Day 6 & 7: Getting it Done

 Day 6

My goal this day was to head to Nantahala National Forest, pretty far southwest from where I was at.  That said, I headed north to civilization so I could find a McDonalds again.  I didn’t feel like making coffee again, and I needed WiFi again so I could finally upload my first blog post.  I made breakfast in the McDonalds parking lot (a little ironic, actually.  I set the Garmin for my first stop, Upper Sols Creek Falls.  The colors in the Appalachians were beautiful along the drive.

I don't recall which town I was driving through when I spotted this scene.  I found a doctor's office up on a hillside so that I could shoot over the power lines and traffic lights.  The clouds were amazing!  (Again, click on image to see a bigger version)

The trailhead for Upper Sols Creek Falls was not very obvious but my AllTrails app confirmed I was in the right spot.  This trail turned out to be one of those that about half into it you question whether you should keep going.  It wasn’t very long, but the second half was very steep sloped, so much so that someone had rigged up ropes to help your descent.  I decided to keep going, forgetting the obvious: coming back up would be a bitch!  I arrived at the creek with some very nice rapids.  My app indicated I needed to cross the creek in order to get to the actual falls.  However, I couldn’t find a spot to cross that I felt comfortable with.  Another photographer showed up, and he managed to cross, but he had much longer legs than me (and was much younger too).  So, I made do and grabbed some images of the rapids.

The rapids on Uppers Sols Creek

More rapids...almost as good as the falls themselves!

Now back up!  At first I couldn’t find the trail and started to freak out a bit.  But, my app helped me find the trail, and eventually I spotted the ropes.  This is when the obvious hit me…going up was indeed going to be a bitch.  I took many breaks, but it was definitely a heart pounding ascent, and I was sweating like a bandit.  I was grateful when I finally spotted Ansel in the distance.  Yay!

May be difficult to get perspective, but this is looking down the trail on my way back up.

I decided to forego visiting any more spots – I could do this tomorrow since they were close – and instead headed directly to my planned camping spot, Blue Valley Campground, in keeping with the strategy to get to campsites early.  Turned out there were several spots available, and in fact there was only one other person there (and I never saw human activity, however -- very curious).  The spot was beautiful…very quiet and peaceful.  I pulled out the camping chair and just enjoyed the solitude.

There was this moss-like fern growing everywhere.  Does this look like something to you?

Mushrooms!!!

Ansel at the Blue Valley Campground

Day 7

Up early (as usual).  Still no signs of activity “next door”.   Was the person lost?  Did something else (God forbid) happen to them?  Or did they simply sleep in the truck instead of the camper?  Very odd.

A waterfall called Glen Falls was very close so I headed for that but there was no obvious trail I could find.  It wasn’t high on my list so wasn’t willing to invest time searching for it.  I set the Garmin for the nearest town so I could get Wi-Fi again and figure out where I was going next.  While driving out on the Forest Service (FS) road (a well-maintained gravel road) I stumbled across a waterfall that I did not know about right beside the road…and it was a pretty cool one.  I wondered what the name of it was.

The unknown falls (but read following paragraph)

I found a really nice coffee shop in the “high end” tourist town of Highlands, NC (for you Michiganders, think Harbor Springs, Frankfort or other similar trendy places).  I bought a coffee, logged into the free Wifi and did my business.  As I was about to leave I noticed a very large framed photograph on the wall by a local photographer…it was the same waterfall I had just “discovered”.  No way!  There was no description of the image but there was a bio of the photographer along with an e-mail address.  So I emailed-him!  He replied right away and it seems the waterfall is called Brooks Creek Falls.  Nice!

Onward to Cullasaja Falls.  Not a “must see” but it wasn’t far away.  It is located on the Mountain Waters Scenic Byway, a 60-some mile, scenic byway from Highlands to Almond, NC.  Oh my gosh, this twisty-turny drive was beautiful with the fall colors…possibly second only to Highway 41 towards Copper Harbor in the Keweenaw (OK, I’m biased).  I didn’t drive the entire stretch, though I’m sure it would have been worth it, since I did not have the time (my goal later in the afternoon was Asheville to meet up with Mary Jo’s relative, Shelley).  When I got to Cullasaja Falls there was no parking (very small parking lot).  I turned around but still no luck.  That’s OK because the lighting wasn’t the best.  Instead, I stopped a Dry Falls Recreation Area which was free with my Senior park pass (have I said before that I love that pass?).  This turned out to be better than expected.  And I grabbed a few other images along the way.  I would highly recommend this drive!

A reservoir on the Cullasaja River

The Cullasaja River upstream of the falls

The "splash down" from Bridal Veil Falls along the scenic byway

Not Cullasaja Falls but still pretty cool rapids!

Dry Falls

Onto Asheville with two more possible stops (well, three actually).  The two other waterfalls, Whitewater Falls and Rainbow Falls, required long-ish hikes for which I didn’t have time, but the latter (which is located in Gorges State Park) looked like it would be very nice.

Onto Asheville where I stayed at Shelley & Barry's house and got a much needed shower (man, did that feel good).  We went to dinner at Barry's brewery & restaurant, The Thirsty Monk.  The beer, food and conversation was outstanding!  A very memorable evening.