Harper Creep Falls

Harper Creep Falls
Harper Creek Falls

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Hidden Cascade

Being a mother is a 24/7/365 proposition. Sometimes a mother just needs a break, even if ever so short or isolated.


My daughter asked if I wanted to go on a hike. What a silly question. I always want to even if the circumstances don't allow for it at the moment. Little man and Mamaw were napping, so we headed up the road. Sometimes I just walk in the woods, but often I ask my hiking partner and myself the question, "View or waterfall?" But instead I answered that I wanted to go somewhere I had not been or at least not been in a while. We found it. I hadn't been there in perhaps 20 years. So, we started up the trail, crossed the creek and continued upstream. 


The stream had plenty of rock, and so plenty of rapids.


A few hours away does bring a smile to one's face. The trail starts at the end of a gravel, Forest Service road, decently far back into a deep draw and then goes further up the draw away from any road. It is pretty isolated.


I haven't yet mastered the art of candid looking selfie.


Partridge Berry adds a little color to the forest floor.


As we went along, I heard some loud crashing of water in the creek below the trail. I told my daughter that we should check it out. I had been up this trail several times years ago, but had never seen this cascade. The large potholes suggest some tremendous flow and scouring. If it had been warmer weather, I believe this would be a great swimming hole.


Following is the view downstream. The total vertical drop of the cascade was nearly 100 feet. Check out the disc shaped boulder resting precariously on the outcropping and upturned boulder.


Above the large potholes


Pigskin Puffball?


Further up there was another cascade. I think a person could slide down this one.


Owl pellets in the wild! After eating so many vermin, they get rid of the bones by regurgitation. 


This cascade was steep, hitting a transverse boulder and abruptly turning 90 degrees.


Quiet noise..........


Just before we got out of the woods we saw a muscadine vine covered with varying degrees of rippening fruit. We found some very sweet ones.


The time away seemed like many hours, but was only four. It amazes me what a change of venue in nature can do to quiet the soul and recharge the adventure batteries.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment