OUR NEWEST FOREST
NOTE: I RECENTLY DISCOVERED THAT PART OF THE ROUTE DESCRIBED BELOW CROSSES PRIVATE PROPERTY. SPECIFICALLY, THE OLD ROAD FROM THE TOP OF BRIDAL VEIL FALLS ALONG THE EAST SIDE OF THE LITTLE RIVER IS NOT OPEN TO PUBLIC ACCESS. AS A RESULT, I CANNOT RECOMMEND HIKING THROUGH THIS AREA.
A couple of years ago, the Nature Conservancy helped facilitate the sale of a large piece of property from DuPont to the state. It wasn't as simple as that may sound though. First, DuPont sold the land to a developer, because the state couldn't meet the asking price. The Nature Conservancy stepped in, and eventually the state had to condemn the land to force the developer to sell. After all of that, the land was finally purchased and designated the Dupont State Forest.
It's an odd piece of property. At over 10,000 acres it is heavily forested, and relatively undeveloped except for a large factory in the center of the tract. The plant is closed, but it certainly looks out of place out in the middle of the woods. The land is in the mountains west of Hendersonville. It makes me wonder why they ever decided to build a factory in such a remote location. Ultimately though, it worked out well. Dupont's prior ownership of the property is probably the only reason the whole area wasn't turned into a giant suburb or retirement village.
I had been meaning to hike at DuPont for a couple of years but hadn't gotten around to it. Horror stories of huge crowds at the prime attractions made me hesitant. Finally last weekend, cold air and a few inches of snow promised greater solitude.
I drove up Monday morning and met Bob & Laura west of Hendersonville. I followed them to the trailhead at the bridge over the Little River. Our first hike was just a short warm-up downstream to Hooker Falls. When we got out of the car, we were surprised to find it a warm, sunny day. There were several inches of snow on the ground though, which made it seem colder.
The walk to the falls was easy despite the snow. We arrived at the base of the falls, where the wide river tumbles over a long ledge. The falls are probably only 20' high, but very wide and incredibly scenic. A huge swimming hole at the base promises good times in warmer weather. The falls almost look runable in a kayak, but the water was up and there was a huge hydraulic at the base.
We loitered for a few minutes and I attempted some photographs. This was tricky, as the sun was low and directly behind the falls. I tried one futile shot straight-on, but had better luck from the left side.
We headed back to the parking lot, eager to start the main event for the day. We crossed the highway bridge over the Little River (a planned pedestrian bridge will eliminate this in the future) and found the trail to Triple Falls on the far side. We hiked up along the river, under a snowy tunnel of rhododendron. After a couple hundred yards, we spotted an unmarked side path leading to the river. We followed this, hoping that it would lead to the base of Triple Falls. Once on the riverbank things got interesting. The rocks were icy, and one slip would send us sliding into the frigid water. Bob and I put on our "Yaktrax" ice cleats and walked directly across sheets of ice like they were our living room floor. We worked our way upstream, climbing boulders as well as ice. Soon enough, we reached the base of the lower drop of Triple Falls. It was a spectacular sight of foaming whitewater, bare rock, snow, and ice. The other two parts of Triple Falls were hidden behind a bend in the river.
We returned to the main trail and headed steeply uphill. In short order, we reached a cleared overlook which revealed the upper two drops of Triple Falls. This was an outstanding, if somewhat distant, view of the falls. There was a side trail descending towards the base of the middle drop. We couldn't resist exploring it, despite poor footing due to snow, ice, and equally slippery mud. The path led to the top of the lower drop, or, if you prefer, the base of the middle. Either way, we were right in the middle of it. With the water up, the spray was incredible. The roar of the falls made conversation impossible.
We had trouble leaving, but High Falls still beckoned from upstream. We climbed another steep hill, before the trail and river became virtually flat. This stretch of river had barely a ripple. An unsuspecting person would never guess at the fury upstream and down. We reached a junction with the Riverbend Trail. We weren't sure, but thought it might lead to the base of High Falls. It stayed close to the river, and remained virtually flat its entire distance. It wasn't long before we could hear the roar of the falls ahead. A few minutes later we rounded a bend, and spotted the falls behind a wall of spray. Triple Falls had been spectacular, but this was no disappointment. The falls were over 100' high, and nearly as wide as they were tall. The river tumbled over a wide rock ledge totally devoid of vegetation.
We found snow-free rocks, which made a good lunch spot. Most importantly, they were far enough from the falls that we were out of the spray - most of the time. The rocks were in a sunny spot, too.
We lingered for awhile, but we still had a ways to go, and hoped to do another hike that afternoon. We returned to the main trail and climbed steeply once again. We reached another cleared overlook, this time looking down on High Falls. The view from here was marred by a gaudy covered bridge that was built across the top of the falls by the developer that owned the property briefly. If that tacky bridge is an indication of what he planned for his development, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that he had to sell the land. The good news is that the bridge isn't visible from the base of the falls.
We hiked to the top of the falls, where we found the bridge perched above the falls. It was back far enough that you couldn't get much of a view, though Mt. Pisgah was visible in the distance. There was a faint path through the rhododendron leading toward the brink of the falls, but it was roped off. Since I didn't bring any kerosene or explosives to improve the bridge with, we headed back. Next time I'll try to be better prepared.
We returned to the car on a loop trail, which was uninteresting but quick. We reached the car a little before 2pm, and decided it was too early to call it a day. It was a beautiful, cloudless day, and we couldn't let it pass without getting to the top of a mountain somewhere. We narrowed our choices to Stone Mountain and Cedar Rock, and ultimately chose Cedar Rock because it looked easier to get to. We made the 5 minute drive to the Corn Mill Shoals parking area and prepared for our third hike of the day.
I should probably spare a paragraph to eliminate any confusion over the place names in the DuPont area. Stone Mountain shouldn't be confused with the better-known peak and state park near Elkin. Cedar Rock shouldn't be confused with the Cedar Rock near Davidson River (only about 15 miles away). Bridal Veil Falls shouldn't be mistaken for the waterfall near Highlands. High Falls shouldn't be mixed up with any of the dozens of other waterfalls with the same name around the region. Hooker Falls shouldn't be mistaken for….well, I guess that one is unique, though such a pretty waterfall really could use a better name.
We started our hike to Cedar Rock on the Corn Mill Shoals Road. This is another old dirt road (most of the "trails" in DuPont are) but the snow hid that fact nicely. We reached the trail to Bridal Veil Falls, but continued ahead on a short side trip to the shoals. We descended to the Little River once again, and found "the shoals", which consist of a natural waterslide which might be a lot of fun in warm weather. For today though, it was just something else that was interesting to see.
We backtracked to the Bridal Veil Falls Trail, and passed 2 more trails leading up to Cedar Rock. We had plenty of time, so we decided to check out Bridal Veil Falls first. The old road followed the boundary of the old factory, which is still private property. We climbed a hill away from the river, and then descended steeply to the falls. We reached a ford just above the falls, which looked dicey under the best of circumstances. At high water, these weren't the best of circumstances. From the top of the falls, we had a great view downstream of crashing whitewater and bare rock.
We descended a path through the rhododendron to reach the base. At the bottom we found a deeply undercut rock below the falls. It was deep enough that it could almost be called a cave. In the shade of the cave, massive icicles reached from the ground to the ceiling. In that place, they almost could have been mistaken for stalactites and stalagmites joined into columns. Meanwhile, the river fell over the cave in a crashing roar. The main drop of the falls is probably only 30', but it is beautiful. Below the cave, the river raced down a long series of cascades and slides.
I followed the river downstream, avoiding the icy rocks that could send me body-surfing to the base of the cascades. I reached the bottom, and found another cascade that tumbled over huge boulders. I returned, climbing the bare rock along the foaming river. That's when it hit me. Something about the cave had seemed oddly familiar, but I couldn't place what it was. Walking back upstream though, I realized what it was. In the movie "Last of the Mohicans", the party is seen at one point walking upstream on bare rock along a cascading whitewater river. In another scene, they camp in a cave behind a waterfall. Our hiking club has analyzed that movie to death, always trying to identify where various scenes were filmed. Obviously a lot of footage came from Chimney Rock Park, Lake James, and Linville Gorge. However, filming occurred in a number of other places in the North Carolina mountains. We had never determined where the waterfall and cave were in that one scene. Now, I'm pretty sure it's Bridal Veil Falls. I guess I'll have to rent that movie AGAIN to verify it. I've rented that movie enough times to buy it twice by now!
We headed back from the falls and climbed the Cedar Rock Trail. We lost it once, when it made a switchback at the power lines. We found it pretty quickly though, and watched carefully for rock cairns afterwards. The trail crossed numerous stretches of bare granite reminiscent of Stone Mountain, or that other Cedar Rock. However, the mountain was wooded enough to limit the views. We did get a nice vista though on a flat shelf just below the wooded summit. Then we descended the Big Rock Trail, and reached the best view of the day. Here we found a distant view to the north, all the way to Looking Glass Rock, Black Balsam, Tennent Mountain, and Mount Pisgah. It was a great view to end the day on. Unfortunately, I had used all of my film taking pictures of waterfalls. Oh well, maybe that will teach me to save a picture or two.
We returned from the summit to the car in just a few minutes. It was already 5pm, and it was time to drive to Etowah for some barbecue. It's always nice to explore a new place, and DuPont State Forest had not disappointed us. We did run into a fair number of other hikers, despite the snow. We had long stretches of the hike to ourselves though (including Cedar Rock). It seems that most of the crowds flock to the major waterfalls. Those are great, but with 90+ miles of trails to explore, DuPont has plenty more to offer. We're looking forward to returning and exploring a few more of them.
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