Adventures of a swimming hole aficionado

Today, 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.