HIGH WATER
After
several dry months, the first weekend of March brought a major change in the
weather. Major storms hit the mountains
of North Carolina. Brevard got around 8”
of rain in just two days. The rain
brought a measure of drought relief to the area, but it turned the weekend into
something of a washout in terms of outdoor recreation.
Fortunately,
my job that week didn’t start until Tuesday.
I made plans with Bob J. to hike on Monday, after the rain passed. We decided to do a hike combining Doughton Park (part of the Blue Ridge Parkway) and Stone
Mountain State Park. After leaving a car
at the Widows Creek Trailhead in Stone Mountain, we’d head over to Longbottom Road and start our hike at the Basin Creek
Trailhead. We’d hike up the Cedar Ridge
Trail to Brinegar Cabin and the Blue Ridge
Parkway. From there we’d follow the
Mountains To Sea Trail back to Stone Mountain.
I
left a little early Monday morning, anticipating bad traffic on I-77. Surprisingly, that didn’t materialize. The drive was almost pleasant. I did notice several cars heading southbound
with snow on them. Apparently the wet
weekend weather had brought more than just rain to the higher mountains.
I
arrived at the Widows Creek Trailhead about 10 minutes early. I briefly contemplated running up to Widows
Creek Falls for photos. However, the sun
had just crested the trees to the east, and I was pretty sure the light would
be poor. I decided to save the falls for
the end of the hike, if time allowed.
I
had estimated the length of our hike at 11 ½ miles based upon Allen De Hart’s
guide to the NC Mountains to Sea Trail.
However, there was a sign at the trailhead that said the Devil’s Garden
Overlook was 6 miles away. The guidebook
had said 4.5. It turns out the trail has
been completely rerouted since the book was written. Due to additional reroutes, our hiked ending
up being about 14 miles.
Bob
arrived right at 9am. We shuttled over
to the Basin Creek Trailhead in his car and hit the trail around 9:30. It was a chilly morning (high temps were
forecasted to be in the low 40’s), but the rising sun promised to warm us as we
climbed up towards the Parkway.
We
started the hike along Basin Creek, which was running strong. I’m not sure how much rain that area
received, but it must’ve been significant.
All of the creeks were running full, including the small tributaries
that are often just trickles in dry weather.
After
a short distance along the creek we picked up the Cedar Ridge Trail. We climbed out of the valley, and enjoyed
views from an overlook part of the way up.
From there, we could see many distant peaks, including Table Rock and
Hawksbill in Linville Gorge. The climb
was steady but not steep, and we reached a lovely forest of White Pines and a
sunny meadow a little before noon. We
stopped there for lunch, as it was cold enough to make lounging in the sun
appealing.
After
eating we followed the Mountains to Sea Trail to the Parkway and Brinegar Cabin. Brinegar Cabin was built in 1876 by an early settler,
Martin Brinegar.
It’s an interesting site, but we
didn’t linger long on this occasion, as we still had many miles to go.
From
there we followed a relatively new stretch of the Mountains to Sea Trail
roughly parallel to the Parkway. We
climbed to the wooded summit of a minor knob and passed a couple of patches of
lingering snow. At that time I commented
that it might be the last snow we’d see this year. I was wrong.
A bit later we actually passed through a dusting of fresh snow. Plus, from an overlook near Air Bellows Gap,
we spotted dozens of snowy peaks in the distance. Most were the higher mountains in Ashe
County, along with Mount Rogers and Wilburn Ridge in southwest Virginia.
Eventually
we crossed the Parkway and descended to the headwaters of a tributary of Pine
Swamp Creek. We then climbed back up the
road and crossed to reach the Devils Garden Overlook. We gazed down the valley of Garden Creek,
noting icy rock faces on the cliff sides above.
Beyond the overlook we finally left the Parkway behind. We climbed to the crest of Scott Ridge, where
we reached a junction with the old trail and the re-routed trail. The old trail follows Scott Ridge south, before
turning east to descend to Widows Creek.
The new trail takes a less direct route through the headwaters of
Bullhead Creek.
We
headed that way, passing an old chimney along the way. Eventually we picked up an old road, which
took us to a junction with another old road leading to Mahogany Rock. We passed that by and continued down the
valley, contouring through coves and across minor ridges. We passed another old homesite,
before curving around into another drainage. It was here that we spotted an impressive
feature in the distance. At first we
took it to be a high, frozen cliff face.
However, after eying it for a few minutes, I began to suspect that we
were looking at an unexpected waterfall.
A couple of minutes with binoculars confirmed my suspicion.
This
came as a bit of a surprise. We were
quite a ways from the falls, but even from our vantage point we could tell it
was significant. Even though it was
getting late, I began to plot a way to get a better look.
This
ended up taking less effort than I expected.
The MST contoured around the valley and headed directly towards the
falls. Eventually we descended steeply
towards the creek, just downstream from our mystery waterfall. It was here that I realized that I had seen
this waterfall before. However, on that
occasion it hadn’t been anything more than a high cliff with a trickle of water
spilling over it. The heavy rains had
turned this unnamed falls into something far more impressive.
At
that point our only views had been distant, and through the trees. Once we reached the creek, I knew the falls
was less than a half mile upstream.
Despite the late hour, I knew that this was the time to see it. Saving it for another day wasn’t really an
option – unless it was another day following a weekend-long downpour.
Boone
and I headed upstream, while Bob waited.
The waterfall was actually on a tributary of the stream we had just
reached, and it was a good bit above our current elevation. I climbed away from the stream, sidehilling and climbing in the general direction of the
falls. The bushwhacking wasn’t too bad
initially, but it got ugly as I neared the falls. Soon I found myself on steep hillside
littered with boulders and overrun with Rhododendron. Finding a way through that maze was quite a
challenge, and it wasn’t long before Boone decided he’d had enough. Every time I doubled-back to avoid a
dead-end, he’d start back the way we’d come.
I
finally found a way through the mess and reached the base of the main part of
the falls. Unfortunately the view from
there wasn’t great. The falls were high
above me, but the upper portion was hidden from sight. Another long run of smaller falls and
cascades downstream was largely out of sight as well. From that vantage the waterfall was
completely unphotogenic, but that didn’t stop me from
pulling out the tripod. After all, it’s
unlikely that I’ll ever be back there in those conditions.
Boone
had been whining and crying during our bushwhack. No doubt he was tired from a long day on the
trail, plus all the additional miles he’d put in running back in forth through
the woods. Still, I was startled when he
made a completely unique noise upon seeing me pull my tripod out of my
pack. It was actually a groan. It sounded like something that would come
from an exceptionally disappointed Homer Simpson.
I
only spent a couple of minutes on photos since my vantage point was poor and I
didn’t want to inconvenience the dog any further. We made it back to where Bob was waiting in
record time and headed for home. We
climbed away from the stream, crossed a ridge, and descended into the next
valley. Once we reached Widows Creek we
knew we were almost finished.
I
wasn’t sure at the time, but post-hike research revealed that the mystery falls
is on an unnamed, seasonal tributary of a larger tributary of Bullhead Creek. The falls is at an elevation of about 2900’ east
of Scott Ridge. The stream originates on
Scott Ridge, very close to the headwaters of Widows Creek.
We
hiked downstream along Widows Creek, which is a lovely stream under any
circumstances. At high water it’s a
beauty. It was a shame to have to rush
by it, but it was already 5:30 and daylight was beginning to fade. We eventually passed high above Widows Creek
Falls before dropping down to the trailhead.
Due to the late hour, I skipped visiting Widows Creek Falls this
time. I also didn’t make it over to
Stone Mountain Falls, which was probably quite impressive with the additional
water flow.
Bob
and I enjoyed our hike, but I doubt I’ll do that same route again. The hike up Cedar Ridge in Doughton Park and the hike up the MST in Stone Mountain
State Park are both worth doing, but combining both of them into one long hike
might be more trouble than it’s worth.
Plus, our route required a car shuttle.
In the future I’ll probably just do one or the other, or combine those
trails with others in the area.
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