Cullasaja Falls
Sep. 29th, 2023 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerNorth Carolina Travelog #18
Highlands, NC - Fri, 22 Sep 2023. 1pm
I'm not sure how Cullasaja Falls got on our list. There's no trailhead for it, nor a trail sign. Heck, there's barely even a trail. And even with AllTrails.com and Apple Maps giving us driving directions in the car we still drove past it a few times and had to turn around and try again to find the right narrow pullout on a dangerous canyon road. All that fuss of turning around a few times was worth it, though. Cullasaja Falls is amazing... once you find it.
There's little indication from the road down this steep canyon that there's a falls nearby— other than the fact it's a steep canyon. Even from the narrow pullout you can only see a glimpse of part of the falls (photo above). But as you crane your head to peer through the trees you can see there's more to these falls. A lot more. And all it takes to get there is a scramble down the steep side of that deep canyon. 😨
Fortunately for us, we came prepared for a steep scramble.
What we weren't prepared for is how huge Cullasaja Falls is. Hiking guides didn't give an accurate indication of what to expect. They made it seem like a roadside curiosity (i.e., small) that you just look out your car window to see (you can't) while driving past.
With how huge Cullasaja Falls is, and how it's hidden from easy view within this steep canyon, a short hike halfway down the side of the canyon felt like a journey into the Land Of The Lost. (Yes, I've got the show tune from that 1970s Saturday morning kids show running through my head now. 🎵 The la-and of the lost! 🎵)
We could have scrambled all the way to the bottom of the falls. It would have been tricky, but our boots and poles and skills were working well. Yet it wouldn't really have been any better. Waterfalls are honestly best viewed from about halfway down for best perspective... or at the bottom but far enough back to see everything. To me this was about the ideal vantage point. Plus, if we'd gone all the way down we'd have had twice as much huffing and puffing to get back to the top.
BTW, "Nantahala", the name of this national forest, is a native word meaning "Land of the noon sun". In deep canyons like this there is only sun around noon.
In beauty I walk.
Highlands, NC - Fri, 22 Sep 2023. 1pm
I'm not sure how Cullasaja Falls got on our list. There's no trailhead for it, nor a trail sign. Heck, there's barely even a trail. And even with AllTrails.com and Apple Maps giving us driving directions in the car we still drove past it a few times and had to turn around and try again to find the right narrow pullout on a dangerous canyon road. All that fuss of turning around a few times was worth it, though. Cullasaja Falls is amazing... once you find it.
There's little indication from the road down this steep canyon that there's a falls nearby— other than the fact it's a steep canyon. Even from the narrow pullout you can only see a glimpse of part of the falls (photo above). But as you crane your head to peer through the trees you can see there's more to these falls. A lot more. And all it takes to get there is a scramble down the steep side of that deep canyon. 😨
Fortunately for us, we came prepared for a steep scramble.
What we weren't prepared for is how huge Cullasaja Falls is. Hiking guides didn't give an accurate indication of what to expect. They made it seem like a roadside curiosity (i.e., small) that you just look out your car window to see (you can't) while driving past.
With how huge Cullasaja Falls is, and how it's hidden from easy view within this steep canyon, a short hike halfway down the side of the canyon felt like a journey into the Land Of The Lost. (Yes, I've got the show tune from that 1970s Saturday morning kids show running through my head now. 🎵 The la-and of the lost! 🎵)
We could have scrambled all the way to the bottom of the falls. It would have been tricky, but our boots and poles and skills were working well. Yet it wouldn't really have been any better. Waterfalls are honestly best viewed from about halfway down for best perspective... or at the bottom but far enough back to see everything. To me this was about the ideal vantage point. Plus, if we'd gone all the way down we'd have had twice as much huffing and puffing to get back to the top.
BTW, "Nantahala", the name of this national forest, is a native word meaning "Land of the noon sun". In deep canyons like this there is only sun around noon.
In beauty I walk.
