CAN’T I LIVE WHILE I’M YOUNG?
I
turned 40 recently, and decided to celebrate with a mid-life crisis hike. Specifically, I decided to make another
attempt at one of the hardest hikes I’d ever done. Back when I was 27 Christy and I hiked to
Wintergreen Falls on the Toxaway River. Just getting to the mammoth swimming hole at the bottom of the falls had been an
achievement. However, most of
Wintergreen Falls isn’t visible from that point because the river twists as it
falls.
Being
young and foolish, we swam across the pool and scrambled up the bare rock
adjacent to the falls. At the top of the
first drop we found a faint path running through the woods. That led us to a deep pool at the top of the
first series of drops. We swam across
that pool, scrambled up more rocks, and swam through another pool. Eventually we worked our way up to a “natural
bridge”, where a huge boulder had fallen from the cliff above to span the
river. The waterfall continued beyond
that point, but we didn’t. The rocks
were too steep to climb safely, and bushwhacking through the woods barefoot
didn’t seem like a good idea. I vowed to
return, particularly when I found out that there were more waterfalls even
farther upstream that we hadn’t seen.
Jack
had never visited Wintergreen Falls, so I didn’t have much trouble talking him
into the hike. Since it’s a long drive
from Charlotte, we decided to incorporate it in a camping trip. Jack headed up to the Cherry Hill campground
on Friday evening. Due to work complications,
I met him at the Frozen Creek Road Trailhead in Gorges State Park on Saturday
morning. It had rained the previous
night, and there was still a little drizzle falling as we gathered our gear for
our hike.
The
hike down Auger Hole Road was fast and easy, aside from a recent blowdown that was blocking the road at the lower end. Hiking the dirt road isn’t very exciting,
though we did catch hints of several waterfalls along the way. The waterfalls where Auger Hole Branch and
Maple Springs Branch join were audible and partially visible from the
road. I also spotted another waterfall
on Maple Springs Branch a bit upstream.
It wasn’t the upper waterfall on Maple Springs Branch though – this one
downstream from there. As far as I know
it isn’t documented anywhere. It didn’t
look very big, but the stream is forced into a narrow chute that is probably
quite scenic. Unfortunately we didn’t
have time to bushwhack down for a closer look.
We
ran into two mountain bikers near where we departed Auger Hole Road. They were the only people we saw all day.
We
left Auger Hole Road a short distance before the Toxaway
River ford. We followed an old gated
road upstream, high above the river. We
climbed initially, before descending down to the river. The road more or less ended there, but we
were able to follow a decent fisherman’s path upstream. Before long we reached a pretty 10’
waterfall. We stopped there for photos
before continuing on.
We
reached Panther Branch, where we had a decision to make. It is possible to continue upstream from here
to the falls. However, that approach
apparently requires traversing some treacherous cliffs. I’ve always taken a less-direct route. Since that route isn’t particularly
difficult, we decided to stick with it.
We
picked up another old road on the far side of Panther Branch and climbed
steeply. Eventually the grade eased, and
before long we spotted a ribbon marking a reasonable route down. We descended back down to the river and
followed fisherman trails from there. We
reached the base of Wintergreen Falls and the edge of one of largest swimming
holes I’ve ever seen a bit later. It
took us about 3 hours to hike the 6 miles from the trailhead.
We
had lunch and contemplated our next move.
Swimming across the pool and climbing the rocks adjacent to the waterfall
wasn’t an option. Although I’d brought a
dry bag for my camera, I wasn’t eager to test it out. Plus, the rocks were wet from the recent
rain. Given the conditions, I wasn’t
sure that the direct approach would be safe.
Instead
we waded the knee deep river and began a long, arduous bushwhack along the west
side of the river. This was grueling,
but we had expected it. The worst part
was fighting through the heavy, wet vegetation.
Although the rain had stopped shortly after we started the hike, the
humidity was extreme. We were already
wet, and after a few minutes of bushwhacking, we were fully soaked. Even worse, our glasses kept fogging up, to
the extent that we had to take them off for extended periods of time.
The
path of least resistance kept leading us higher, and before long we were well
above the river. I didn’t want to get
too high, so we eventually picked a spot to descend. We came down at the edge of a pool
immediately downstream from the natural bridge that Christy and I had reached
on our previous visit. We took a break
there to decide our next move.
There
was a deep pool below us that would’ve required swimming. The hillside we had just descended wasn’t
hospitable, so we decided to try the opposite side. I thought if we could bushwhack up through
the woods we’d be able to come out on the river above the natural bridge. It was a good idea, too, at least in theory.
First
we had to cross the river. There was
only one place that wouldn’t have required swimming, and it was right at the
brink of a 10’ waterfall. It was a scary
spot to ford, but the footing wasn’t as bad as it looked. We crossed carefully and then assessed our
next move. Staying close to the river
wasn’t much of an option due to a huge deadfall on the bank. We had to climb up and around it.
We
fought our way steeply uphill through rhododendron, poison ivy, and
briars. Rather than going straight up we
tried to angle back towards the river.
This was working fine until we reached a break in the woods. We found a huge gully and lots of bare, wet
rock there, probably caused by a landslide.
Traversing it may have been possible, but a fall would almost certainly
have been fatal. We turned back,
defeated.
We
backtracked to the river and crossed at the same spot. We climbed back up the hillside until we
reached the base of the cliffs we had followed earlier. We tried to continue up the canyon along
here, but after 30 minutes we’d only traveled about 100 yards. At the rate we were going, we’d reach the
upper falls by late afternoon – on Tuesday.
We
returned to our lunch spot and took a swim.
The water was refreshing, and it was nice to wash off the dirt, bugs, mud,
stinging nettle residue, poison ivy juice, and blood. We headed back after our swim, returning to
the car in a bit less than 3 hours. So,
we hiked the 12 mile round trip in about 6 hours. The couple hundred yards we managed to cover
upstream took us 3 hours.
I
stopped at Twin Falls on the Thompson River for photos on the way to the
campground. There, I discovered that the
manual exposure options on my camera weren’t working. Later I concluded that the extreme humidity /
moisture had caused the problem.
Carrying my camera in the dry bag may have actually contributed to the
problem, since it was frequently moved from dry to wet conditions.
Jack
and I will probably give this one another try some day – maybe after we forget
how hard it is! We’ll need to do it in
warm, dry weather when the rocks are safe for scrambling.
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!