We made a stop at a peach stand in South Carolina, so we left the low lands with a good supply of orchard fresh peaches on board. Then we crossed the state border into North Carolina for the second time. When we were still 10 miles away from our next campground in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, we saw a very daunting sign on the highway.
Mark is a masterful driver, and he got us safely through those hairpin turns and crazy narrow mountain roads. The narrow road continued into the River Bend campground and we got settled into our site.
One of the friendliest parks we have ever experienced, there is social hour every day at 5:00. People meet around the fireplace under the gazebo and visit for an hour (or maybe two).
One evening we had a potluck dinner with an Italian theme. We gathered at the outdoor kitchen, and that long green table was completely filled with yummy home-made pasta, bread, soup and salads. It was another great evening at a very friendly park.
We have a stream, a lake, game areas, and actually two outdoor kitchens. And even more important, we have cooler temperatures since we are in the mountains! Actually, our next door neighbor (who has been here for the last three summers) said this was the first summer they had to run their air-conditioner. It's still in the 80's, but that is better than 100 degrees.
Our new campground friends told us about the weekly dinner and music night at the Lake Toxaway Community Center. We went for the salisbury steak meal, and stayed for music by the Slick Fisher Band. Denisa is happy to report that there was some dancing before the evening was over.
We are in Transylvania County of North Carolina. According to one of our neighbors, there are more waterfalls in this county than any other county in the nation. The camp host let us borrow his book describing all the waterfalls in the area. Our other next door neighbor, Marge, has been coming to this park for many summers, and she wrote us a list of her favorite hikes and waterfalls. We are ready for a great time in our new home!
High on her list was the DuPont State Recreational Forest, and like most North Carolina state parks, it is free! We really like North Carolina, and the fact that they don't charge day-use fees to enter most of their state parks. We heard someone ask about the fees, and the ranger replied, "No fee--you're in North Carolina now!" We took a loop hike that took us by three different waterfalls. The first was Triple Falls, with its three distinct cascades.
Scenes from the movies "The Hunger Games" and "The Last of the Mohicans" were filmed in this very spot. We stood in the middle, and could see the top two waterfalls . . .
and the bottom waterfall below.
We didn't consider our timing for visiting this park, and we landed here on the weekend. We found that the parking lots were all full, with more cars lining the roads for a mile. All the waterfalls were packed, so we were a little surprised to find ourselves alone on one of the trails. We were even more surprised when we met a couple coming from the opposite direction with fear in their eyes. He immediately started yelling and motioning, "We just saw a bear . . . so we turned around . . . about 50 yards ahead . . . Just turn around . . ."
There was a good part of us that wanted to take that advice, but another part of us that wanted to see that dang bear. So we continued down the trail, remembering all our bear safety rules, listening and watching intently. We made enough noise so we wouldn't surprise a bear, and we suddenly heard the noise of something large moving about 40 yards off the trail in the woods. He was actually moving parallel to us through the deep woods, and we could see him occasionally in the clearings. We were content that he was moving away from us, so it was a pretty calm wildlife encounter. We have included our best bear picture.
Don't spend a lot of time trying to find the bear, because we have determined that the camera can only see the first layer of the forest--not the deep layer where our bear was moving. We are still so surprised to see a bear on a day that the park was packed! But we knew we would have never noticed or heard this stealthy bear if it hadn't been for that fearful couple's advice about his vicinity.
After a poorly photographed wildlife encounter, Denisa started chasing less ferocious game. Today she got not just one butterfly . . .
but two butterflies! Bonus!!
About this time we had our next surprise on the trail. The sole of Denisa's hiking boot came lose from the toe all the way to the middle of the shoe. This situation made it almost impossible to continue hiking.
But she is married to the king of the fixers. As you can see in the photo above, he re-routed the laces under the shoe to hold the sole in place. The toe was still flopping, so he then found some "danger tape" to weave over the front of the shoe. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. Denisa successfully hiked another 5 miles after this fix.
That shoe repair allowed us to continue our loop of waterfalls. We made it to Hooker Falls, with its 12-foot drop into Cascade Lake. It's the shortest of the falls we have seen, but was a very popular place for swimmers on this warm summer weekend.
Our last Transylvania County waterfall of the day was High Falls. Cascading 120 feet over solid granite we could see it from the trail, but we didn't make the hike to the bottom today. Another movie-star fall, Hollywood has used it more than once for a breath-taking backdrop. At the top of the falls, a roof top is barely visible, and that was our next destination.
That is the covered bridge that spans over the Little River above the waterfall.
Denisa's boots had enough hiking for the day, and temperatures were hovering close to 90. But we know we can always come back again and again because the trail map of DuPont State Recreational Area lists 84 different trails! We have hiked three, so there is only 81 more to go! We've had a great welcome to our new home, and we already love hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains!
What? No duct tape?
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