Bust-Your-Butt Falls

North Carolina Travelog #19
Highlands, NC - Fri, 22 Sep 2023. 1pm

Not every waterfalls "hike" we do requires an actual hike. Some just require hopping out of the car and scrambling a short distance over some rocks or through some trees. Sometimes that turns into a lot of scrambling, as it did with Cullasaja Falls just before this. But here at Bust-Your-Butt Falls, there's no butt-busting required to see it.



Apparently the butt-busting option here is to try sliding down the falls. There's a rope on the dry rock next to them to help climb up. These falls are flowing way faster than yesterday's Slide Rock Falls, though. I wouldn't try sliding down the chute here... there'd probably be not just a busted butt but a busted foot, a busted leg, and maybe a busted head.

Serendipity at Silver Run Falls

North Carolina Travelog #20
Near the SC border - Fri, 22 Sep 2023. 2:30pm

One of the things I like about travel is serendipity. It's the act of finding something you didn't know about or didn't expect, choosing to experience it, and enjoying it.

Enjoying serendipity requires two things: First, you've got to be in a place where you're likely to find things you enjoy. We're in the mountains surrounded by hiking trails and waterfalls; check. Second, you've got to have your eyes open as well as your mind open to finding something unplanned. Check.

Here's the situation: We're on the way to Whitewater Falls, the tallest waterfall in the state, and as we're driving down a canyon road on the way we see a sign for Silver Run Falls. Silver Run Falls? That sounds interesting! We pull over at the next safe spot, turn around, and go back. Meanwhile we dial up trail info on AllTrails.com. Yup, this looks like a good one to hike. How did we ever miss it in planning? No matter now; we've found it serendipitously!



Silver Run Falls certainly isn't the tallest waterfall in the state. In fact it's the third tallest we've seen so far today, and we've got an even taller one planned next. 🤣 But it was a short walk down an easy trail to this nice little oasis, a rock lined pool with a twin-ribbon falls dropping about 25 feet in front of us. Better yet, we had it to ourselves— almost. One group who were at the falls when we arrived headed back toward the trailhead a few minutes later.



I hopped across those rocks at the lower edge of the first picture, making my way— without getting my feet wet— to the ground opposite the falls. The sun came out, too! Alas our solitude at the falls didn't last. A big group, maybe even two groups, came in behind us. I wonder if they saw our car parked in the tiny parking area and figured, "Huh, a car with out-of-state plates, this must be good!" And they definitely saw me on the other side of the pool and figured, "Huh, he got over there, I bet we can do it, too!"

Though I appreciate solitude in beauty when I can find it, the mere presence of other people on trails and at scenes of beauty does not bother me. They have as much right to enjoy the beauty as I do. But there are two kinds of travelers in the backcountry— those who quietly appreciate the beauty in which they walk, and those who mar its enjoyment for everybody by talking over each other constantly in overly loud voices.

Well, it was a good time to leave. We have at least one more falls to get to today anyway!

In beauty I walk. Respectfully.

Let's Visit... South Carolina!

North Carolina Travelog #21
South Carolina border - Fri, 22 Sep 2023. 2:50pm

The falls we're headed to next, Whitewater Falls, are near the South Carolina border, about 10 miles away. "I wonder if it's worth taking a dip into South Carolina on the way there or back," I mused.

The worth I was thinking of was my bucket list. One of my bucket list items is to visit all 50 states and D.C. Alas, I've already been to South Carolina— a few times!— so I don't get to cross anything off my bucket list by entering the state again. (I'm at 50/51, BTW. Alaska is the one state I haven't visited yet.)

But then a different argument for notching through South Carolina appeared. Given the order in which we're visiting waterfalls, and the lay of the roads in this area, the fastest driving route dropped down into SC for a few miles and then back into NC. So...



Let's visit South Carolina!

Now that we're here of course, the first thing we're going to do— after snapping obligatory pictures of the signs— is leave South Carolina. 🤣

Whitewater Falls, Tallest in the Eastern US

North Carolina Travelog #22
Nantahala National Forest - Fri, 22 Sep 2023. 4pm

I mentioned two blogs ago that we were headed to visit the tallest waterfall in the eastern US. Well, we're here now. It's named Whitewater Falls, and it's in the Nantahala National Forest of North Carolina, on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. An easy trail* leads about 1/2 mile from a huge parking seemingly built in anticipation of hundreds of simultaneous visitors. Today we saw, like, 7.



Obviously the 411 foot tall drop here is not all in one single falls. There are multiple tiers and cascades. And there's no trail to get closer to the falls.

As far as record setting waterfalls go, this "Tallest in the eastern US" waterfall leaves me feeling meh. I mean, it's beautiful, and I enjoy the beauty in which I walk. But it's not "One for the record books" awesome. The thought again of that ginormous parking lot out front, seemingly built for the throngs of people flocking to see this nominally superlative waterfall, makes me chuckle.

BTW, I starred "easy trail" a few paragraphs up because while this trail goes gently uphill on the way in, there's also a descent of 154 stairs down to lower the viewing platform we visited. That means the return trek starts with climbing 154 stairs. Ugh. It's not that 154 stairs are hard; just that it's been a long day already so I'm going to have to take them slowly.