the part that requires swimming through a deep pool of 60 degree water). Perhaps Team Waterfall will see this and pick up where I left off. I might be content seeing pictures of what I missed, but the completionist in me wants to get back out there and finish what I started. As far as Zigzag Falls, I would say curiosity satisfied. The potential swimming hole didn’t end up being anything terribly interesting, and the waterfall was cool from what we saw, but I don’t feel the need to get more vantage points of it.
___

Update: We returned to Cinnamon Creek in 2020 and checked out the remaining points of interest. Click here for Part 2 of our Cinnamon Creek explorations.
flyminion: (Shine)
Little Wilson Creek, NCAt the end of last year, I thought I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for new swimming hole prospects in the Wilson Creek area, but in skimming through Kevin Adams’ North Carolina Waterfalls book, I saw that he mentioned there were numerous cascades and one high waterfall on Little Wilson Creek, a tributary of Wilson Creek proper. I had seen what looked like a potential sliding waterfall on Little Wilson Creek with potholes in it on Google Earth, so I was tempted to check it out and see if any of the potholes were big enough to be legit swimming holes. In his book, Kevin Adams references another book that sounded useful: The Linville Gorge and Wilson Creek Hikers Guide: An Introduction by Allen T. Hyde. Hyde's book was out of stock when I went to order it online, but I saw that it was available from a number of local retailers, including the Great Outdoor Provision of Raleigh. I was able to find a copy there, and it did have a section on Little Wilson Creek. Hyde describes the section of the creek between Edgemont Road and 221 as having “many small waterfalls, water slides, and bathtubs”. I wasn’t expecting anything remarkable based on the limited pictures and videos I was able to find online, but the prospect of "water slides and bathtubs" was enough to make it worth a look. Since my expectations were low, I decided this might be a good excursion for a cool, dry spring day, since I wouldn’t want to waste a warm summer day on a failed swimming hole hunt. However, this past weekend was the first nice weekend of spring in the mountains, and temperatures were in the low 80’s, which is unseasonably warm. I was able to get up to Boone yesterday, and although for all intents and purposes it was a nice summer day, I still decided to stick with my plan to explore Little Wilson.

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

In summary, Little Wilson is a nice, pristine stream, but nothing terribly interesting from a swimming hole or waterfall standpoint. It’s a shame, too, because that water was crystal clear. The large slide was pretty cool, and I’ll bet it would be impressive after a heavy rain if rushing water covered the whole rock face. While the big slide had a few potholes that were large enough for soaking, there were no real swimming holes there, but I would say that area of the creek is worth checking out if you happen to be passing by since it’s right off the road (if you manage to follow the correct trail). It would also make a great spot to sunbathe for those who just want to lie out on the rocks in a scenic location and don't necessarily care about swimming opportunities. Creek-walking upstream from the bridge is probably not worth doing if your time is valuable, as the most interesting cascades are visible from the road, and there are plenty of other impressive waterfalls elsewhere in the area.
flyminion: (Shine)
Curtain Falls, CAToday, Cade and I went to Curtain Falls on the Middle Fork Feather River at Bald Rock Dome near Oroville, CA. We had initially planned to visit nearby Seven Falls, but Cade was leery of driving his car on any more dirt roads after Monday’s misadventure, so we were trying to see if we could find any indication online of the road conditions. In doing so, we found that the road was closed for repairs, so I suggested we do Curtain Falls instead, as I wanted to hit at least one swimming hole in the Feather River system (tangent: the pun-master in me finds it amusing that the Feather River is part of the Plumas National Forest). Bald Rock Dome also requires some gravel road driving, but the trailhead is a little more “official”, so we thought the road would probably be reasonably maintained. I actually recommended this place for Bald Rock Dome more than Curtain Falls per se. By this point in the trip, we were almost certainly not going to make it to Yosemite, so I thought Bald Rock Dome might round things out by providing a little Yosemite-esque scenery.

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

In summary, I was kind of underwhelmed by Curtain Falls and Bald Rock Canyon. They were sort of like a less interesting version of Tallulah Gorge in Georgia (albeit twice as deep and with prettier water). The swimming hole itself was okay, but getting there (or getting back, rather) was kind of annoying and more trouble than it was worth, in my opinion. Granted, a lot of swimming holes can be annoying to get to, but in many cases, the payoff is worth the effort, and having to boulder-scramble and swim to get there just adds to the adventure. I thought Curtain Falls was right at “worth it” status while I was actually at the swimming hole, but the return hike left a bad taste in my mouth (or maybe that was all the flies I ate). It might have been more rewarding if the flow were low enough to allow for jumping and safe sliding, but that was not the case today. I thought this place would be pretty cool based on the pictures I had seen (in fact, I'm looking back through my own pictures and wondering how I was not impressed), as it has been my experience that many things look bigger and more impressive in person than in photos. However, Curtain Falls and Bald Rock Canyon are more of a “what you see is what you get” type of deal; I didn't experience more of a "wow factor" from seeing it in person than I did from seeing it in pictures. I might have been more impressed if this had been the first place we hit, but the North Fork American and the South Yuba Rivers are hard acts to follow. If I lived within driving distance, then I would probably give Curtain Falls another chance at lower flow, but it would not be high on my to-do list if I were only in California for a few days.
flyminion: (Shine)
Steels Creek Falls (lower section), NCToday, for what will probably be my final mountain swimming hole trek of the summer, I was able to rope Mary and Orin into going to Steels Creek with me. I had visited Steels Creek alone last summer, but I had not been able to hit all the highlights because I didn’t have enough time, and some sections of the creek were more treacherous than I felt comfortable doing by myself (although the same could be said for some of the sections I actually did do). The section of Steels Creek that parallels the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST) has four major highlights: a large swimming hole where the creek cascades between two large rock slabs, the two-tiered Steels Creek Falls, "Screaming Right Hand Turn Falls" (aka Beverly Hillbilly Falls), and Teacups Falls. On my first visit, my main objectives were to find Teacups Falls and to swim in the large potholes in the middle of the upper tier of Steels Creek Falls. At that time, I had no information about Teacups Falls (I didn’t even know it had a name) or how close I could get to it via the trail, but I had seen it on Google Earth and it looked like it had a swimming hole at the base. Screaming Right Hand Turn (SRHT) Falls was not high on my to-do list for that visit, but I inadvertently stumbled upon the brink of it while bushwhacking in search of Teacups Falls. I didn’t try to get down to the base, though, because there was a topless sunbather down there, and I didn’t want to bother her. I also climbed on the upper tier of Steels Creek Falls and swam in the large swimming hole between the two tiers, but I had passed up the lower tier of Steels Creek Falls and the large downstream swimming hole in favor of finding Teacups Falls. So, my objectives for this visit were to see (and swim in) the big swimming hole, get to the base of the lower tier of Steels Creek Falls, and see SRHT Falls from the base. Also, if Mary and Orin were up for it after doing those things, I also wanted to go back to Teacups Falls and get into all the teacups to see how deep they were, because I was kicking myself for not doing that last summer when I was right there.

I had been staying at my parents’ house in Virginia for Labor Day weekend, which cut the drive to Steels Creek down to 1.5 hours (as opposed to 3.5 hours coming from Raleigh). Mary and Orin were still coming from Raleigh, so I met up with them at a gas station along NC-181 in Jonas Ridge. It was 66 degrees and overcast at the gas station (the forecast had said 73 and sunny), so we weren’t feeling too enthusiastic about getting into the water. However, Steels Creek is about 2200 feet lower in elevation than Jonas Ridge, so it was 75 degrees and mostly sunny when we got down to the parking area.

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

In summary, I am glad I was able to tie up the loose ends at Steels Creek, because the section from the big swimming hole to Steels Creek Falls is probably the most scenic stretch of the creek and includes the best swimming holes (not to mention that climbing up through the rock tunnel was pretty cool). I think the swimming hole between the upper and lower tiers of Steels Creek Falls is probably the best when aesthetics are taken into consideration, because it is fairly large in diameter and very deep, and it easily has the best scenery of the Steels Creek swimming holes. However, the big downstream swimming hole is cool (no pun intended), too, and more easily (and safely) accessible. If it had a little something extra, like a safe jump or a rope swing, it would easily be top-shelf material. I would say this completes my explorations of Steels Creek, but I will probably be back here at some point, because this is an area that warrants repeated visitation, especially since the seclusion and difficulty of access seem to deter the crowds that you find at Upper Creek and Harper Creek. Although there don’t seem to be anymore waterfalls or swimming holes on this section of Steels Creek (according the Google Earth and Kevin Adams’ North Carolina Waterfalls), there is a tributary to Steels Creek called Gingercake Creek that feeds in upstream of Teacups Falls. The topographic map indicates that it drops about 300 feet over a quarter mile, and Google Earth shows multiple obvious waterfalls in this area (one looks like it might even have a swimming hole). I can find no information whatsoever about this creek, so some future exploration might be warranted. I'm sort of scraping the bottom of the barrel for the Wilson Creek area, though, as I have now checked out all the known swimming holes there. Next year, I might have to migrate over to Linville Gorge, which is just over the mountain from Steels Creek, for new material, but that area so packed with swimming holes that I'll have my work cut out for me if I decide to start exploring there. I think today’s trek would probably make a good grand finale for this summer, though, since it will probably start to cool off soon at higher elevations. I might focus my efforts on finding some new swimming holes in the piedmont for the remainder of the season, since it usually stays warm down here for another month.
flyminion: (Devil)
Devil's Bathtub, VAToday, I returned to one of my (formerly?) all-time favorite swimming hole spots: Devil’s Fork near Fort Blackmore, Virginia. Devil’s Fork is a small crystal clear creek that runs along a trail that used to be an old mining railroad. The understory of the forest is covered in ferns and moss. Its main attraction is the Devil’s Bathtub, which is an oval pothole about ten feet deep that has been carved into the rocks, and it is shaped exactly like a bathtub. Just downstream is a larger swimming hole, also about ten feet deep. About a half mile upstream of the bathtub is a 15-20 foot waterfall that spills into Devils Fork from a side tributary (most people don’t see this, or at least they didn’t used to, as they turn back after reaching the bathtub). I had first discovered this area ten years ago in 2006 when I was trying to expand my swimming hole repertoire. At that time, this place was pretty obscure. There were no pictures of it on the internet, and the few sources that did mention it had really vague directions. I didn’t even find it on my first attempt. I first came out here with Miranda (on July 17, 2006, according to the time stamps on the digital photos), and as I recall, we drove all over the place before we even found the parking area, and even then, we couldn’t find the trail because there were several creeks converging on the vicinity, and we couldn’t figure out which one we were supposed to follow, so we gave up for the day. I came back with my brother the next day (I think), and we took an old logging road that we thought was the correct trail to the top of the mountain, and we came out in an area in the middle of the woods with a bunch of abandoned campers and trailers (it looked like something straight out of a Wrong Turn movie). We went back down to the trailhead, and we found a faint path through the weeds that connected to an obvious trail along another creek, and this ended up being the correct trail. When I saw the swimming holes, I immediately fell in love with them for how gorgeous and secluded they were. I came back here with friends numerous times from 2006-2009, and we usually didn’t see anyone else there. We rarely saw one or two other people.

In 2012, I hiked the entire Devil's Fork Loop Trail. Click here for a summary of that miserable experience. )

Before today, the last time I went to Devils Bathtub was in 2013 with my friends Mary and Jordan. I can’t remember if this was on a weekend, but there had been about ten other people there, which was not excessive, but kind of unprecedented. Since then, word has apparently gotten out over social media, and the area has become mainstream. There was a news report from last year about the parking area filling up and people parking their cars illegally on private property. Mary had tried to go here in either 2014 or 2015, and there had been a large crowd, so she left in disgust. I had sort of written this place off as a loss after hearing about this, because it is not the type of swimming hole that can accommodate crowds, and part of its charm was that it was so secluded and obscure. Now there are signs everywhere making it easy to find. As bummed as I was to hear what has become of Devil’s Bathtub, I had been watching some youtube videos of people swimming around and going underwater in the pools, which made me want to go back. I had planned on going home to my parents’ house in Virginia this weekend, and I wanted to do two swimming hole treks (Steels Creek being one of them), so I figured a return to Devil’s Fork could be my second. My knees still have not quite forgiven me since Three Forks last month, but I figured they could take two more days of punishment this summer since they are about to have the entire winter to recover. I really need to invest in some trekking poles for next year, though.

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

In conclusion, I would say the crowds at Devil’s Bathtub take this place down a few notches. I overheard some people saying that they had driven over three hours to get here. Having to wait my turn to get into Devil’s Bathtub is some bullshit. Standing in line is for water parks, and that’s half the reason I prefer natural swimming holes. This used to be my second favorite swimming hole spot after Upper Creek Falls, but now I’m not even sure if it’s Top 5 material. Fortunately the aesthetics of the area haven’t really suffered yet (aside from the people themselves being eye sores); there was a plastic bottle and a beer can here and there, but the place wasn’t covered in trash like I expected it would be. Someone must have come through and cleaned it recently. One upside to the increased visitation is that the trail is in much better shape, especially beyond the bathtub, although I would personally rather have a rough trail and no crowds. Even though the creeks here aren't very big, I sort of want to explore some of the other creeks not accessible by trail, because it's really hard to find crystal clear streams as unique as these, and I would love to find an obscure swimming hole as pretty as the ones on Devil's Fork.
flyminion: (Shine)
Raven Cliff Gorge, NCI finally got to explore Raven Cliff Gorge on Upper Creek, yesterday. This has been at the top of my swimming hole list for about a year, now. When I went to Hunt Fish Falls last summer, I got into a conversation with a guy there about swimming holes in the area. He said he had recently gone to Raven Cliff Gorge with his nephew and his nephew’s friend, and he said he would never do it again because there was a place where they had to hold onto a steel cable and scale the side of a cliff; he said you would die if you fell. I asked him where that was, and he said it was on Upper Creek. I was intrigued despite his description, being that Upper Creek Falls is one of my favorite places of all time, and the prospect of another accessible(ish) stretch of the creek with waterfalls and swimming holes was enough to pique my interest. I have always wondered what lay downstream of Upper Creek Falls, and I had scanned Google Earth once before and found what looked like a couple of substantial waterfalls ostensibly in the middle of nowhere, where the creek flows in the shape of a C around what looks like a large cliff jutting into its path. I figured that must be Raven Cliff Gorge. I tried looking it up, but I didn't have much luck. Most of what I found was for Raven Cliff Falls in South Carolina and Georgia (which I might actually have to visit now that I have seen pictures of them, but those were not the Raven Cliff I was looking for). Even after scouring the internet in the subsequent weeks, information on the Raven Cliff Gorge of Upper Creek was pretty scant, but I did manage to scrounge up enough information to get a reasonable idea of how to get to it and what to expect. Part of the problem is that Raven Cliff Gorge is apparently an unofficial and somewhat unknown name for the area (I think that name is mostly used by the whitewater community). The most thorough source I found was a blog by backpacker Tipi Walter, which included photo documentations of his various backpacking adventures in the area dating back to the 1980s. He never uses the name Raven Cliff Gorge (I believe he refers to it as Upper Creek Canyon). I also found a useful description (with photos) of the downstream approach to the gorge, including the cable crossing, on a fishing website. The only other tasty tidbit I found (and the only one that actually uses the name Raven Cliff Gorge) was this POV kayaking video that shows the creek at high flow. Kevin Adams gives the area a listing in the third edition of his North Carolina Waterfalls book, which just came out about a month ago, although the only information it contained that I had not already gleaned from the aforementioned sources was the GPS location where one leaves the official trail to approach the gorge through the creek from downstream (that information ended up being pretty useful). After finding these resources and studying Google Earth (which makes everything look so much less imposing than it really is) an admittedly ridiculous amount, I had all the information I was going to get.

Google Earth view of Ravens Cliff Gorge on Upper Creek

All that was left to do now was wait for a dry day and round up a hiking buddy or two. After the long bout of thunderstorms we have had lately, this weekend was forecasted to be dry. I figured it was time for another mountain swimming hole excursion, and I was able to rope Mary and Orin into going with me. We left Raleigh around 9:15 AM to make the 3.5 hour drive to the Wilson Creek Area. They asked where I was planning on taking them, and I said I was thinking about either Steels Creek or Raven Cliff Gorge. Both involve treacherous creek walks that I would not do alone. I was about 85% sure we would end up going to Steels Creek, which I thought would probably be better given that Raven Cliff would probably take a full six hours, and we would have to drive back afterwards. However, Raven Cliff Gorge piqued their interest when I told them about it, and they seemed more intrigued than discouraged by the prospect of a cable crossing (especially Orin, who is basically Spider-Man when it comes to climbing on rocks). When we stopped for lunch in Morganton, I asked which place they would rather go. They both said they had no opinion at first, but then Orin asked which was more difficult. I said probably Raven Cliff Gorge, to which he responded, “Let’s do that one.”

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

We weren’t sure where to eat on the way back, but then we saw a billboard advertising some kind of breakfast food, which inspired the obvious idea that we needed to go to iHop. I ate a bacon cheeseburger with a side of white chocolate chip raspberry pancakes, because who says you can’t have it all? We got back to Raleigh around midnight, and I had to get up and go to work the next morning. I thought 6 AM was going to come real’ fast, and believe me, it did.
flyminion: (Shine)
Point of Interest #4 - Gragg ProngI woke up this morning still not entirely sure what I was going to do for the second day of my weekend swimming hole bonanza, so I decided I would go to Gragg Prong and maybe Harper Creek Falls if I finished early at Gragg Prong (in hindsight, I’m laughing at myself for thinking I would get finished early). I had visited Gragg Prong last year, but I had only hit the three main waterfalls of the trail. The trail goes high above the creek in some places, and I had caught glimpses through the leaves of whitewater and possible pools down below, but I had not had time to check them out because I also included Hunt Fish Falls on Lost Cove Creek in that hike, which ate up any time I might have had for off-trail exploring. Today I was going to forego Lost Cove Creek so that I could concentrate on finding potentially hidden waterfalls and swimming holes on Gragg Prong. After last year’s swimming hole treks, I started studying Google Earth satellite imagery for creeks I wanted to explore to get an idea of which areas I wanted to focus on and how close I could get via established trails. I had marked six points of interest (POIs) on Gragg Prong that I had not investigated last time, so my objective for today was to explore all six POIs and take pictures of them, because, as they say, "Pics or it didn't happen."

Before I get started, I want to go over some nomenclature for the main waterfalls to avoid confusion. In my previous entry on Gragg Prong, I referred to the first major swimming hole as the ‘bonus’ waterfall, and the waterfall with a tub in the middle as “Upper Gragg Prong Falls”. In researching the hike last year, all the sources I had seen referred only to Upper and Lower Gragg Prong Falls, and they ignored the bonus waterfall, or acknowledged that it existed but said it had no name. In the third edition of Kevin Adams’ North Carolina Waterfalls book, he refers to the bonus waterfall as Upper Gragg Prong Falls and the tub waterfall as Middle Gragg Prong Falls. I think that naming scheme makes more sense, so I am using it for this entry. In other words, the “bonus waterfall” or “bonus hole” in my previous entry will be Upper Gragg Prong Falls in this entry, and “Upper Gragg Prong Falls” from my last entry will be referred to as Middle Gragg Prong Falls in this entry. Confusing? Great! Let’s get started.

My points of interest appear as question marks on the map, and the known waterfalls are marked with blue pins:
Points of Interest on Gragg Prong

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

So yeah, I think this concludes my exploration of Gragg Prong. My curiosities for that creek are satisfied. Four of my six POIs turned out to be fairly unremarkable (albeit scenic), but two of them were legitimate swimming holes. I still maintain that the tub in Middle Gragg Prong Falls is the best swimming hole on the creek, and Upper Gragg Prong Falls is probably the second best (at least as far as aesthetics). The two hidden ones aren’t worth a trip to Gragg Prong on their own, but they are nice places to go if you are on the trail and want to cool off in relative seclusion.

Well, this concludes my weekend of back-to-back swimming hole adventures. I am about to sleep reeeal good. Until next time!

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