Pisgah 400: High Falls South Fork Mills River & Buckhorn Gap Trail – 7/9/22 – 14.5 Miles
Here I am again at the intersection of “want to go” and “need help” for a waterfall hike in Pisgah National Forest. It’s not a bad place to be – out in the woods! – but I take safety in numbers seriously when looking at unmaintained trails and big water crossings. As part of the Carolina Mountain Club’s 100 Waterfalls Challenge, I’ve had this hike on my priority list for a year. Once Jim’s bout with COVID had passed (lingering affects?) he agreed to venture out with me.
Kevin Adams’ narrative for reaching the waterfall raised some caution flags for me [I trust Mr. Adams!] so I researched more information. Two of my resources, DWHikes and Brenda Wiley, offered blog posts with the level of detail I needed to decide how to tackle this hike. [Brenda’s description included info on an alternative manway as well.]
The most recent on-the-ground descriptions I found of the hike reported very overgrown, eroded conditions. Feeling cautious about a tough trail plus a possible deep crossing, I decided to take the longer but more traveled route: South Mills River Trail to the intersection with Squirrel Gap Trail and the bridge crossing South Mills River. Without crossing the bridge, we would then backtrack a quarter mile or so, looking for an unmaintained trail upstream to the waterfall (this worked!)
Afternoon thunderstorms were predicted (well, it is July) so we got an early start to get as much done as possible before getting drenched. We drove up scenic, windy Hwy 276 towards the Blue Ridge Parkway, turned right onto Yellow Gap Road (FR 1206) and turned right again at Wolf Ford Horse Camp (FR 476). A gate stopped us about .8 miles short of where we expected to park, adding 1.6 miles round trip to our hike. An early start is always a good plan for the unexpected.
Too much preamble? Let’s go.
So…we walked down the first .8 miles of rocky roadbed alongside South Mills River to another gate and the parking area we had expected to stop at. There were campsites beside the river. Perhaps this was recently closed? Who knows?
The river and the trail curve right and then sharply left at Otter Hole, a deep pool with a little sandy beach. This may be a popular swimming hole, but the water was dark, tannic, not inviting to me in the least.
Another .9 miles to where the Adams’ hike description turns left onto an unmaintained trail. We took one look and confirmed we didn’t want to go that route. We crossed this concrete bridge instead. Now we were on the right side of the river.
From this point we were relying on GAIA GPS and our paper map. As we approached the intersection with Buckhorn Gap Trail, I broke the news to Jim that I wanted to connect the dots between this point and Black Mountain Trail if there was time later on (read more here).
South Mills River Trail, a gentle, undulating old roadbed, winds in and out of coves, crossing many small creeks that drain down to the river, none substantial but all marked on the map. Fungi flourished in the wet conditions.
After about 2.5 miles on South Mills River Trail, keeping a close eye on GAIA and Brenda’s narrative, we spotted a faint path at the last hairpin turn before intersecting with Squirrel Gap. We walked further to check out this intersection and the bridge. (FYI, the intersection had no signage, I don’t know what you would do here if you didn’t have GPS or some navigation to keep you on track.)
The bridge was destroyed by the remnants of Hurricane Fred in 2021.
…and stepping aside for a clearer view, the rest of the bridge casually tossed onto the far bank was sobering indeed. Steel wires that held the boards were dangling somehow and a wasp nest was hanging on the end of one of the wires (looks like a volleyball).
For what it’s worth, at this point the river did look safe to cross if you chose your route carefully.
Backtracking to the faint trail, agreeing that we would go as long as the trail was obvious, we crossed Clawhammer Creek, getting our feet wet for the first time. From that point we had a very good trail, maybe .6 miles along the riverbank, a couple of campsites along the way.
We got close enough to glimpse High Falls through the thick vegetation but couldn’t find a way to get down to the riverbed. Next we found a place to reach the water, but the river bent and we could only hear it…We tried going out onto the rocks in the river and could see some of it…
Looks like I’m gonna have to fight through some rhododendron at the river’s edge. I slowly made my way upstream on the left side, hanging onto branches, around the bend in the river, out on the rocks. And there she was, a powerful beauty, called High Falls not because of her height but because she is the farthest named waterfall upstream.
We ate lunch and discussed our return hike. The short way was trying to cross the river and find Adams’ route back up (no thanks), the long way retracing our steps on South Mills River Trail (a known safe way), and the “middle way” of the unmaintained trail that Brenda indicated going straight up to the ridge. We chose the middle.
Backtracking to Clawhammer Creek, we turned right onto yet another faint trail just before crossing and began a short, steep climb. The trail was pretty good, narrow but clear, and we never lost it even as it gained the ridge line and followed through thick blueberry bushes and thick mountain laurel – not a scenic route but a straightforward one. More mushrooms!
South Mills River Trail was visible downhill on our left, close enough to bushwhack to it, but we kept our course until we properly intersected it. A great feeling to successfully follow the manway!
Now I faced my Pisgah nemesis: Buckhorn Gap Trail. It pops up at many intersections and this was the last bit I had not yet hiked, out-and-back (3 miles total). After our extra mileage at the beginning, this would make a very long day. Jim wasn’t feeling 100% but he encouraged me to do it because returning another day for this short remnant deep in the forest would be a pain in the a$$.
So we did it, a flat, dull trail that made me wonder a little bit about this completion thing I have. The last couple of miles to our car went faster, slightly downhill, and I forced myself to relax rather than hustle – sometimes going slower is really going faster. We finished about 4:15 pm.
Thunderstorms never appeared.
Changed clothes at the car – had the forethought to bring a cooler with sodas! We pushed to get home before dark and enjoyed pizza while watching the Tour de France, a small reward to Jim for hanging in there. He’s a good guy.
"At some point in life,
the world's beauty becomes enough."
~Toni Morrison
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