PADDY
A
couple of years ago, while researching a hike in the Dobson Knob area west of
Linville Gorge, I stumbled across a brief mention of a waterfall I’d never
heard of. I found a lead on the North
Carolina Sierra Club’s website here:
http://northcarolina.sierraclub.org/pisgah/ras/dobsonknob/dobsonkb.html
The
website describes it as a 50’ waterfall on the Yellow Fork of Paddy Creek, just
upstream from the Yellow Fork’s confluence with the Black Fork. I was intrigued, yet skeptical. The usual resources for North Carolina
waterfalls made no mention of it. Plus,
the topo map doesn’t really suggest the presence of a
major waterfall. On the other hand, I figured it couldn’t hurt
to have a look. Topo
maps aren’t always completely accurate, and sometimes features can “hide”
between those 40’ elevation contours.
A
year so ago I made a solo attempt at exploring the area. The source referenced above mentions two trails
running west from the Kistler highway into the Paddy
Creek drainage. On that first attempt I
hiked one of them. Unfortunately I
picked the wrong one. The trail (actually
an old road) ended up curving back to the road.
I made a brief attempt at bushwhacking down towards the creek, but gave
up quickly.
Last
weekend I decided to make another attempt.
One of my hiking buddies, Brenda, had recently expressed interest in
exploring Linville Gorge. She had never
been there, so I suggested a pair of half day hikes. The first would be an attempt at the mystery
waterfall. That afternoon we’d hike the Rockjock Trail, which would give Brenda a scenic
introduction to the most dramatic canyon in the southeastern U.S.
We
made plans to meet at one of the boat ramps on Lake James off highway 126. However, there was a bit of a snafu, and we
ended up in different parking areas.
Fortunately our cell phones worked, and I was able to determine that she
was actually at one of the access points for Lake James State Park. I figured she was at
the new Paddy Creek access and drove up there.
I’d never been in this new part of the park, and couldn’t believe how
long the entrance road was. I finally
reached the visitor’s center at the end, only to discover that she wasn’t
there. After another phone call I
realized that she was actually farther west on 126. Once we got that figured out I gave her
directions to meet me. She arrived a couple of minutes
later and followed me from there.
The
drive up Kistler was interesting. There were trees down across the road in
several places, presumably from the high winds that had started the previous
afternoon. Luckily all of them were avoidable. I did stop at one of the overlooks on Kistler so Brenda could check out the view of Shortoff and Lake James.
I’ve seen it so many times that I rarely pause there, but seeing her
take it in for the first time was a reminder of just how dramatic it is.
We
continued up Kistler but pulled off on the shoulder
about a ¼ mile before reaching the southern trailhead for the Mountains to Sea
Trailhead. There are actually two trails
heading west along this part of Kistler. The first (if coming from the south) is the
old road I’d tried a year earlier. The
footpath we attempted on this hike is another 0.1 mile to the north. At our visit the trailhead was marked with
orange ribbons and a plastic grocery bag tied to a small tree.
We
got something of a late start thanks to our earlier confusion. At least that gave the day a chance to warm
up a bit. We started our hike under
partly sunny skies, but temperatures were still in the low 30s without
considering the gusty winds.
We
followed a faint but reasonably clear trail into the woods. Before long the path joined an old roadbed,
and we began contouring around the north side of hill 2715’. After a few minutes we reached a junction
marked with a cairn. There is also an
old rusty bucket in the woods just above the trail.
I
pondered the map for a couple of minutes.
The road stayed on an even contour, and it looked like it might just
continue swinging around hill 2715’. The
other trail descended rather steeply towards the creek. It looked like that trail was heading north
of our target, which was the confluence of the Yellow Fork and the Black
Fork. However, it looked a lot more
promising than the old roadbed. We
headed down.
My
dog Boone led the way as we worked our way down through partially burned
forest. The descent was moderately steep
but not unreasonable. The trail was in
better shape than I’d expected. In fact,
I was pleased to be on a trail at all.
I’d come expecting at least some bushwhacking.
We
were within ear-shot of the creek when we reached the next junction. This one was also marked with a cairn. Although the vegetation was rather thick, we
could see the lay of the land fairly well here.
The creek was directly below us, and we could see that it dropped
significantly over a very short distance.
Sheer cliffs on the opposite side of the creek offered more evidence of
the presence of a waterfall. To this
point, I’d had relatively low expectations for this hike. I wasn’t expecting anything more dramatic
than a short run of cascades. However,
now I was beginning to believe that there might be a serious waterfall here.
We
took the left fork there, as it seemed to be heading towards the likely
location of the waterfall. After a short
distance we reached the brink of a cliff.
At first I didn’t see a route down.
Then I spotted the ladder. There
was a 10’ wooded ladder propped against the side of the cliff below us. I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or
alarmed. The ladder looked dubious at
best. Just approaching it was going to
be a challenge.
I
sat down and “buttwhacked” until I could get my feet
on the top rung. When I touched it, the
whole thing swayed alarmingly.
Yikes! The base of the ladder was
resting against a couple of small trees, but it just didn’t look very
stable. I wasn’t real comfortable with
it – plus, how would I get the dog down?
We decided to look for another route.
We
tried the other trail first. We followed
it down to the creek just upstream from where we suspected the falls were. I believe the trail crosses the creek here
and climbs up to join FR106 near the microwave tower near Dobson Knob. However, we didn’t scout that part of the
trail. Instead, we tried to force our
way downstream. This effort did lead us
to an impressive overhanging cliff, but a horrific tangle of rhododendrons and
briers blocked further progress. We abandoned
that attempt after a bit of thrashing around and subsequent bleeding.
We
returned to the ladder and Brenda decided to give it a try. To our relief, the ladder stabilized once she
got to the second rung. She descended it
like a crab, facing out. I followed, and
found it much more stable than it had appeared.
At the base, I noticed that it is well-anchored around the trunks of two
small trees.
We
still had one dilemma. Boone was still
at the top of the cliff, whining and crying.
There’s nothing more distressing to Boone than being left behind. I explored a bit, and found a break in the
cliffs just south of the ladder. I
thought he could descend there, but he didn’t want anything to do with it. Eventually I conceded defeat and suggested
that Brenda check out the falls while I waited with Boone. When she returned, she could babysit the dog
while I took my turn at the waterfall.
Brenda
disappeared, and I endured 15 minutes of Boone's whining. I spent most of that time trying to encourage
him to come down, but he wasn’t having it.
Finally Brenda returned with a twinkle in her eye and a grin on her
face. Apparently we had struck
gold.
I
hurried down the steep hillside. There
isn’t much of a trail beyond the ladder, but the route was obvious. Moments later I caught my first glimpse of
the falls, and that view spurred me on. I
reached the creek a minute later, and was thrilled with what I saw.
I
was in a deep grotto, surrounded by jagged cliffs on every side. The creek spilled through a notch in the
cliffs above, free falling and then cascading into a beautiful pool. That pool is incredibly deep and crystal
clear. I’d guess it’s at least 10’ deep
at the base of the falls, but it’s hard to judge. It might actually be deeper! The waterfall certainly isn’t 50’ high
though. If anything, I’d guess it’s half
that. However, it is quite lovely and
photogenic.
The
waterfall is beautiful, but that’s only the beginning. The entire area is fascinating. Downstream from the pool is a massive
boulder. The creek actually disappears
below the boulder. The stream then
tumbles over an underground waterfall that is clearly audible from the opposite
side of the rock. The creek then
re-emerges just downstream in another beautiful, peaceful pool. My buddy Johnny would describe this waterfall
as the kind of place you’d want to bring a lady friend for a picnic. Well, that’s assuming that your lady friend
doesn’t mind steep trails, wobbly ladders, and briers.
I
had to laugh at our earlier efforts at following the creek from upstream. There’s no way we would’ve made it down from
there without rappelling gear!
I
had just started taking photos when Boone arrived. Brenda arrived a
couple of minutes later, eager for another visit. Apparently she had tried to coax Boone down
just as I had. After a few minutes she
gave up and started climbing the ladder.
She was most of the way up when Boone pushed past her and raced down the
ladder unassisted.
We
lounged there for awhile enjoying the falls.
At one point I waded a shallow part of the pool to get a better angle
for photos. Flurries were in the air,
and that water was COLD! Afterwards I
had an early lunch of warm soup, but my feet didn’t really thaw until we hiked
out.
We
had one other foot related fiasco while we were there. While scrambling around near the base of the
falls, Brenda dislodged a large rock that fell directly on her foot. That was ugly, but it could’ve been
worse. It didn’t appear to do any
serious damage beyond a nasty bruise.
It
was after noon when we started back up.
Getting Boone back up the cliff was the only major challenge. I led him up through the break in the cliffs
and gave him a boost up to the top. I
climbed up after him, since I was already most of the way up. From there we endured a strenuous but
straight-forward hike back out. The
return hike took less than an hour. We
ended up spending 3 hours on the hike, but much of that time was spent getting
Boone up and down the cliff and simply enjoying the falls.
I’d
like to find out more about the waterfall we found. There’s no mention of it on the interwebs, with the exception of the Sierra Club website
mentioned at the beginning of the report.
Clearly we aren’t the first people to visit this waterfall (as evidenced
by a pretty good trail and a ladder). On
the other hand, there were no other signs of people around the falls. There are no real trails along the creek. There’s also no trash, which was a pleasant
surprise.
I’ll
definitely return to this area. I’d like
to explore more, though all off-trail hiking in that area is extremely
difficult thanks to the cliffs, briers, and rhododendrons. In particular I’d like to check out the Black
Fork, just to see if there is anything along there. Pond Ridge is also intriguing, as it features
a lot of exposed quartz. At the very
least I’ll be back to visit the falls, as I’m sure some of my friends will want
to see it.
Here
is a link to the GPS track that Brenda took on our hike:
http://www.brendajwiley.com/gps/yellow_branch_paddy_creek.html
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