A BIT OF IMPROVISATION
Last
weekend’s plan was a follow-up exploration of Wolf Creek in Chimney Rock State
Park. However, by the time Friday rolled
around, only David H and John P were planning on joining me. David had already hiked all of Wolf Creek,
while I had hiked most of it. John was
open for pretty much anything. That
evening, I began contemplating a different adventure in the same area.
I
met David and John at the Ingles on the east side of Hendersonville Saturday
morning. I suggested a change of plans
in the parking lot. The new plan was to
explore an unnamed creek west of Hickory Nut Falls, still within Chimney Rock
State Park. The new Kevin Adams
guidebook mentions three remote waterfalls on that creek. David and John were up for it, so we all
piled into John’s truck for the drive to the trailhead.
We
drove towards World’s Edge but took a side road through a neighborhood. It turned into a rough dirt road that
required high clearance. We followed it
to the gap between Sugarloaf Mountain and Stony Mountain, right at the park
boundary. There is no official parking
here, but we were able to squeeze John’s truck onto the shoulder. We started our hike before 10am by following
an old road to the top of Stony Mountain.
The road ended there, but we were able to follow game trails out to the
north end of the mountain. We found a
cliff there with nice views to the north and west. Unfortunately the sky was overcast, and I
didn’t even both with photos.
The
descent from there was terrible. There
wasn’t even a hint of a trail. The
mountainside is extremely steep and completely overgrown by bushes and
briers. We eventually reached a reprieve
at a giant boulder. Beyond that the
bushwhacking was a little easier. We
reached the gap between Stony Mountain and Rich Mountain a bit later. A road passes through here, and it may offer
easier access to the area. However, it
is posted as a private road where it begins west of Sugarloaf Mountain, and it
passes a number of houses along the way.
From
there we followed another old road over Rich Mountain, which is wooded. Another steep descent brought us to the gap
below Bluerock Mountain. We stayed on the road, which took us around
the east side of the peak. I’d noticed a
huge cliff on the aerial imagery on my map nearby. I used my GAIA app (and a spur trail) to
navigate to it. We passed a campsite
(probably illegal) and walked out onto the cliff, which is a magnificent perch
high above the Broad River cutting through Hickory Nut Gorge. We had a fantastic view there of the gorge,
the Village of Chimney Rock, and Lake Lure.
We
had lunch before beginning the hard part of the adventure. My plan was to descend a ridge that parallels
the creek we wanted to explore. Once we
got below the area with the waterfalls we would follow the creek back up.
It
was a good plan, but it was sabotaged almost immediately. We were on the ridge above the creek when we
spotted a bluff with what appeared to be an immense cave. We couldn’t ignore that. We bushwhacked down to the creek, where we
found a massive overhanging rock. At the
upper end the creek spills over it in a series of dainty waterfalls, showers,
and cascades. Once the creek reforms, it
tunnels UNDER the giant rock before spilling into a lovely, peaceful pool. The creek is a low-volume stream, but it is a
beauty, and it is surrounded by dramatic cliffs during its entire run.
From
there it seemed silly to bushwhack back up to the ridge. We decided to hike downstream.
It
wasn’t long before we reached the brink of the next waterfall (the first,
according to Kevin Adams). We initially
attempted to descend on River Right, because we were already on that side and
River Left looked unpleasant. The route
quickly became cliffy. David thought it
was doable, but I didn’t like it. After
a bit of debate we decided to backtrack.
We crossed the creek just upstream from the brink. We bushwhacked down River Left and circled
around to the base of the falls. The
creek spills through a narrow, mossy chute here, and there is even a small cave
on River Left.
From
there we resumed the descent on River Left.
It didn’t take long to reach the base of the next waterfall. Here there is another huge bluff on River
Right. The creek spills over the cliff
in a 40’ freefall.
This
was all great, but the main event was still ahead. We followed the creek and veered to River
Right to avoid cliffs on River Left. It
turns out there are massive cliffs on River Right, too. A long, roundabout route was necessary to
find a safe way down. Even that was
sketchy at times, but we eventually reached the base of an immense
waterfall. The entire waterfall isn’t
visible from the base, but the whole thing is well over 100’ high! Because it is a low volume stream I’d love to
return some day when the water is really up, maybe during a flood!
We
followed the ridge to the west on our way out.
The open hillside was initially covered in blooming bloodroot and little
sweet betsy trilliums, which added some extra beauty
to our day. The climb out was long and
steep, but the woods were mostly open and we were even able to follow remnants
of old roads at times. Near the top I
found another exposed cliff, but there were just enough trees in the way to
prevent a clear view. Above there we rejoined
our approach route, which led out to the old road. We followed it down into the gap below Rich
Mountain and headed up the other side.
After a bit of a climb, I realized that we were no longer following the
route we’d come in on. We were on an old
road, but it wasn’t the same one.
Interestingly, it seemed to be leading us towards another area of cliffs
on the northeast side of Rich Mountain.
Before long we were directly above the cliffs.
John
and I decided to check it out, while David hung back. A short but nasty bushwhack brought us to the
edge of a huge precipice. One moment we
were tangled up in bushes and briars, the next we were at the beginning of a
steep, wet rock sloping down to the brink of a cliff. It was an exceptionally dangerous spot. I made sure of my footing at all times and
maintained a death grip on the last tree.
After a couple of quick photos I got the hell out of there.
We
continued on the old road. It isn’t
shown on my map, but it was heading in the right direction. We hiked south over the prominent ridge
running east from Rich Mountain. Then we
dropped down to cross through the headwaters of Fall Creek. From there a gentle clilmb
led up to an area with a few houses. I
was a little concerned about this (the houses are noted on my map), but the
park boundary actually follows the road through here. Presumably, as long as you are on the road
you are legal. There wasn’t anyone around
anyway, and from there it was an easy hike back to John’s truck. We ended up covering about 7 miles in 9
hours, but 5 of those hours only spanned a half mile or so. It was a fun adventure in a remote place that
has been visited by very few people.
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