THE RAINBOW GLACIER

“Thank God for little girls”

- Maurice Chevalier

“And some of the other sizes, too”

- David Lee Roth

Dave surprised me last weekend by joining me for another hike. This was the second time in three weeks, so apparently I didn’t abuse him enough on our previous trip. As usual, we contemplated a number of options for our hike. Eventually I narrowed the choices down to two – the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in Virginia, and the Mountain Bridge Wilderness in South Carolina. We seriously considered Mount Rogers, if only because we thought there might still be some snow up there. Ultimately though, we weren’t very enthusiastic about a cold weather hike. So on Sunday, we met in Belmont to car pool to Jones Gap State Park and the Mountain Bridge Wilderness.

Dave was having some trouble with his truck, so I had to drive. This presented one significant problem. What would we do with the 2 dogs? I was afraid putting them both in the back seat would be a carnival. On the other hand, I knew if we put Sasha up front, Boone would spend the entire ride trying to climb up there with her. Eventually we decided to try it with both of them in the back, mainly because we didn’t have any better options. I would drive, and Dave would referee.

This went more smoothly than I could’ve hoped. There was a bit of horseplay early on, but I threatened to PULL THE CAR OVER RIGHT NOW and they settled down. In fact, by the time we neared Gaffney, they were both sleeping in the back seat. It was a real shame that I had to stop for gas. Once we pulled off the highway, the spell was broken, and the festivities began anew.

We reached Jones Gap State Park (part of the Mountain Bridge Wilderness) after a 2 hour drive. We paid our $4, gathered our gear, and leashed the dogs for our hike. I made a quick visit to the restroom, and then we started up the Jones Gap Trail, following the Middle Fork of the Saluda River upstream.

Before long, we reached a junction, and a decision. I had planned two relatively short hikes, and they diverged here. One hike was a loop with the Pinnacle Pass and Rim of the Gap Trails. That hike would take us up to Little Pinnacle Mountain, which is supposed to have some nice views. It was a cloudy morning, and I thought it might clear off later. So, we decided to save that one for the afternoon.

At the junction, we noticed a sign that stated that the Rim of the Gap Trail was closed beyond the 6&20 Connector due to ice. I was surprised that they would close a trail, but it wouldn’t affect us. That part of the Rim of the Gap Trail was well beyond where we planned to go.

We passed up on those trails, and continued upstream, following an old, rocky roadbed. Before long, we reached an unmarked junction. The Jones Gap Trail continues ahead, while a red-blazed trail turns right towards a bridge over the river. My map is old and doesn’t show this trail, but I was pretty sure it was the new path to Rainbow Falls. That was our goal for the day, so we headed that way.

We crossed the bridge and quickly began to climb out of the gorge. For the most part, this new trail is well-graded with switchbacks. However, there were a number of stairs, which gave me flashbacks from hiking the Foothills Trail. Dave and I were both tired from a lack of sleep, and neither of us was likely to set a speed record today. However, we both had our dogs on leashes, and they seemed determined to pull us up the mountain. With their help, we actually passed a group of three hikers on our way up.

At one point, the trail passed near a cascading section of Cox Creek. We took a short break there, and I took a couple of photos. We then resumed the hike, and more switchbacks ensued. Along here, we were treated to a couple of unexpected views through the leafless trees. On the far side of the gorge, the cliffs were decorated with an impressive amount of ice. Although the weather had warmed some over the past week, it hadn’t been enough to thaw out some of the seep springs along the rim of the gap. At this point, we began to understand why that stretch of trail was closed.

We climbed some more, before we began contouring back towards Cox Creek. Our first view of the stream was breathtaking, as it cascaded through a steep, narrow ravine. There was still quite a bit of ice on the rocks surrounding the cascades, but we really hadn’t seen anything yet. After a short distance, we received our first view of Rainbow Falls.

Rainbow Falls is a dramatic free-fall of perhaps 100’, with an impressive run of cascades immediately downstream. The creek literally leaps off the cliffs, which form a small amphitheatre around the falls. I knew from my pre-trip research to expect all of this. What I wasn’t expecting was the massive pile of snow and ice at the base of the falls! From the bottom of the falls, it tumbled down through the canyon, before finally ending at our feet. Immediately in front of us, the snow was a good 5 feet thick. In fact, the trail to the base of the falls crossed the creek there, by way of a massive snow bridge.

Where did it come from? There was some ice on the cliffs, but there wasn’t a hint of snow anywhere else in the area. We speculated that it might’ve tumbled off the cliffs above. If that’s the case though, there must’ve been a lot of it up there. We joked that we were looking at the last remaining glacier in South Carolina! Before playing in the snow, we stopped at a large boulder for lunch and some photos. It was a nice spot to view the falls, but it was surprisingly cold there. All that snow turned the narrow canyon into a freezer.

We had Rainbow Falls and the Rainbow Glacier all to ourselves for about 20 minutes. Then, other folks began to arrive. First, the people we had passed earlier caught up. A bit later, several other groups showed up. Before long, it was getting downright crowded. Despite this, we weren’t about to leave until we explored the “glacier” and viewed the falls from the very bottom.

We crossed the snow bridge, which was already hazardous. There were several holes in it, and the stream was creating more. We could tell it wouldn’t last much longer. We could only hope that we weren’t on it when it finally gave away.

We climbed up through the snow, which was well-packed, and reached the base of the falls. The spray was brutal here, making photography even more challenging. That didn’t stop me from trying though. I managed a few decent photos, before the clouds finally gave way to afternoon sun. The sunshine offered one final highlight. A double rainbow appeared in the spray at the base of the falls. Unfortunately, the same sun that provided the rainbow ruined any chance for a decent photo.

At this point, even more folks were arriving, and we agreed it was time to go. It was startling to see that many people out on the trail in January, although it was a nice day. I hate to think how crowded Rainbow Falls gets in the summer!

We returned by the same route, and hiked all the way back to the junction with the Rim of the Gap Trail. It was a little before 3pm, so I was pretty sure we had enough time to make the loop hike over Little Pinnacle Mountain. I was concerned about it though, as the park closes at 6pm. I knew the trails ahead of us were rugged, and I wasn’t even certain of the exact distance of the loop. Despite these concerns, we decided to go for it. We reasoned that if we ran short on time, we could always turn back without completing the loop.

We climbed for a bit, before enduring a pointless downhill, only to climb again. Before long, we reached the junction with the Pinnacle Pass Trail, which is the longest in the wilderness. I have only hiked a few pieces of it, and I’d like to hike (or backpack) the whole thing one of these days. We could’ve gone either way here, but I randomly chose to go left, onto the Pinnacle Pass Trail. After a short distance, we began a downhill plunge. What the hell? I thought we were going UP a mountain! We endured several of these PUDs (pointless ups and downs), and negotiated some difficult footing due to fallen trees and inconveniently placed boulders. This was a lot of fun with the dogs on the leash. Boone wasn’t showing the least bit of fatigue, even though we’d been hiking for 5 hours. When I let him off his leash, he tends to go full speed. This restrained hiking wasn’t doing a thing to wear him out.

We met a hiker on his way down (or was it up? I can’t remember. Stupid PUDs). He extolled the virtues of the trail, saying that the view from the top was worth it. He mentioned that he hadn’t seen hardly anyone on the trail. After we parted ways, we unleashed the dogs, in a blatant disregard for park regulations.

The dogs immediately went nuts. It was like they’d been released from prison, and it was time to party! The raced up and down the trail at full speed, completely disregarding the sheer cliffs a mere step away. At one point, Boone was running full speed, out of control, directly towards me. Having been run over by him on more than one occasion, I planted myself and raised my boot between us. He threw on the brakes and came to a skidding halt, sending an incredible shower of leaves and dirt and rocks and small rodents all over me. That was so much better than getting run over.

Before long, we left the PUDs behind, and began to climb. After a couple of minutes, I couldn’t recall why I had been so annoyed by the PUDs. The climb was rough. Several stretches were horribly steep, and even the good parts were unpleasant. Dave and I were tired earlier, but now we were exhausted. The grade even managed to slow the dogs down – a little.

I blame fatigue, and the fact that I was staring at my feet, for what happened next. We found ourselves climbing along a small, slippery stream. We reached a mossy, cascading waterslide, and continued to climb. When we reached a 4’ rock outcrop, I paused. Was this right? I looked around, but didn’t see any other sign of a trail. Plus, it was hardly any worse than the rest of the path. We climbed up carefully, exercising extreme caution on the slippery rock. Getting Boone up was a bit of a challenge, but he managed with a boost.

At the top, all semblance of a path disappeared in a tangle of rhododendron. I felt that terrible, sinking feeling that always presents itself when I know I’ve screwed up. We were off the trail, and I really didn’t want to go back down what we had just climbed. On the other hand, we didn’t know where the trail was. I had a bad feeling that it had turned back to the left, which would mean that it was well below us. We both scouted around for a bit, and finally I spotted it, exactly where I thought it would be. We had missed a turn, and had subsequently killed 20 minutes thrashing around in the woods. Unfortunately, time was running short, and we still had a long way to go.

I bushwhacked down to the trail, which was slightly less hazardous than going back the way we had come. Dave joined me, and we considered our options. We were back on the trail, but it is extremely rugged. We were making lousy time, even when we managed to stay on the path! After a brief discussion, we abandoned our goal of Little Pinnacle Mountain. Instead, we continued ahead on the trail a short distance, to an open area featuring some icy cliffs. This was a neat spot, and we took a break there before heading back down.

The PUDs were even more annoying on the return, because we had to go uphill when we were trying to get down. We endured them though, and before long, found ourselves back at the junction with the Rim of the Gap Trail. From there, we hurried back down to the river, and out to the parking area. We managed to finish the hike before 5, which probably makes the ranger happy. That probably wouldn’t have been the case if we had attempted to finish the loop.

We headed back towards Charlotte, but Dave talked me into stopping at the Dairy Queen in Gaffney along the way. I didn’t really want to, but he offered to buy, and that was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Once inside, I quickly regretted it. There was a surprisingly long line. On the up side, there was some entertainment, in the form of a rather amusing sign. It was a handmade number, affixed to the cash register. It read:

“Buy any size girl scout thin mint blizzard, get same size girl scout free”.

I thought that was a pretty scandalous offer, at least by upstate South Carolina standards.

I got a case of the giggles. I elbowed Dave. “Dave, check out the sign”, I whispered loudly.

Chuckle, snicker. The girl in line in front of us snorted.

“Dave, you gotta get a picture of it”, I said.

Dave had his phone with him, which has something of a camera built into it. I think he was a little embarrassed, though. So, I forced the issue. I went out to my car, and retrieved my camera. As soon as I came back in, he conceded. The last thing he wanted was for me to whip my camera out, flash and all. He snapped a quick photo with his phone. Meanwhile, I tried to hold back the comment I really wanted to make. After all, Dave was already embarrassed, and we were in mixed company.

Sadly, Dave’s photo turned out to be a blurry mess. Stupid camera phones.

We finally got our blizzards, and left the store. Once in the relative safety of my car, I turned to Dave.

“So Dave”, I deadpanned, “What size girl scout would you like?”

Dave decline to answer, as he chose to blow ice cream out his nose instead.

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