1. North Mills River, Pisgah National Forest, southwest of Asheville. Hiking, creek crossings.

We start with a bit of a surprise, perhaps, but we did a trip here in 2016 that had us spending most of our time in the mercifully cool waters of burbling North Mills River and Big Creek. Our 5-mile hike from the campground up to Little Pisgah Mountain on the Blue Ridge Parkway spent all but the last mile splashing as much as hiking (the last mile was a bearish climb to the summit). It also included a pass by the Hendersonville Reservoir (probably not for taking a dip). A great hike in the right water shoes.

2. Deep Creek, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Bryson City. Hiking, tubing.

Once a summer you should do a long hike in the Smokies, and Deep Creek should be it. We recommend hiking this double loop, comprised of four trails, counterclockwise, heading up Indian Creek Trail, then catching the Sunkota Ridge Trail for a 5-mile climb up to Martin’s Gap. Take the Martin’s Gap Trail east to the Deep Creek Trail and begin a leisurely 8-mile descent on an old roadbed paralleling Deep Creek. When the trail gets about a mile from the end, you’ll start encountering the tubers who float merrily back to the trailhead. Rentals are available at the entrance.

3. Carolina Hemlocks Recreation Area, Pisgah National Forest, Burnsville. Tubing, swimming holes

Could there be such a thing as a tubing and swimming hole resort? There could and there is: the Carolina Hemlocks Recreation Area, which sits on a stretch of the South Toe River that has a ridiculous number of great places to wallow in the bracing waters that drain from the Black Mountains, the highest mountain range in the East with elevations approaching 6,700 feet. Wander through the Carolina Hemlocks Campground (36 campsites) and the majority will sport tubes and other gear suited to days on end spent frolicking in this mountain creek. A lot of people, true. A lot of options as well. And if you feel the need to stretch your legs, the Colbert Ridge Trail leaves from the west side of the campground, climbing 3.6 miles and gaining nearly 3,000 vertical feet on its way to Deep Gap on the crest of the Black Mountains.

4. Panthertown Valley: Schoolhouse Falls, Nantahala National Forest, Cashiers. Hiking, swimming.

You have to hike in about a mile-and-a-half for this hole, but what a hike it is, past towering hemlocks and rock outcrops in an area described as the Yosemite of the East. The payoff is sweet: Schoolhouse Falls is a picturesque curtain of water dropping 20 feet into a luxurious pool, at the far side of which is a sand beach. Those of you who apply to the gradual immersion school will be especially pleased by the gentle incline that introduces you to the cold. Fed by the Tuckasegee River, it’s possible to walk behind the falls at lower flows.

5. Sliding Rock, Pisgah National Forest, Brevard. Spectating.

Spectating? The true joy of Sliding Rock is standing in the spectator area where this smooth rock waterslide empties into a small pool and watching the surprised swimmers emerge from their ice bath landing: all smiles going into the seven-foot-deep pool, an I’ll-never-be-warm-again look of horror coming out. Located on the upper reaches of the Davidson River (rent a tube and float the river several miles downstream), this is a definite must-do for anyone seeking Appalachian swimming hole cred. A fee area ($2), with bathhouse and lifeguard. Seasonal operation.

6. Skinny Dip Falls, Pisgah National Forest, Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 417. Hiking, swimming.

The Blue Ridge Parkway between NC 276 and NC 215 is loaded with waterfalls and pools, the best-known of which is Skinny Dip Falls. Though its name may be part of the allure, you won’t be disappointed after your 20-minute hike down to find swimmers appropriately clothed. How could you be when you find a high mountain creek, Yellowstone Prong, playfully cutting through a Southern Appalachian hardwood forest, pausing here and there to form inviting splash pools. Another must for your North Carolina natural swimming hole check list.

7. Gragg Prong, Wilson Creek area, Pisgah National Forest, Mortimer. Hiking, swimming.

Ah, Wilson Creek — probably our favorite summertime water escape in the state, in large part because it’s dang near impossible to avoid water (which is why we generally don’t visit in winter). In fact, we love it so much that we’ve devoted an entire blog to it, which we wrote for our friends at Great Outdoor Provision Co. Read it here.

8. Hanging Rock State Park, Sauratown Mountains, Danbury. Hiking, swimming in a mountain lake.

OK, this one gets an asterisk since it’s not in what we typically think of as “the mountains.” But it is in the ancient Sauratown Mountain range, which runs from Hanging Rock to Pilot Mountain, and it does have 18 miles of hiking that mimics the Appalachians visible to the west. It’s also got a 12-acre lake with swimming beach, strategically located at the nexus of the park’s trail network. We especially love liking the 4.7-mile Moore’s Knob Loop Trail, working up a good glow, then dousing that glow in the lake’s cooling waters.

9. Upper Whitewater Falls, Nantahala National Forest, Jackson County. Water falls, hiking. You can’t talk about best water-based hikes in North Carolina without mentioning Upper Whitewater Falls, which plunges 411 feet (with its sister Lower Falls, they combine to make an 811-foot drop, making it the highest waterfall east of the Rockies). There’s an easy way to view the falls, via a quarter mile paved path to the upper overlook. Or, hike down to the lower overlook for better views, or hike down even farther to an area great for swimming and also to access the Foothills Trail, which runs 77 miles along the N.C./S.C. border.

10. High Shoals Falls, South Mountains State Park, Connelly Springs. Hiking, waterfall.

At just 60 feet, High Shoals Falls might not sound that impressive. But it’s not just the falls, it’s the quarter mile or so of jumbled boulders — and Jacob Fork trying to figure its way through them — that lead up to it that makes this hike so cool. Even the lead-up to the boulder field, a civil gravel path the parallels Jacob Fork, is pretty swell. It’s about a mile up to the falls (and a mile back), but the beauty of a visit to South Mountains is that there are about 40 miles of trail in all, most of which is also open to equestrians, some to mountain bikers. If you’re into solitude, once you get past High Shoals Falls, you pretty much have South Mountains to yourself.

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Resources

For more information on the locations mentioned above, click the appropriate link:

1. North Mills River
2. Deep Creek

3.  Carolina Hemlocks

4. Panthertown Valley: Schoolhouse Falls

5. Sliding Rock 

6. Skinny Dip Falls  

7. Gragg Prong/Wilson Creek

8. Hanging Rock State Park

9. Upper Whitewater Falls

10. High Shoals Falls

In addition, you can find details on trips 2, 4 and 7 in “Backpacking North Carolina: The Definitive Guide to 43 Can’t-Miss Trips for Mountains to Sea.”

The post 10 Wonderful Watery Summer Escapes appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

We thought so. So are we. In fact, we can’t recall ever being so ready to get into the mountains and escape. To escape to a mountain top, to escape into an old growth forest, to spend our time between escapes along a calming mountain stream. 

Those are some of the key ingredients to what we look for in a mountain escape, and they are the key ingredients in our first GetHiking! Weekend Basecamp Trip of the fall — of 2020, actually: a three-day, two-night escape to the oldest portion of the Pisgah National Forest, the Curtis Creek area near Old Fort. The land along Curtis Creek was the first to become part of the Pisgah National Forest, in 1918. It’s an exceptionally rugged area: If you’ve ever wondered on the drive to Asheville why there’s no road over the mountains between Marion and Asheville — a distance of nearly 40 miles — there’s good reason: the Blue Ridge mountains here are especially rugged. From the base in Marion to the top of Mount Mitchell, the highest point on the East Coast, the mountains gain a mile in elevation (exactly, from 1,404 feet in Marion to 6,684 feet atop Mount Mitchell). A good reason to explore the area is that it was too inaccessible to be logged or developed.

Our Sept. 11-13 visit is a great way to kick off the fall hiking season, for several reasons:

• First, it’s relatively close to the state’s three main population centers: about a 2-hour drive from Charlotte, 2 1/2 from the Triad, 3 from the Triangle. You’ll spend less time driving, more time exploring.
• Second, the planned hikes are challenging, but not overly so for legs that have been confined to the Piedmont. Saturday’s all-day hike will be up to the 5,408-foot summit of Graybeard Mountain; on Sunday, we will hike from the campsite for a couple of miles into old growth forest.
• Third, it’s a basecamp trip. We check in at the Curtis Creek Campground Friday afternoon, we check out Sunday afternoon. Curtis Creek is a small campground along a gravel road that, for reasons we haven’t been able to figure out, tends to get overlooked. Mellow, relaxing, off the beaten path.

It’s a good reintroduction to mountain hiking, too, because the group size is capped at 10. An intimate gathering, which makes it easy to connect with your fellow hikers.

Connect? 

In the spiritual sense. Such a small group at a small campground makes it easy for us to make sure you can keep your physical distance from your fellow hikers while enjoying their company. How often do you get within six feet of a fellow hiker, anyway?

We are especially excited about the coming fall because we know you’re excited about it, too. Friday, we posted a backpacking trip to the Shining Rock Wilderness that sold out in less than three hours, a record for us.

Our Curtis Creek trip is just the start. We’ll be announcing more weekend hiking getaways over the next three weeks. As our Shining Rock trip shows, we expect pent-up demand will make these hiking weekends fill quickly, especially since they will all be capped at 10 hikers or fewer.

We don’t have our schedule in stone, so if there are places you’re especially interested in hiking, drop us a line at info@getgoingnc.com and clue us in. We’re focusing on trails that are either loops or interesting out-and-backs (we’re trying to avoid shuttles).

Fall is nearing. Maybe it hasn’t been the best year so far. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a memorable escape or two before it’s over.

Join us

For more information on our GetHiking! Curtis Creek Basecamp Weekend and to sign up to join us, visit our Explore With Us! page here.

Sign up for our weekly GetHiking! enewsletter. Every Thursday we send out our GetHiking! enewsletter, which includes news of the hiking world, tips, resources, gear recommendations, media suggestions and coming hikes and trips. And, so you don’t miss out on trips that fill shortly after they’re posted, we’ll give you a head’s up in Thursday’s enewsletter about trips that we will be posting Friday. If you aren’t already a GetHiking! enewsletter subscriber, you can become one by going here.

The post Fall hiking: We’re launching the season at Curtis Creek appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

After two or three more turns onto roads of diminishing passabiity, the road narrowed into a path. I got out and started to walk. And then I stopped, transfixed, transported.

The scene was notable for its simple beauty. To the right of the path ran a mountain creek, its volume diminished by the dry fall, yet its soft gurgle was audible in the still air. Aspen dominated, their brilliant yellow leaves shimmered by the periodic breeze slipping down the front range. A stentorian cottonwood loomed 30 yards ahead, the understory and ground cover a mix of greens, even this deep into fall. For a moment, I had no clue where on Earth I was. I had no clue of anything, my mind washed, cleared, blank. It was, I would later realize, bliss.

It’s a place I frequently revisit, this vacuum at the foot of Colorado’s front range somewhere just west of Fort Collins. It’s the place I often go when I need to go somewhere, but can’t.

In “Desert Solitaire,” Edward Abbey talks about “the ideal place, the right place, the one true home.” For Abbey, his one true home was the desert Southwest, the Moab area in particular. For Abbey, the discovery of his “right place” came the first morning of his six-month stint as a seasonal park ranger “when I stepped out of my trailer — my caravan — to watch for the first time in my life the sun come up over the hoodoo stone of Arches National Monument. It was the plan that would mold Abbey and guide him as an environmental activist and anarchist for the rest of his life.

These places, these moments, can have a profound and lasting impact on our lives. Profound not in a “save-the-planet” way necessarily, but in a grounding way. The place you can retreat when you need to regroup. In reality when you can, in spirit when you can’t.

Owning such a place is one reason we explore. We explore to escape, and when we’re lucky, we stumble into these prolonged escapes. Escapes, because you needn’t be limited to one. Sometimes at my desk I slip off to the winter mountaintop meadows of Doughton Park, sometimes to remote Celo Knob, sometimes to the Bertram Trail and its scrambling ascent up Ledbetter Creek up to Cheoah Bald.

I know these right places immediately. I stop as I did that fall day nearly 40 years ago outside Fort Collins and am, for a moment, nowhere else — the ultimate destination.

The post Searching for the ‘ideal place, the right place’ appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Today’s 90-Second Escape: Cool Mountain Escapes

This month, for our friends at Great Outdoor Provision Co., we’re blogging about August adventures that can save your summer. The one thing they must have in common? Incentive to beat the heat, be it from on high (preferably from cool climes above 5,000 feet) or in or on the water. So far, we’ve written about five cool Piedmont paddle trips and five cool Piedmont hikes (which involve water).

This week, we’ll be writing about five cool mountain hikes. To get in the spirit, we trot out this reel of clips from last year’s GetHiking! Classic Hikes series. They originate either from on high or in water. We trust they’ll help you through the latest heat wave and whet your appetite for our recommendations later in the week (which you’ll find here.)

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: Lake, placid

One of our favorite places to get away from it all?

A lake. Water lapping at the shore, a cool breeze building across the surface, rhythmic relaxation.

Here’s a 90 Second fix, hopefully enough to hold you until you have time for the real thing.

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