GO BIG!

Team Waterfall had big plans last weekend. Our goal for Saturday was a hike / scramble / bushwhack / river wade on the Thompson River upstream from Lake Jocassee. We wanted to explore the river’s final gorge just before it reaches the lake. On Sunday, the plan was to explore a rarely visited stretch of the Whitewater River.

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. A rainy April had the rivers flowing deep and swift. More rain was expected on Saturday. A lot more rain, at least according to some forecasts. Our original plan to hike up the Thompson River was clearly not feasible. At one point we switched Saturday’s destination to Big Falls on the Thompson. That may have been doable, but the weather forecast discouraged even the hardiest members of Team Waterfall.

By Friday night the plan had been downgraded to a late afternoon hike to the base of Whitewater Falls. Some of us would camp Saturday night. If conditions were reasonable, we would still attempt the exploration of the Whitewater River on Sunday.

The plan was to meet around 4pm at the Whitewater Falls parking area. I wanted to get more hiking in, and I’m not opposed to walking in the rain. I left the house around mid-morning on Saturday and drove through steady rain for an hour or more. Conditions improved after that. It was still overcast, but I didn’t see any rain at all after about 10:30am. I drove through Brevard and on to the Frozen Creek access for Gorges State Park. There was one other car in the parking area when I pulled in. My revised goal was the waterfalls on Auger Fork Creek and Maple Springs Branch. I had never visited the upper falls on Auger Fork Creek, and my last visit to the other two waterfalls had been nearly 20 years earlier.

The dogs and I enjoyed a peaceful walk down Auger Hole Road under a neon green canopy that was vibrant from the recent rain. Wildflowers were sparse on this hike. I spotted some dwarf iris, but they were a bit beaten up from the rain. The best flowers were Vasey’s Trillium near Auger Fork Creek.

I followed the directions in the Kevin Adams guidebook. I had a little trouble finding the turn off Auger Hole Road, but it was right where he said it was. The descent was fairly steep, and it required a little bit of bushwhacking, but for the most part I was able to follow a beaten path. On the way down I had a decent through-the-trees view of the waterfall on Maple Springs Branch. Unfortunately this is the best view of it that I was able to get.

The base of the waterfalls is a neat spot. Both waterfalls tumble into the same shallow pool. Unfortunately the waterfalls are directly opposite each other, so it isn’t possible to include both of them in a single shot. There is a decent view of the waterfall on Auger Fork Creek from here, but the waterfall on Maple Springs Branch is largely hidden by the dense vegetation. From the base, I scrambled up a rough path along the lower part of the waterfall on Maple Springs Branch. I reached a bench with a better view of that waterfall, though the dense foliage and substantial deadfall took away from the beauty. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a great view of the waterfall on Auger Fork Creek from this vantage point. It was worth scrambling up there just for that view.

I returned to Auger Hole Road and headed back. I did make a quick side trip to the upper falls on Auger Fork Creek. There was almost no trail to this one, but the terrain is less steep. The waterfall is pretty small, and there is a fallen tree on top of it. Despite this, it is still a pretty spot.

I returned to the car and drove towards Whitewater Falls. I parked where 281 crosses the Whitewater River, as I wanted to drop some firewood off at the campsite before meeting everyone at the upper overlook of Whitewater Falls. It turns out that carrying 2 bundles of firewood a ½ mile was the hardest part of the day. I stashed the firewood near the campsite and wrapped it in a tarp just in case the rain returned. Then I hiked the rest of the way to the upper overlook. Darrin, Dillon, Brenda, Thomas, and Kitty were waiting for me there. The Whitewater River was swollen from the recent rain, and the view was stunning. Fog was swirling around the upper part of the falls, creating a magical scene. We stopped for photos at the upper and middle overlooks before embarking on the real adventure.

A long descent on the Foothills Trail followed. We passed through a staggering wildflower display, as entire hillsides were covered in yellow trilliums and vasey’s trilliums. I’ve never seen that many yellow trillium in one place. I’m sure there were thousands – maybe even millons – of them blooming in the gorge.

We crossed the bridge over the river and picked up a faint trail heading upstream. Before long the trail faded away, and the bushwhacking began. There was a lot of sidehilling, with fallen trees, rhododendrons, and briars to contend with. There were lots of wildflowers along here, too. We persevered, and fought our way to the base of Whitewater Falls. It’s a cool view, even though the upper portion of the falls is blocked from sight. The spray was profuse down there, and the wind was fierce. The conditions made photography hopeless, so we didn’t linger long. As we turned to head back up, I began to wonder about our plans for Sunday. The hike I’d planned would require several river crossings, and one stretch of about ½ mile in the river itself.

We returned to the rim of the gorge. Brenda parted ways, while Darrin and Dillon returned to their cars for their camping gear. I did the same, except I’d parked at a different spot. I headed over to the campsite and found Spencer and Stephanie waiting for us there. They had just arrived after getting a late start from Greenville. It was great to see them, as it had been a few weeks since we’d last hiked together. We spent a few minutes catching up before Thomas and Kitty arrived to check out the brink of the falls. They all headed that way, while I returned to the car for my camping gear.

Darrin, Dillon, Spencer, Stephanie, and I enjoyed a splendid evening together. The weather cooperated – in fact, the moon and stars even made an appearance. We went through several bundles of firewood and several bottles of moonshine. Somehow, we never seemed to run out of things to talk about. Apparently we lost track of time, too. At one point I glanced at my watch, and was stunned to see that it was after 1am. I asked Darrin what time he thought it was, and he guessed 11. We wrapped it up shortly after that, since we had a big hike planned for Sunday.

I woke in the middle of the night flat on the ground. All of the air had leaked out of my thermarest. A quick investigation revealed a slice in the material that looked like it was caused by a dog’s toenail. Boone had already made a window in the tent’s mesh door earlier. Apparently he’d flattened my mattress as an encore.

Spencer had suggested getting up early for sunrise. I wasn’t sleeping much thanks to the hole in my mattress, so I roused the troops (quietly) at 6am. Spencer and Dillon joined me. First we drove up to the rocky ridge bordering 281. Those rocks offer a fine view of Whitewater Falls, and a limited view of Lake Jocassee. The actual sunrise was blocked by a mountain the east though. After trying two spots along there, we relocated to the Wiggington overlook on the road connecting highways 281 and 107. This provided a spectacular view of the early morning light on Lake Jocassee. Pockets of fog occupied the valleys below, and isolated puffs of mist rose from the lake itself. From there, Spencer and Dillon continued on to a final overlook on highway 107. I drove back to the bridge and hiked back to camp so I could eat and have coffee before packing up.

We were all a bit late breaking camp. We eventually regrouped at the Foothills Trail parking area on highway 281 just south of Whitewater Falls. We met Jack there, but unfortunately we lost Dillon. His girlfriend was having car trouble, and he needed to go rescue her.

At this point we had a decision to make. Should we attempt the exploration of the upper Whitewater River Gorge? Listening to that water roaring all night had gotten to me a little bit. I thought we could probably do it, but the river crossings would be treacherous and the scrambling and wading would be much more difficult than normal.

Spencer and Stephanie had never been to Big Falls on the Thompson. I’d been several times, but my last visit had been 5 years earlier on a foggy day, when the waterfall was completely hidden from view. The last time I’d actually seen Big Falls had been in 2007. Jack and Darrin had been more recently, but they were both open to going back.

Given the conditions, we decided to switch the hike from the Whitewater to the Thompson. We would save the upper Whitewater for another day.

We drove two cars over to Brewer Road and started the hike. First, we made a brief visit to High Falls on the Thompson. High Falls is often overshadowed by the bigger, more famous waterfalls in the area, but I like it quite a bit. Getting a view of the falls requires wading the river, which was a little tricky because the water was up. We all made it across without any problems, and spent some time enjoying our first waterfall of the day. Darrin took a quick swim, and the rest of us took photos.

On the way back we spotted some catesby’s trillium blooming on the hillside. Later we found more of them, along with some pink ladyslippers.

We backtracked to the main trail – an old road that runs from Brewer Road all the way to the Foothills Trail. We followed it down to the river and waded across. This crossing was a bit dicey, thanks to deep water, a strong current, and slippery rocks. That afternoon, on our way back, I opted to go through deeper water where the footing was better.

From there, we followed the old road down into the gorge. We passed a small waterfall and a big swimming hole just downstream from the ford. We jokingly named this feature waterfall 0.5 on the lower Thompson River. After that we passed a couple of campsites and a side trail to Simon’s Falls (formerly waterfall #1 on the lower Thompson River). We skipped that one and continued on to a crossing of a substantial tributary. Hidden Dome Falls is up this tributary. We thought about including a side trip to it, but I misread Rich’s directions on ncwaterfalls.com. By the time I realized my error, we had overshot the old roadbed we should’ve followed. We decided to add it to the end of the day if we had enough time and energy.

We reached a side trail marked with a cairn and a ribbon a bit later. There wasn’t much of a path, but it looked like it would take us down to Rich Falls (formerly waterfall #2 on the lower Thompson River). We headed down, but the route didn’t seem familiar. It ultimately brought us out right at the base of Rich Falls. The actual trail comes out a short distance downstream. Apparently we had turned off the main road too soon and followed a false trail. Later we removed the ribbon and cairn marking the incorrect route, as the other trail is already well-established, and there’s no need for two trails running parallel.

We had a long break and lunch at Rich Falls. Darrin went swimming again, while everyone else basked on the rocks and enjoyed the sunshine. Rich Falls is only 25’ high or so, but it is quite scenic. However, I actually like it more when water levels are a little lower. At those times, the details of the rock face it flows over are more prominent.

From there we hiked downstream a short distance before following the correct trail to the old road. We resumed the hike on the roadbed, and noticed that the gorge was dropping away steeply below us. We knew we were getting close to Big Falls! An impressive line of cliffs was visible through the trees on the opposite side of the gorge. One of our friends has been plotting to explore those cliffs.

We reached the side trail to Big Falls, which is marked with a pole and ribbons. We headed down into the gorge, trying to keep up with Stephanie, who was bubbling with enthusiasm. Early on the descent was pleasant, and we passed a blooming flame azalea and a mountain laurel with new buds. Before long the terrain became steep, and we found a series of fixed ropes along the route. We didn’t need them on the way down, but they were handy coming back up. There was only one tricky spot on the way down, where the trail passes through a narrow notch in the cliffs. There’s another rope in place here. I was afraid I would have trouble getting the dogs down, but Boone ran right down through it. Kona freaked out, but found a way to get around it.

We continued down to the river a short distance downstream from the falls. At one point we had to climb back up the bank a good ways to get around a huge fallen tree. One final descent brought us to the pool at the base of the falls. Big Falls was rocking! The high water levels were kicking up an incredible amount of spray. I also noticed a fascinating feature there. On river left, the final drop of Big Falls features a natural bridge. Some of the excess water was flowing under the bridge. At lower water levels this doesn’t happen, and the natural bridge isn’t particularly noticeable.

Everyone waded the river to climb up onto the massive rock face on river left. This rock is dangerous when wet (someone fell to their death from here last year), but the sun had dried it out. The crossing at the base of the falls was tricky. The water was mid-thigh deep, the footing was awkward, and the current was pushy. Kona managed to cross, mainly on boulders and deadfall, but Boone refused. He was barking his head off, so I waited on the far side until Darrin returned. Darrin was kind enough to wait with Boone while I made a quick visit to the big rock at Big Falls.

Spencer eventually climbed almost to the top of the falls. Afterwards, there was some discussion about getting out onto the natural bridge and jumping from it into the pool. The extra water and wet rocks made that plan unsafe though, so Darrin and Spencer settled for sliding down the lower rock face and into the pool at the base. It was just chilly enough in the wind and spray to discourage the rest of us from joining them.

While we were there, Stephanie smiled and said, “I have a new favorite waterfall”. It was then that I knew I’d made the right choice when I switched the hike that morning. Exploring new territory is thrilling, but sometimes showing friends special places is even more rewarding. And the upper Whitewater River gorge isn’t going anywhere. We’ll get there eventually.

Big Falls is a difficult place to leave. We eventually packed up though, following the same route back. Well, almost. Early on we got off the trail, and found ourselves at the base of a 100’ sheer cliff. It was a cool spot, and worth checking out. We eventually stumbled back on the trail, and endured the long, steep climb back up to the old road. We set a fast pace on the return, and decided to skip the side trip to Hidden Dome Falls.

It seems like every hike I’ve done over the last couple of months has been outstanding, and the trip to Big Falls was no exception. I had a blast hiking with Darrin, Jack, Spencer, and Stephanie again. I’m already looking forward to our next adventure together!

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