The day started early with a trip to Wolf Creek Falls.
We had the waterfall all to ourselves.
After lunch, we hiked to a 2nd waterfall – Little Fall Branch.
Then on to Max Patch for a sunset and Milky Way viewing party. Lighting plays in the clouds.
the sunset was amazing!
But the Milky Way was awesome with lightning still bouncing around the clouds below it!
Day 2 – DuPont State Forest. No bike pictures, but after the ride I hiked to Triple Falls
and Hooker Falls for a quick swim
Then to New Belgium Brewery for recovery fluids.
and the drive home sunset.
An Instagram follower asked me for interior shots of the Flippac
Save the best for last…. DuPont State Forest and last trail of the day, the super fast and flowing Ridgeline Trail.
Grassy Creek Falls
Silvervale Falls
There are a lot of road closures due to recent rains (221 south of Blowing Rock) and teh Parkway was closed at the Viaduct. SO I spent the middle of teh day driving dirt roads and exploring on my way to….
Upper Creek Falls….
and a swimming hole. The water was VERY cold!
Finished the day with a sunset on the Blue Ridge Parkway
I slept in this morning and decided to ride Tsali’s Left Loop the recommended direction, then turn around and ride it race direction as a negative split. I then rode Right Loop as a cool down, before taking the fire road back.
Fontana Lake is low….
After riding, cleaning up and packing up I did some exploring. First was the tunnel on the Road to Nowhere…. I was disappointed, first it is a short hike, the tunnel isn’t long enough to need a light, but it is still a cool story. I wanted to hike further down to a waterfall, but I misread the description, not a 5 mile round trip, but 5 miles each way…. opps!
Tom Branch Falls in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.
Juney Whank Falls
After a quick bite in Bryson City I drove around a bit looking for primitive camping, but gave up and started home. A great weekend!
A day on the water. We headed back to Falls Reservoir, the bit of water between two dams on the Yadkin River, because it is always quite and very few motorboats. The waterfall was flowing nicely – I can not find a name for it, before the dams, the area was known as The Narrows.
We paddled towards the northern dam, but there was fast water and since I flipped a boat in a release here we turned back and had lunch on an island. We found remains of previous visitors!
One more look at the waterfall and headed home!
I woke up with no plan for the day, as I ate breakfast I decided, look for frozen waterfalls. I looked at mountains in Boone or Highlands, but decided Hanging Rock State Park.
I started at Window Falls, because I knew I could walk behind it.
Self timer behind the falls.
Window Falls through the window.
The front view.
Photo of me by my student Khadejeh at Lower Cascades. I ran into a couple of students on my last waterfall of the day… when I think back to my college days and all the chasing I did for photographs (and I still do) I am thrilled when I see students doing more than just my assignments. PS like the hat? Deb knitted for me!
After the waterfalls, I mountain biked the trails at Moores Spring (MST) what a fun ride!
Today was the planned hiking day. My first goal was Crabtree Falls.
It was as pretty as I hoped, and I loved the ice.
We stayed so long, the dog started shivering….
it is funny watching other people, several walked up, looked at the waterfall, took a selfie and left.
But at least they are not in my way!
Next up was Roaring Forks Falls
We had this one to ourselves!
All about the details.
We ended the day at Setrock Creek Falls.
The “least” pretty, but again we had the scene all to ourselves!
You needed at least one picture of the truck.
Sam and I headed to the mountains. I needed to get my hike #52 of the #52hikechallenge and hoped to snowshoe and sled.
They had no snow, so we went to Hawksnest Snow Tubing
since we had some time we hiked to Otter Falls.
Hike #48 #52hikechallenge
Hanging Rock State Park
Really thought the fog would burn off.
The edge of Hanging Rock
Window Falls
