HUNTING THE SHADOW BEAR

Jack and I (along with the dogs) spent last weekend searching out new waterfalls. We approached the weekend without much of a plan – in fact, we didn’t even decide on a campground until Thursday. Jack headed up to Highlands on Friday afternoon, and luckily was able to grab the last campsite (of 4) at my favorite campground, Ammons Branch.

I met him near Lake Toxaway on Saturday morning. Our primary goal for the day was to hike to Flat Creek Falls. That’s a waterfall that has been on my to-do list for many years. First though, we decided to stop at a waterfall that was closer at hand. It was cloudy that morning, and we wanted to take advantage of the good photography conditions. Luckily, Raven Rock Falls on the Toxaway River was just a few miles away. This waterfall is on private property, but it is currently undeveloped and unposted.

We followed Waterfall Rich’s directions to the trailhead, which are still accurate, though my odometer showed the distance at 4.45 miles from highway 281. From the pulloff, we made the short (5-10 minute) hike down to the river. Along the way we passed two other waterfalls on small tributaries. The first was a minor diversion, but the second was interesting, as the trail actually passes behind it.

We arrived at Raven Rock Falls a couple of minutes later. I’d visited this one once, several years earlier. I’d forgotten just how pretty it is! It’s definitely one of the nicer ones around, and it’s lucky this it is still accessible.

We took a few photos before heading back. We returned to our cars, and resumed the drive to the trailhead for Flat Creek Falls at the end of Rock Bridge Road. As it turns out, the hardest part of getting to this waterfall may actually be the long drive to the middle of nowhere. We passed lots of parked pickup trucks along the way, which was a reminder that hunting season has started.

We were gathering our gear when Kona started barking up a storm. A hunter had appeared out of the woods, surprising her. We’ve been trying to work with her on not barking at people, but at the very least we need to train her not to bark at ones that are heavily armed. Fortunately the hunter wasn’t too annoyed by Kona’s outburst.

Fortunately we didn’t run into anyone else during our hike, armed or not.

There are several ways to get to the base of Flat Creek Falls. We chose to go the easy way. The only problem with this route is that it crosses about ½ mile of private property. Fortunately the private property in question is not developed or posted.

From the trailhead we rock hopped the creek and walked a couple of minutes to a campsite. We followed an old logging road from the left side of the campsite. After that, we took every right turn we came to. This route took us away from the creek initially. After a couple of miles we began to descend back towards it. Before long we could see a lake ahead through the trees. After a rapid descent, the main road we were following turned left, apparently towards the lake. We continued ahead, following a trail down the ridgeline, which is along the National Forest boundary. The descent was interrupted by one switchback, but before long we reached the creek. At this point, we knew the falls were upstream. We continued following an old roadbed up the creek, rock hopping it three more times. After the last crossing we had to scramble over some boulders to reach the base of the falls. This was the most challenging part of the hike, but even it wasn’t terribly difficult.

Flat Creek Falls is spectacular. It drops over 200’, and although the entire waterfall isn’t visible from the base, the part that is visible is breathtaking. Unfortunately our visit was on a sunny day, and photography was challenging. We tried to take advantage of the few thin clouds that drifted by. Those clouds helped a little, but I definitely plan to go back when conditions are better. At least there was some fall color around the falls, which helped the photos a bit.

We had lunch there before heading back. We followed the same route on the return, taking every left turn. This worked fine, but a word of caution is in order. The last turn (on the return) is difficult to see because the road is blocked with fallen trees and other debris. It would be very easy to miss this turn – and there’s no telling where you’d end up if you do!

That evening we drove to Cashiers and then on towards Highlands. About 4 miles west of Cashiers we stopped (or attempted to stop) at the Big Rhodes overlook to check out the Shadow Bear:

http://www.romanticasheville.com/cashiers_shadow_bear.htm

Unfortunately there was already a huge crowd of onlookers there. All of the official parking spots were taken, and quite a few others were improvised. We drove up the road towards Whitesides Mountain, and eventually created parking spots for ourselves as well. Then we walked back down highway 64 to the overlook. Luckily we were able to find spots along the guard rail to view the show.

The shadow bear appeared right on schedule shortly before 6pm. The shadow is created by the sun setting behind Whitesides Mountain. The shadow it creates looks like a bear (or a pig or a rat, depending on your point of view). We hung out for a while in the throng of tourists before the bear began to lose its shape. That was our cue to head for the campground.

Horse Cove Road has been freshly paved, which made our drive a bit smoother. However, I was shocked when we arrived at the campground. I’ve camped at Ammons Branch many times over the years, usually in the winter. On all of those trips I’ve never seen more than one other campsite occupied. Things were a little different this weekend. The campground was a complete zoo. The whole campground was occupied with hunters. The parking area was so crowded, we could barely get to our campsite.

This turned out to be nothing more than a minor nuisance. Our neighbors were friendly and surprisingly quiet. We enjoyed a cool, clear evening with cold beer and a roaring campfire. Shockingly, it didn’t rain a drop even though Jack was there.

We started the next morning off with a hearty breakfast. While we broke camp, we discussed our options for the day. It was an overcast morning, so we decided to start with a waterfall. Secret Falls was nearby, and although I’d been there once, I hadn’t gotten much in the way of photos.

We followed the directions in the Kevin Adams guide. As it turns out, this particular entry has the only significant error that I’ve found in his guidebook. We figured this out the hard way, after the forest road we were following deteriorated to the point that it was nearly impassable. His directions suggest driving 2.5 miles from Horse Cove Road to a fork, and then driving another 2.95 miles to another turn. As it turns out, the 2.95 figure is the total distance from Horse Cove Road. We eventually figured that out, and arrived at the trailhead a couple of minutes later. There was a young couple with two dogs and a toddler there, so we let them get a head start before I released the hounds.

There is a relatively new trail to Secret Falls, making for a fairly easy hike. The final descent is steep, and I had to leash the dogs since the couple with the baby was ahead of us. We arrived at the base of the falls about 15 minutes after leaving the parking area. Secret Falls is a powerful, impressive waterfall, and we actually had good lighting. On the other hand, a neon green inflatable raft was stuck on a ledge halfway up the falls. The raft was annoying distraction, and I suggested to Jack that he climb up there and remove it. He declined, and I was too busy (lazy) to edit it out of my photos.

We spent about 30 minutes there before heading back. Earlier I’d been contemplating a visit to Panthertown Valley, but it began to rain lightly just as we reached the cars. Under the circumstances, we decided to visit a couple more waterfalls in the area before calling it a day.

We drove out to highway 28 and then down to Blue Valley. I found mention of a roadside waterfall on Brooks Creek in the Adams guide, and this one did not disappoint! Although it’s beside a road, this particular forest road is in a remote corner of Blue Valley. The waterfall is quite nice, and we spent a few minutes taking photos before moving on.

Our final hike of the day was a little over a mile (round trip) to Picklesimer Rock House Falls (or, as Jack calls it, Pickle Meister Falls). The hike to it is easy, and the rain never exceeded a roaring drizzle. When we arrived, we couldn’t help but think that it looked familiar. As it turns out, Mister Pickle Falls is the twin sister of Moore Cove Falls, near Brevard. The only notable difference is that the cave (rock house) behind Picklesimer Falls is larger and more impressive than the one behind Moore Cove Falls.

We took photos of the falls and cave from every conceivable angle before hiking back. Back in Blue Valley we headed for home, as we had each had a long drive ahead of us. I’ll definitely return to the area, as I never seem to run out of ideas for hikes around Highlands. The surrounding area has a bunch of waterfalls that I still haven’t been to, and of course there are others that I want to get better photos of.

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