Hiking Upper Creek Falls, part 2. All the Knowledge in the World.

Blue Ridge Trip '24 #22
Jonas Ridge, NC - Thu, 5 Sep 2024. 4:30pm

Upper Creek Falls turned out to be more than we expected— both in terms of the size of the main falls and the length/strenuousness of the trail. At the bottom of the big falls we weren't thinking about the latter, though. Yet.



Yes, this is the same falls I finished with in part 1 of this hike. Here I'm photographing it with my ultra-wide zoom lens. This is at 10mm with my camera's APS-C sized imager; it's a 15mm equivalent on a traditional 35mm camera. I slowed the shutter speed down to 1/5 second with a neutral density lens. And, yes, the camera is hand-held because I didn't lug a tripod down here and didn't even have my hiking pole monopod to use.

As you can see in this photo versus those in my previous blog entry the sun was in and out of clouds, but mostly behind the clouds, this afternoon. Changing light makes photography challenging... but also more fun, as it exposes different views of the same scene.



Soon enough it was time to head further downstream. There are more falls down there and a pretty clear path, marked with reflector blazes on trees, to get there.

On the way to these falls (photo above) we saw the couple who were previously enjoying the big falls 50' away from us coming back up the trail. Why come back up the same way? The trail loops around back to the parking lot. We said as much in chatting with them, wondering if maybe the creek crossing was too dangerous to ford.

"Oh, the trail crosses the creek?" they responded. "We didn't even think of that!"

"Yeah, it shows it right here on my GPS-enabled trails app," I said, pointing to AllTrails running on my iPhone.

"Oh, I'm using AT, too," one of the hikers said, showing me his phone with the same app open.

How can you use the same app and not see the trail marked in bright green?! I wondered to myself. This dude is literally holding the map in his hand and can't figure it out. Sheesh, it's like holding in your hand a device with access to the sum total of human knowledge does not make everyone smarter, it just makes the average person more confident of their dumb ideas.

Anyway, back to the falls. 🤣



At the crossing there were more falls both above and below. I explored down the creek a bit further, but not too far as I was starting to get a sense of how much climbing out there'd be. And, more importantly, Hawk was already aching pretty badly from a long-term issue flaring up. I wasn't going to leave her in the middle of the wilderness to go hiking on my own.



We enjoyed the falls at the crossing a bit more before beginning the arduous climb up out of the canyon. And yes, it was arduous. It was 8-10 long switchbacks up the canyon's sloping side.

Back at the car, now, we're discussing what's next. Earlier in the day we were thinking to do a bit more driving to another remote falls but at this point, with the clouds overhead, it looks like it might get dark too early to want to do a lot of driving before a hike. There's just enough signal here at the trailhead to search for other trails on AllTrails, so I'm checking out Linville Gorge and Linville Falls. That's a big falls, and it's really not that far from here; maybe just 15 minutes of driving.

Stay tuned; the adventure continues!

Hiking Linville Falls. Back after 30 Years.

Blue Ridge Trip '24 #23
Linville, NC - Thu, 5 Sep 2024. 5:30pm

After finishing our hike at Upper Creek Falls this afternoon we called an audible and chose to drive to Linville Gorge next. Somehow it wasn't on our itinerary as browsing through AllTrails earlier in the week didn't turn up any obviously rewarding waterfalls trails we could hike. I knew in the back of my head that was a mistake because I've known about Linville Falls at Linville Gorge for... oh, about 30 years. I visited this park, twice, when I was a graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. I don't know that I ever got a really great view of the falls back then, but that's all the more reason to go for it now. Plus, Hawk has never been here before.



There's an easy trail about 0.5 mile from the visitor center off the Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of Linville Falls. Up here there's a viewing platform on the slickrock looking down over the falls. This rock get especially slick during storms, as water from the river can surge right over it. And I've got to say, the view of the falls from upstream is particularly unsatisfying. I mean, you can get a sense of what's below: a river that crashes around a goose-neck slot and falls a great distance into the canyon below. But you can't see it.

Fortunately there are other things to see up here.



The upper part of the canyon is quietly beautiful. Especially coming late in the day on a gloomy mid-week afternoon like we did, we had the place largely to ourselves. The huuuuge parking lot 1/2 mile back hinted at how much different it could be on a sunny summer weekend.



The other fortunate thing about this spot is that it's not the end of the trail. The trail continues around the side of the gorge to 2 or 3 lookout points with views down into the gorge. We could even see one of them, opposite the big falls (first photo) in the distance.

Update: the adventure continues! Keep reading in part 2.

Yeah, Home Renovations are Expensive

There's been a discussion on an email group in my neighborhood about hiring a contractor to replace windows and sliding glass doors. One neighbor, "Chu", asked for recommendations. A few businesses were suggested, including one that my spouse and I hired years ago for some window repairs. We didn't give this recommendation, though we do consider the contractor an knowledgeable and fair professional. Many people in our neighborhood have hired them for window repairs, as they've been in business in our community for decades.

Chu wrote back to the group that the contractor had come through with a $33k bid that she thought was too high. Moreover, they didn't itemize the cost proposal to identify specific materials and units of labor.  At first the amount of $33k struck me as large, too— our bill for window repairs years ago was more like $1,000— but then I saw Chu's description of the work she wants done. She's asking for 13 windows and 2 sliding glass doors to be replaced. ...Not just repaired, like fixing a pane of glass (which is what we did year ago) but replacing the whole window/door 15x.

A few of our neighbors pointed out that, yes, this project will be costly. The contractor has to cut into the exterior wall in numerous places, remove the old windows/doors, set the new casements in, then not only patch them up to the interior walls but seal them to the exterior, redoing the stucco and exterior paint.

Chu is upset that the contractor didn't provide a price breakdown and hasn't responded to her request to provide one.

I gotta say at this point, I understand where the contractor is coming from in kind of ghosting her request. For one, quotes can take time to prepare. I know in my company, there's a process around it. And when a prospective customer starts requesting multiple quotes, it triggers concern that the customer is aggressively looking for ways to argue for discounts and/or shrink the size of their order but still get the favorably unit pricing entailed in a bigger order.

Also, in any business situation, you've got to understand the market dynamic. Are the vendors hurting for work, or are they all booked up? If the vendors have staff idling for lack of work, they'll respond quickly to inquiries (they're not busy with other projects!) and they'll lead with discounts or offer them quickly to secure a deal. OTOH, when there's more demand than supply, the vendors hold the cards. They don't need to return calls lickedy-split. They don't need to write multiple quotes for choosy buyers or entertain bargain-seekers.

I believe that right now, in terms of home renovations contracting, we are facing an under-supply relative to demand. There are only so many contractors, especially good contractors. And a lot of people want to hire them. In this area there's almost always a supply-demand imbalance for skilled contractors that favors the contractors. It's a high-cost-of-living area, and people want home improvements. In addition, with home sales slow because of high interest rates the past few years, more people are paying to renovate where they live instead of moving.

I absolutely don't fault Chu for wanting to shop for 1-2 competing offers. She absolutely should. But given the first company she called is well reputed and known to be fair, I wouldn't be surprised if the other offers either come in higher or would entail cutting corners that spell trouble a few years down the road. (If you cheap out on exterior sealing you get leaks, with inside-the-wall damage!) I hope she sees that quality work isn't always compatible with getting the lowest price, and that contractors who are busy because they're good aren't going to bargain down their price.