The last day of October may be all about ghosts and goblins, costumes and candy…but it’s also a great day for waterfall hunting in the North Carolina mountains. At the upper elevations most of the leaves have found their way to the forest floor, making off-trail exploration easier, and there’s a delicious chill in the air.
Hiking buddy Cathy invited me for a visit to her mountain cabin – yes, thank you! The two of us and her pup, Ellie, explored the Harper Creek Wilderness area of the (deep breath) Grandfather Ranger District of Pisgah National Forest. Specifically, we were looking for (another deep breath) Upper & Lower Little Lost Cove Creek Falls from the Waterfalls 100 Challenge that I’ve been chipping away at.
From the Blue Ridge Parkway, we made our way to FR 464, then traveled it eastbound to an “old forest road” called FR 464-A, where my usually adventurous Honda CRV crept cautiously downhill to a creek crossing. I was hesitant to drive through the creek – when was the last time you hit a big rock and busted something – so we left the car and set off on foot.
Half a mile further down, the road ended where a pickup truck was parked next to a rough roadside campsite. Interpreting vague hiking instructions, from that point we followed an unmaintained track, severely eroded, with numerous blowdowns blocking our progress. Ellie is a good girl, but Cathy kept her on a leash because she’s been known to catch a scent and take off.
Ellie usually wins.
I started a GAIA track for the out-and-back. We could hear the creek on our right side and found the correct side trail. We knew we were going towards the booming waterfall, but the trail itself was barely discernible. A few yards in along the side trail, we saw three big backpacks piled up under a rhododendron bush – maybe they belonged to the folks from the pickup truck?
We half-slid and half-walked down the steep path until we glimpsed water through the tangled rhododendron. At that point the pitch of the slope became even more serious. I heard shouting and barking at the same time I saw the backpack owners at the foot of the waterfall. I also saw their unleashed gray-and-white pit bull. There are some sweet pit bulls in my life, but I like my unknown dogs leashed.
Cathy elected to stay behind with Ellie while I kept going, descending a 20-foot rope to reach the river’s edge. The waterfall was massive but half-hidden by a huge boulder, so a sketchy photo op at best. I didn’t try very hard to get a better vantage point because of the guys and the dog. They saw me as they turned to go back up the path. The tail-wagging dog bounded towards me and I figured I should try to be friendly, so I asked if I could greet him. One man said, “Now, he will jump on you,” but the dog only briefly stopped by me and then barreled his way on up the slope and out of sight.
Upper Little Lost Cove Falls
Cathy and Ellie and I pushed on in what we interpreted was the direction of the lower falls. After another steep downhill rhododendron scramble, we came out onto an open flat rock area where the creek was flowing fast over the cliff edge. This was near the top of the lower falls. We debated further exploration for the base, but bushwhacking without a clear goal was too much with Ellie. We retraced our steps to where we parked our car.
All that effort for 2 miles in 1.5 hours – whew!
[Later on I reread the instructions and better understood them – we’ll try again another day.]
Looking up to the top of Lower Little Lost Cove Falls
Next up: Bard Falls. We drove a little further east along FR 464 to the trailhead of Harper Creek Shortcut Trail, hiked one mile to the T-intersection with Harper Creek Trail (MST), turned left, hiked a quarter mile on this nice flat trail to a significant crossing of North Harper Creek. Stop.
I had hoped that the creek would be easy to hop across, but no luck. If I’d been solo, I would likely have waded through and continued on the next half-mile to the waterfall, but it was too cold to ask Cathy and Ellie to join in or to wait around for me, so we retraced our steps to the car. A failed attempt at the waterfall, but 2.8 miles and 1.25 hours of nice hiking anyway.
Ready to call it a day, Cathy and Ellie and I headed back up FR 464 toward the Blue Ridge Parkway. A trail sign caught our attention and we stopped to check it out. Darkside Cliffs Trail is a nifty one-mile trail leading to a broad, smooth rock outcrop and an incredible unobstructed view of Grandfather Mountain. I’d never heard of it, but now it’s in my back pocket as part of a great day trip itinerary along FR 464 in Pisgah National Forest.
Ellie says, "When you go rambling in the woods, sometimes you don’t find what
you’re looking for…but you always find something you weren’t expecting."
“Everyone thinks they have the best dog,
and none of them are wrong.”
~Anonymous
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