A Day of Waterfall and Rainfall

When living in a county with a record number of waterfalls, we just felt that we needed to see as many as possible. We also had some great advice on the best hikes from a fellow camper who has spent her summers here for many years. So armed with Marge's list of "best things to do" we hit the road towards Highlands, North Carolina. Our first stop was literally a drive-by waterfall. Right beside the road, Bridal Veil Falls is just a trickle, but that trickle falls some 80 feet to the road side.

According to our waterfall guide book, this actually used to be a drive-under waterfall until very recently. This driver was a little sad that he could only walk under the waterfall today.

The next stop was the worst named waterfall of the day. Whoever decided to name this "Dry Falls" should get their naming rights revoked.

We like waterfalls that you can walk behind, and this one allowed that without getting drenched.

One can see this beautiful waterfall with just a 200 yard walk from the car. Compliments of a new handicap-accessible walkway, it is a must-see stop for everyone in this area. A powerful waterfall, after its 65-foot rush off the edge, it becomes a tranquil river once again.

We continued down highway 64, with its blind curves and hairpin turns. This is not a road for the faint-hearted or the weak-stomached.

Our final stop on this highway was Callasaja Falls. It's hard to capture this majestic falls as it snakes back and forth across the rocky face of the mountain for 20 feet. With just a tiny roadside pull-off, there wasn't a trail to get a better view. So this was the best photo available from Mark balancing on the top of the guard rail on a blind curve section of that narrow mountain road. Sometimes this blogging stuff can be hazardous!

Also on Marge's list of best hikes were the Glenn Falls. It's a hike that immediately leads you down in elevation, which made us a little uneasy because we knew we will be climbing out later. But our first stop was at the top of the first  of three different waterfalls. From this vantage point we could see out over the landscape (and the menacing clouds).

Going down, we could see the front of the waterfall. This area is about six inches below the normal rainfall for this time of year, and we are beginning to see that in the amount of water coming over some of the falls. The weatherman mentions words like "drought" most evenings, but the elusive rain keeps missing this area.

This hike actually includes three different waterfalls, and this wide meandering cascade was the second. Mark is blending into the scenery on the rock ledge on the left side of the picture.

There were some pretty pink flowers that we haven't seen before along the path. We have been blessed to see five different waterfalls today, and we were heading further down the mountain to see the sixth. To think that we almost stayed at the campground today because of the forecast of rain showers today! Denisa commented that she was glad we didn't stay home today and miss out on all this. She also commented that it even looked like the sky was getting lighter now.

We made it to the bottom of the trail and the third waterfall, where a fellow hiker took our picture. The parking lot was almost full today, so we met many people on the trail.

Now it was time to turn our toes upward and head back up the .75 mile trail. We got about a third of the way up when the first raindrops started to fall. We hiked faster, but we couldn't outrun the soaking rain that was headed to our mountain. At least we had put our raincoats in the backpack, and we stopped in the driest place we could find and hunkered down. That was when we started seeing the soaked line of hikers behind us marching up the trail that was becoming a river. We're pretty sure we could have sold those raincoats and made a handsome profit. Our decision to stay put seemed a good one until the lightning rolled through. There was one strike that was so close we heard the boom before the crackle, and we worried for the safety of our fellow hikers higher up on the mountain.

When the rain and lightning subsided a little, we made the up-hill trek up the muddy trail. We definitely got our heart rates up as we hurried to the car. The parking lot was almost empty. Even with our raincoats, our legs and shorts were soaked, and our shoes were muddy. The good news is the mountain flowers sure enjoyed this drink of water. We are high enough now to still find rhododendrons blooming.

As we headed towards home, we saw the sign for the trail head for Whiteside Mountain. That hike was also on Marge's list, and a fair drive away from the motor home. But we would have to be crazy to go on another hike when we were already wet and muddy, wouldn't we? Yes, we are crazy, as we started up the 2.5 mile hike to the top of Whiteside Mountain. It was a good steady climb before we broke into the open for our first views at this higher elevation of 4,930 feet.

They had gotten rain showers here earlier, and the flowers on the mountain really needed it. We were surprised to see that a few mountain laurel were still blooming at this elevation.

There are blackberries and raspberries thick along this trail. We don't know the usual size of these wild species of berries, but they seem small--perhaps from the lack of moisture. If they were ripe, this would have been a mighty slow hike to the top for Denisa.

As we got closer to the summit, it was fun to watch the clouds below us, floating over the tall trees below.

On a clearer day, we could have seen for many miles. But we wouldn't have seen all those low-lying clouds resting in the valleys. From the size of the parking lot we know that this is a very popular trail. But because of the weather, we have the mountain to ourselves today.

Whiteside Mountain got its name from the fact that it is surrounded by sheer rock faces. We saw them from the side as we got to the top of the mountain. It was a slow hike because there were so many open observation points to stop and gawk at the beauty around us.

We finally made it to the rocky summit. The mountain face is very steep, and there are cable fences to keep hikers from sliding off the side. From this vantage point we could see those dark clouds gathering, and it looked like we were going to get soaked again.

The good news is that our hasty retreat from this hike was downhill this time. It's a loop trail, with a steeper path through the forest to get back to the parking lot. The impending storms didn't stop Denisa from admiring the unique flora on this unique mountain. We had never seen this mountain flower before, so it deserved a picture. Mark discovered a plant identification app called "Garden Answers," and we discovered this is poke milkweed.

We also didn't know what these red growths are, but they were taking over a small tree along the trail. Mark googled and found this is a result of an aphid that punctures the leaf in a circular pattern around itself. The witch hazel leaf then grows a dark-red- hershey's-kiss-shaped-tissue that encircles the aphid. Who knew that a bug could entice a plant to build a home for it? There is so much interesting information in the forest, but for now we are hiking down off this mountain at record speed.

One last picture of the rock face of the mountain, to say good-bye to Whiteside Mountain.

When we finally arrived at the parking lot we were surprisingly dry, so we jumped into the car. It was just a few minutes later that the clouds opened up and our car was pummeled with rain. It was sure nice to be inside this time!

We hiked around 8 miles today, and some of it was at record speed because of the weather. The rainfall has slowed down our search for waterfalls, but we are still enjoying our time in Transylvania County, North Carolina. It's a beautiful place to be!