BEYOND THE WALL
I
made my (nearly) annual spring wildflower trip to Panthertown
Valley last weekend. Brenda and George
joined me and the dogs for a dayhike to check on the
trilliums and see how the pink ladyslippers were
coming along. I was hopeful that we
would catch both – the trilliums near their end, and the ladyslippers
at their beginning.
We
started our hike at the Cold Mountain Gap Trailhead on the east side of the valley
around 10am. We decided to hit the most
popular areas early, before they got crowded.
As it turned out, we didn’t need to worry despite the lovely
weather. Panthertown
Valley was nearly deserted. We only ran
into a few groups of dayhikers and one group of
backpackers the whole day. Apparently
Mother’s Day is the perfect day to go!
We
hiked down to Schoolhouse Falls, where we stopped for photos. It was too sunny for waterfall photography,
but that didn’t stop us from trying.
From there, we hiked up Little Green Mountain and out to Tranquility
Point. It was a great day to take in the
views from one of the most scenic spots in the valley. George had been to Panthertown
previously, but had never hiked up Little Green. I’m glad he was finally able to experience
it!
It
had been a few years since my last visit, and I managed to get off-route
leaving Tranquility Point. We ended up
in maze of campsite paths before finally finding our way back out onto the
cliffs. We actually backtracked a bit to
catch the views we had missed. My
favorite is from the cliff just south of Tranquility Point, because it includes
those cliffs in the foreground and Blackrock Mountain beyond.
From
there we descended to the Mac’s Gap Trail.
We followed it down to Boggy Creek and on to one of my favorite places
on the planet. I’ve spent more nights in
the wilderness camped near Boggy Creek than anywhere else, and I never get
tired of it. It’s always quiet and
peaceful, even on busy weekends, and somehow there’s always a pleasant breeze
blowing through there. We stopped for
lunch, and afterwards I found a few painted trillium
blooming. The display was a little
disappointing though. Some of the
trillium hadn’t bloomed yet, while others had already come and gone.
After
lunch we hiked all the way to Panthertown Creek
before I realized that we’d overshot the best place to look for ladyslippers. We
backtracked, and stopped briefly at the edge of the bog. I love the view of the cliffs on Blackrock
Mountain from here. While we were there,
Kona managed to completely submerge herself in the mud.
From
there it was just a short walk to one of the areas that gets overrun with ladyslippers. It was
May11th, and they were just getting started.
At first we only found some plants, but no blooms. However, some additional searching led to a
nice bed with about a dozen already in bloom.
Even they were really just beginning, but it was nice to find a few of
them.
We
returned to the trail and hiked up to Granny Burrell Falls. Incredibly, there was nobody around. Some passing clouds improved the conditions
for photography, so we stopped for pictures. Then we continued up the wet, muddy goat path
along Panthertown Creek. We followed it to the Great Wall Trail, which
we hiked past the shelter. Beyond, we
paralleled the Great Wall – towering cliffs of Big Green Mountain. The cliffs are impressive, but they
tease. The forest is just thick enough
to obscure the view.
We
decided to explore. We found a faint
path running towards the base of the wall.
We followed it, but it petered out.
We wandered around a bit before stumbling upon another path. This one took us up through a jumble of
boulders to the base of the cliff. The
vantage there is really cool! The cliffs
run straight and sheer in either direction, and they tower overhead. While we were there, we heard some climbers
on the wall nearby.
From
there it was on to the next adventure.
One of our primary goals for the day was an off-trail hike to Panthertown Creek Falls.
It’s one of the few waterfalls in the valley I hadn’t been to. A friend and I tried to reach once in the
winter, but it had snowed the night before.
Every time we bumped into a tree we were doused with wet snow. Needless to say, we didn’t make it very far.
I’d
received directions from a friend prior to our hike. Apparently there was now something of a
beaten path that was marked with ribbons.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the beginning of it. After a bit of wandering around we decided to
just head upstream. We started out on
the east side of the creek, and a bit above it.
That was pretty close to where we needed be. Unfortunately, the terrain and vegetation
kept pushing us down towards the creek.
Before long we were walking alongside it. I knew this was wrong, but a better option
wasn’t evident. The bushwhacking was
awful though. It was so thick in there
that we were barely making any progress at all.
Eventually
we gave up on the creek and headed up the slope above us. The climb was steep and the vegetation was
gnarly, but it was the best move I made all day. Before long we stumbled on the path. From there, we were able to follow it all the
way to the falls.
Panthertown Creek Falls is a
cascade with three distinct levels. We
actually overshot the first two sections on our way in because the trail stays
on the hillside above the creek. We came
out at the uppermost section, but thought there was still more above us. Some steep, ugly bushwhacking in briars and doghobble corrected that misconception. On the way back we stopped at the middle and
lower sections. The middle section is
the most scenic, as the creek tumbles below an impressive overhanging
cliff. Getting a good photo would’ve
required a tricky downclimb to the base. The sun was back out and the light was poor,
so I decided to save that for another day.
The
hike back to the Great Wall Trail was much easier since we were able to follow a
rough path the whole way. It’s
well-marked with ribbons except at the actual junction with the main
trail. At that point, there’s nothing to
indicate the side path, and the route isn’t apparent. It’s just a couple minutes uphill from where
the Great Wall Trail turns uphill from Panthertown
Creek towards Big Green Mountain.
We
were all dreading the climb up Big Green, but it was easier than I
remembered. We found lots of painted
trillium along here, too. From the crest
of Big Green we hiked down to the Mac’s Gap Trail and on to Greenland
Creek. It was getting late, so we
skipped the short side trip to Greenland Creek Falls. We made it out around 5:30, about 7 ½ hours
after starting. That’s not much of a
pace for a 9 mile hike, but we spent most of that time exploring, which is the
best way to spend a day in Panthertown Valley!
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