I couldn't drag my butt out of bed Saturday morning. It was still overcast from a cold, rainy Friday and I had no hike planned so it was easy to put off a few hours while I indulged myself with past seasons of Army Wives on Netflix. Finally around 9:30 or 10:00 I opened a Diet Coke, leashed up Katie and walked down the road to Catawba Falls.
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| Catawba Falls |
I originally heard about Catawba Falls from someone at Meineke who was getting his oil changed while I waited for them to wire up my camper. It was just opened to the public in March of 2010, so it is supposedly unspoiled by the hiking populous. You wouldn't know this by sight; herds of tourists from the campground had planted themselves at the foot of the falls, making it unpleasant for the rest of us.
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| Second river crossing - no biggie |
The trail leading to the falls was level and easy with the exception of three river (creak) crossings. The first had a make-shift log bridge that made it fairly easy to cross, the second was calm and shallow with large rocks, but the third was no trail crossing. Prior to arriving there I had passed some elderly folks returning from the falls that were having trouble with roots on the current section, so I have no idea how they passed the river.
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| Hard to see here, but some other people on the third river crossing |
The river had a long fat log most of the way across it. I wouldn't dare walk upright on the log because I have the balance of a drunk stilt-walker, but I could slide across it on my butt. The other option was to walk across the rocks, but some were under water and largely spaced and I was afraid of slipping. An additional issue was getting Katie across at the same time. She is a coward too, and wasn't moving from the dry trail.
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| Side view of Catawba Falls |
I decided on the slide maneuver, lifted Katie up on the log and slid slowly until I reached the end. While weighing my dismount options, a group was returning the waterfall and offered a hand off the log. I told one of the more experienced looking hikers that I was going to watch him cross so I knew how to get back, and he simply said, "well you just walk across the rocks, right?" And then he did just that, and I felt like a jackass.
The trail is just a three mile round trip so I after that I went to Curtis Creek Campground, a few miles North of Old Fort. Curtis Creek is a public campground offering primitive camping and several hiking trails. To make it a theme day, I chose the Hickory Branch Trail, which bypasses another waterfall. It's not nearly as impressive as Catawba Falls, but the hike was much more so.
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| Hickory Branch Trail Falls, peaking through the trees |
The level of difficulty indicated at the trail head was "most difficult", which excited me because I had never seen that before! The beginning of the trail was "least difficult" until it reached the falls where it began to climb. It wound up the mountain on a mostly non-technical trail, though in parts it was very narrow and warranted "safety steps".
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| Lower falls |
I climbed and climbed, and eventually realized I no longer heard any water flowing. I must have passed the waterfall. I had seen only glimpses of it through the trees and I assumed the trail culminated at a nice viewing point like the one at Catawba Falls.
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| View from the top of Hickory Branch Trail |
When I reached the top of mountain, the trail went left or right but was not marked as to which direction I should go. I chose left, and shortly the trail became overgrown and I assumed I had chosen the wrong path. I turned around and went most of the way back until I saw a trail marker for a different trail. So, I was on a trail, just not the correct one. I turned around once again, thinking maybe the trail went back down the mountain on a different route. After a mile or so it occurred to me that this trail could be 10 miles long and end up in another part of town and then I would be sleeping on the mountain. So, once again I turned around and took the original trail back down the mountain.
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| Slightly better view from the bottom |
As I returned to the falls, I noticed a small side path that led behind all the greenery to -- voila -- a bunch of rocks from which to see the falls. I was so engrossed with the trail before I completely missed it.
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| One of many stream crossings |
This was the day of stream crossings and by the time I finished this trail I was a pro. I can now hop, skip and jump over wet rocks and logs like a nearly sober stilt-walker.
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