WORLD’S EDGE
A
few years back, Peter Barr gave me a tip about a major waterfall in World’s
Edge, in the brand-new Chimney Rock State Park.
It’s called Wolf Creek Falls, on a tributary of Wolf Creek. The hike to the falls is easy, but it begins
on private property that isn’t accessible to the public. Since then, I’ve occasionally contemplated a
much longer approach that avoids the private property.
Last
Sunday I had a dilemma – watch football or go hiking? My original plan had been to hike on Saturday
and watch football on Sunday.
Unfortunately, steady, cold rain (and even a little bit of freezing
rain) derailed the Saturday hike. Since
this would probably be my last chance to hike before Christmas, I decided that
the football would have to be sacrificed.
As
usual, I considered several options. One
of the first to come to mind was World’s Edge.
The cliffs there offer great views, and the valleys harbor several known
waterfalls, along with the potential for many more. The two biggest streams, Pool Creek and Wolf
Creek, are fairly small. I figured that
the best time to visit them would be right after a lot of rain. Sunday seemed to be the perfect day.
Jack
and Waterfall Rich had done an exploratory hike along Pool Creek several years
earlier. They had found a whole series
of waterfalls and cascades. I had
actually been to the lowest of the waterfalls, on an official CMLC (Carolina
Mountain Land Conservancy) hike starting on private property. The CMLC has been instrumental in acquiring much
of the land that is now part of the new State Park.
Pool
Creek was one option for Sunday, but I was a little leery about exploring it
while the water levels were high. My
understanding was that Jack and Rich had scrambled up the bare rock next the
falls during part of their exploration.
Would that be slippery? It would
certainly be wet, and possibly icy. The
more I thought about it, the more I thought about heading towards Wolf Creek
instead. That would be a longer, more
difficult hike, but Wolf Creek Falls is supposed to be impressive.
I
have a map of World’s Edge that (I think) Rich created. It shows the trailhead at the end of World’s
Edge Road, at Ottanola Gap, along with some of the property lines. It also notes some of the old roads in the
area, including a now gated extension of World’s Edge Road along the cliffs, as
well as another gated road that descends into the valley. It follows a ridge down between Pool Creek
and Wolf Creek. Wolf Creek Falls is noted on the map, but even more intriguing
was a gorge on Wolf Creek, a bit farther to the north. I figured we would descend the main access
road and then decide what we wanted to do from there. At that point we would be fairly close to
both Pool Creek and Wolf Creek.
I
met Darrin and Van at the Ingles on the east side of Hendersonville at
8am. I actually arrived at 7:35, despite
leaving Charlotte only a few minutes before 6.
Since I’d made great time, I took a few minutes to buy some oranges and
look for Highland Brewing Companies Cold Mountain Winter Ale. Ingles had 4 or 5 Highland varieties, but
Cold Mountain wasn’t one of them.
Darrin
and Van arrived at 8, and they followed me up to Ottanola Gap. There is a cul-de-sac here, with 2 gated
roads. One, next to a barn, is posted
private property. The other also passes
through private property briefly, but CMLC members have been granted access to
pass through. We parked on the shoulder and
quickly got organized. An icy wind was
howling through the gap, and we were eager to get into the shelter of the
trees.
We
started the hike at 8:30, heading down the gated dirt road that follows the
ridge east along World’s Edge. There are
a number of cliffs with expansive views along this ridge, but we didn’t make it
to them. After a short distance, we
reached a loop in the road. We turned
left here, leaving the ridge in favor of the old road that descends into the
valley. After a short distance we passed
fairly close to a house. Then we reached
another gate at the boundary of Chimney Rock State Park.
A
few years ago, I asked Jack about his hike with Rich along Pool Creek. He mentioned that the creek and waterfalls
were nice, but the approach had been long and boring. Boy was he right! It seemed to take forever to get down into
the valley, and coming back up later that afternoon was even worse. I didn’t think that slog would ever end. On the other hand, there were some nice
winter views (through the trees) of Lake Lure and the numerous open cliffs
surrounding us. Some of those cliffs
were really impressive, but they were all above us. On my next visit to World’s Edge, I think
I’ll focus on exploring higher up.
We
crossed several small streams in the headwaters of Pool Creek early on. Although they were just minor tributaries,
all of them were running strong thanks to the recent rain. A bit farther on we passed above one of the
cascading waterfalls on Pool Creek. We
thought about bushwhacking down to it, but decided to save it for later. Depending on how the exploration of Wolf
Creek went, we might have time to check it out on the return.
Switchbacks
followed. Before long, the GPS on my
phone indicated that we were at a private property boundary. There were no signs or markers, but we wanted
to get to Wolf Creek without trespassing.
This would be doing it the hard way.
The road we were on descends to a junction with another road, which
leads to Wolf Creek. However, the lower
part of the both roads is on private property, and there is also a house down
there. Since the easy way wasn’t an
option, we decided to bushwhack north along the property line. The forest didn’t look too bad, and the road
to Wolf Creek was only a ˝ mile or so away.
The
going was easy for a hundred yards or so, before we wandered into a
rhododendron jungle. This was
disappointing, but certainly not surprising.
We bushwhacked north, and reached an old road a few minutes later. We were still well south of the road we were
looking for though. We fought our way
north, and reached the brink of a deep gully.
There was no good route down, so we followed the rim east. Eventually we found a place to descend. We crossed a small stream, and then climbed
steeply up the ridge on the far side. At
this point we had drifted slightly into private property, despite our best intentions. As usual, hiking against the grain of the
terrain looked easier on the map than it actually was.
We
veered back to the northwest, through relatively open forest. A couple of minutes later, we reached the old
road we were looking for. We marked the
spot with some branches before heading up the road towards Wolf Creek.
A
fair climb followed, and we passed a couple of spur roads leading off the left.
We rock hopped a large tributary, which
features an intriguing sliding cascade just below the trail. I was a bit puzzled by this, as the map
didn’t indicate any substantial tributaries along the way to Wolf Creek
Falls. I chalked it up to the heavy
runoff, and we continued ahead. A few
minutes later we reached a ford of Wolf Creek.
This
definitely wasn’t correct. I checked the
GPS again, and discovered that we were actually at the foot of the gorge on
Wolf Creek. Apparently we had missed a
turn that would’ve taken us to Wolf Creek Falls, which is actually on an unnamed,
southern tributary of Wolf Creek.
It
looked like it would be easy to backtrack to it, but I was intrigued by the
gorge ahead of us. The map suggested the
potential for significant waterfalls, but to my knowledge, no waterfalls have
ever been documented there. Since we
were so close, it would be a shame not to explore.
We
bushwhacked up the bank on the south side of the creek. After a short distance we found an old,
overgrown roadbed. This was barely
better than pure bushwhacking, but at least it was graded. We scrambled through fallen trees and briars
for a few minutes, before arriving at the base of a 20’ cascade. This was a nice little drop, so we paused for
photos. I finished first, so I scouted
upstream ahead of Darrin and Van. High cliffs
closed in on the south side, and I climbed higher to avoid some thick tangles
of rhododendron. I actually passed above
the next cascade, which is a lovely 12’ tumble in a dark grotto. Darrin and Van caught up, and I scouted ahead
again. Before long the cliffs on the
south side forced me to rock hop the creek.
The north side was a little easier, and before long the first major
waterfall loomed above me.
I
rock hopped out to an island, and scrambled to its upper end at the base of the
falls. This is a nice 50 footer with a
sheer drop near the top and steep cascades below. From my vantage, it looked like it may be
possible to walk behind the upper drop.
That part of the falls reminded me of Bridal Veil Falls in DuPont State
Forest. However, getting to that spot
looked treacherous. The right side of
the creek was a steeply sloping rock covered in wet leaves. That route was a death wish. Sheer cliffs rose above it, too. The left side looked slightly better. It was incredibly steep, too, but at least
there were trees to hold onto.
Darrin
and Van caught up again, and we all had lunch at the base of the falls. I ate quickly, because I was in the full grip
of waterfall fever. I told Darrin that I
was going to scout ahead again. I wasn’t
sure if climbing the left side was feasible though. I told him that I might be back in a couple
of minutes. If not, that meant that they
should follow me.
The
left side of the falls looked dangerous, so I picked a route farther to the
left, away from the creek. It was steep
and slippery, but doable. I climbed
until I was roughly parallel with the top of the falls. Then I made a careful traverse towards the
brink. I angled a bit higher and away
from the creek though, as I didn’t want anything to do with the top of that
waterfall. I had both dogs with me, and
after seeing Boone slip off a high sliding waterfall in South Carolina a year
earlier, I was being extremely cautious.
Miraculously, Boone survived that fall uninjured. Still, I don’t want to repeat that
experience.
We
reached the creek well above the brink of the falls. Once again, the terrain on the right side
looked easier to traverse. I rock hopped
again, and scrambled upstream. A few
minutes later I arrived at the base of a nice 30’ waterfall. This would’ve been quite photogenic, except it
was marred by fallen trees. A steep
scramble up the right side followed, and I actually spotted a few old ribbons
along here. At this point, instead of
continuing upstream, I decided to climb the hillside above. I thought there might be more waterfalls
upstream, but I wasn’t sure. I thought a
view from a higher vantage point would indicate whether I should continue.
I
didn’t have to climb far before spotting another nice waterfall just
ahead. I couldn’t see above it, but knew
I had to at least get to its base. I
scrambled back down to the creek, and paused briefly next to a pretty cascade
shrouded in rhododendron. Then I scrambled
upstream, reached the base of the next waterfall in a few minutes.
This
was the best one of the day. It was
somewhat similar to the one below, but taller.
In fact, it was probably a hundred feet or so. The upper part features a sheer drop,
followed by a long run of steep, sliding cascades. A large boulder near the base added to the
foreground, and some clouds rolled in, providing better light for photos.
I
loitered there for 10 minutes or so, hoping Darrin and Van would catch up. I was getting chilled though, so I started
back down the gorge. Briefly I was
tempted to explore farther upstream, but I was running out of gas. It was early afternoon, and we still had a
long hike back to the car.
I
more or less followed the same route back to our lunch spot. Darrin and Van were still there, waiting for
me. They had contemplated following me,
but hadn’t paid much attention to the route I’d taken up the left side of the
falls. By the time they decided to
follow, they realized that I was on my way back down. I felt bad, because they had missed out on a
really nice waterfall. I’m sure we’ll go
back though, as several other hikers in our regular crew will want to see this
area.
The
hike back down the gorge was much faster than the ascent. There were only a couple of mishaps. Van and I both dunked boots at different
times. Van tried to rock hop across some
leaves that weren’t supported by anything.
Meanwhile, my left leg plunged through a rotten log and into the creek.
Reaching
the old road was a relief. We followed
it to the tributary, and reached a spur road heading upstream a hundred yards
later. I was pretty sure this would take
us to Wolf Creek Falls (on the tributary, not to be confused with the
waterfalls on Wolf Creek we’d found earlier).
We decided to give it a try. 10
minutes of easy climbing brought us to a distant but breathtaking view of the
biggest waterfall of the day.
Wolf
Creek Falls spills over a nearly vertical cliff, probably a 100’ high. The
creek is fairly small, but the waterfall benefited from the high water
level. The most impressive aspect of the
scene was probably the cliff itself. It
continues for some distance on either side of the falls. On the south side of the falls, there is a
massive slab of rock that is somehow attached to the face of the cliff.
There
is a break in the cliff a short distance to the north. It looks like it wouldn’t be terribly
difficult to climb it there. From that
point, it may be possible to work your way back over to the creek. Judging from the map, it is entirely possible
that there could be another waterfall upstream.
We
took a few photos before heading back.
We returned to the spur road, and followed it to the main road. We took this east, roughly to the private
property boundary. We left the road at
the same point that we joined it earlier that morning. However, we stayed a bit east of the route we
had bushwhacked earlier. This was much
easier, and it dumped us out on the other main road in a matter of minutes. We were definitely on private property at
that point, but it isn’t posted or marked in any way. A few minutes of walking back up the road
brought us back into Chimney Rock State Park.
The
hike out was long and tedious on tired legs.
Through the trees views of the surrounding cliffs were inspiring
though. We returned to Ottanola Gap a
little after 4pm, and the wind was still howling just like it had been earlier
that morning.
My
first visit to World’s Edge was a fun little adventure. It was nice to hike with Darrin again, and
with Van for the first time. I’ll
definitely go back. Wolf Creek and the
tributary of Wolf Creek are worthy of additional exploration, and I still
haven’t seen everything that Pool Creek has to offer. Plus, the many impressive cliffs are bound to
have exceptional views. World’s Edge is
only one section of Chimney Rock State Park, too. It’s exciting to think about what else might
be there.
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