First we saw Catawba Falls, which was one of Jeran's favorites.
Then we camped for the night. It was an all right little campground that focused on tube rentals and shuttles for tubing the Green River. They had a pond near the campsites that had tons of - I identified it when I got home - bullfrogs! They are so noisy (here's what they sound like). Imagine probably 20 of those off and on every 10 minutes all night. Plus about a billion cicadas, also squawking all night. And campers arriving at all hours of night for Coon Dog Days, which has nothing to do with hotdogs or corndogs as was my first naive guess, and everything to do with hound dogs. That night, I did not sleep very well but at least that was not due to rain! Jeran slept much better, which is good because he did all of the driving.
First off that morning we went to Sliding Rock, where we had thought about swimming (and sliding) but it was too early in the day and was still cold and empty. You can slide down the falls into the pool at the base - they even have a lifeguard.
Looking Glass Falls is very pretty. There were tons of berries all along the short path (blackberries or raspberries) but they weren't ripe and I don't know if I would have eaten any if they were.
We drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway through Pisgah National Forest.
We hiked to a few little falls in an area called Graveyard Ridge. This is Lower Falls:
And after a little mile-long detour (because we were working with the trail map only in our memories), we made it to Upper Falls, which I did not take any pictures of because there were lots of people there, including a breastfeeder sitting almost under the falls and it seemed weird to pull out the camera. All in all, we hiked about 4.5 miles for those two falls and got sore feet and soon-to-be sore legs.
Next we saw some very pretty areas. Shoal Creek Falls and French Broad Falls sit right below a church-owned building in a little ravine. These two falls are adjacent to each other in a little semicircle.
Looking the other direction from these two falls.
A trail continues down the river with several little falls and then Bird Rock Falls aka Cathedral Falls. There was a nice area where we waded and looked at the tall rock walls of the little canyon. This was probably my favorite area and the pictures do not do it justice.
We saw Toxaway Falls, which is hard to see because you are at the top of it where it runs under the road and then over the falls.
Then we hiked down to Whitewater Falls, which was pretty spectacular. It is supposedly the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi, and was very big and beautiful.
We then saw Bridal Veil Falls, which was a bit lame even though it had been raining recently. Also, those people were never going to leave. But it was fun to it to see the variety of waterfalls. This one you can actually drive behind, and walk under.
Next we saw Dry Falls, which was awesome. The sheer volume of water pouring over the falls was amazing, even more so because you can walk around behind the falls on a paved path and get sprayed by the mist (which feels very nice on a hot, humid day) and see the water exactly as it shoots over the edges.
We drove on more of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was very spectacular and reminded me a little of road trips with my family growing up were I was certain we were about to plummet to our deaths over the side of the cliff. The roads are actually not tooooo near the edge, but when I look to either side of me and can see the ground falling away drastically into forest, I do get a little nervous. At some point, Jeran and I discussed how long it would be before anyone missed us and sent out a search party if we went over the edge somewhere when no one was around. I think Jeran said a month... Seriously?!
We saw Glen Falls, which was pretty with lots of little cascades.
After this we ventured into northern Georgia to stay the night and then go to Tallulah Gorge, which is a spectacular, deep gorge with a river cutting through it. We trekked down the one billion stairs to the Hurricane Falls viewing area.
The Tallulah Gorge dam was built in 1913 and looks like it, but it is pretty amazing what they could do, even back then.
Some views of the Gorge:
Apparently at least two persons have crossed this on tightropes. Crazy.
Jeran crossing the suspension bridge over the gorge:
Leaving Georgia, we headed home, stopping en route to see the view from Clingman's Dome, the tallest mountain in the Smokies and in Tennessee. Getting to the top of this mountian entails a long curvy drive along another section of the Blue Ridge Parkway through Smoky Mountain National Forest behind a very slow truck (confirmed on the way back down). Clingman's Dome is topped by a tall tower for an improved view over the trees. You have to hike a grueling, climbing half mile to the tower and it was very hot and steep. Unfortunately, it was not a very clear day so we couldn't see too far, but it was a nice view anyways.
On top of Old Smoky!
In all, we saw at least 12 waterfalls and many spectacular vistas and I have never gotten more sweaty from hiking. It was a gorgeous trip and it was nice to get away for a few days! Now I feel we've sampled a good amount of North Carolina - it would be a shame to live here for a time and miss out on these treasures!
"Additionally, the doctor believed that the pleasure of homecoming was more than recompense for the pains of setting out, and that therefore it was always worth departing." - Louis de Bernieres in Corelli's Mandolin
