Rainbow Falls, Gorges State Park
Oct. 8th, 2023 08:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerNorth Carolina Travelog #26
Gorges State Park, NC - Sat, 23 Sep 2023. 12pm
We're hiking the Rainbow Falls Trail at Gorges State Park in North Carolina. It's yet-another of the seemingly countless waterfall trails that are within ~30 minutes of driving from our home-away-from-home in Brevard, NC. Better yet, this isn't just another waterfall trail; it will take us to three waterfalls starting with Rainbow Falls.
The trail starts out easy. It's wide and it's downhill. Of course, down on the way in means up on the way home. It's like buying on a credit card; you enjoy it now but have to pay later. At least there's a lot to enjoy!
After bottoming out in the canyon the trail starts upstream— and uphill— to Rainbow Falls.
Rainbow Falls is huge. It's not as tall as the many tiers of Whitewater Falls added together but it does fall over 100 feet in pretty much one big drop.
One first catches a glimpse of the falls when the trail rounds a bend and offers a narrow lookout point. That's where I captured the photo shown above. As the photo shows there's also a wide open viewing platform closer to the falls and down a bit (right edge of the photo). From near that lookout there's also a obvious footpath to get down to the pool at the bottom of the falls.
Guess where I went.
Yes, I scrambled down the use trail to the bottom then rock-hopped partway across.
As you can see with the photo above, I also used my backcountry camera monopod to stabilize pictures taken with a neutral density filter.
After a fair bit of rock-hopping and scrambling I headed back up the hill to rejoin the main trail. It turns out I had a spy along with me for that scrambling and rock-hopping.
I've mentioned a few times this week that the AllTrails app has been coming in really useful. On this trek I somewhat inadvertently engaged the tracking feature. It builds a trace of where I've actually hiked, along with a total distance and an elevation profile. The trace, though, makes it look like I've wandered around in a stupor. It's even loopier than one of those Family Circus comics showing Billy walking through the neighborhood. It's like I'm drunk. Drunk on beauty!
In beauty I walk. Even if some dumb app thinks I'm walking in circles. 😂
Gorges State Park, NC - Sat, 23 Sep 2023. 12pm
We're hiking the Rainbow Falls Trail at Gorges State Park in North Carolina. It's yet-another of the seemingly countless waterfall trails that are within ~30 minutes of driving from our home-away-from-home in Brevard, NC. Better yet, this isn't just another waterfall trail; it will take us to three waterfalls starting with Rainbow Falls.
The trail starts out easy. It's wide and it's downhill. Of course, down on the way in means up on the way home. It's like buying on a credit card; you enjoy it now but have to pay later. At least there's a lot to enjoy!
After bottoming out in the canyon the trail starts upstream— and uphill— to Rainbow Falls.
Rainbow Falls is huge. It's not as tall as the many tiers of Whitewater Falls added together but it does fall over 100 feet in pretty much one big drop.
One first catches a glimpse of the falls when the trail rounds a bend and offers a narrow lookout point. That's where I captured the photo shown above. As the photo shows there's also a wide open viewing platform closer to the falls and down a bit (right edge of the photo). From near that lookout there's also a obvious footpath to get down to the pool at the bottom of the falls.
Guess where I went.
Yes, I scrambled down the use trail to the bottom then rock-hopped partway across.
As you can see with the photo above, I also used my backcountry camera monopod to stabilize pictures taken with a neutral density filter.
After a fair bit of rock-hopping and scrambling I headed back up the hill to rejoin the main trail. It turns out I had a spy along with me for that scrambling and rock-hopping.
I've mentioned a few times this week that the AllTrails app has been coming in really useful. On this trek I somewhat inadvertently engaged the tracking feature. It builds a trace of where I've actually hiked, along with a total distance and an elevation profile. The trace, though, makes it look like I've wandered around in a stupor. It's even loopier than one of those Family Circus comics showing Billy walking through the neighborhood. It's like I'm drunk. Drunk on beauty!
In beauty I walk. Even if some dumb app thinks I'm walking in circles. 😂
