In the mood for some
mountains and a good hike, we took a long drive to Gorges
State Park in Sapphire, North Carolina.
The park is located near
Brevard pretty close to where we were in May. In fact we passed the campground,
grocery store, and laundromat we used. The park is North
Carolina’s western most state park, abutting Pisgah National Forest.
We heard of the place on our friend, Karen’s blog and thought we’d check it
out.
We first stopped at their Visitor Center,
an award-winning, energy-efficient building situated on a vista on the Blue Ridge escarpment. Its main room serves as both an
inviting fireplaced lounge and a kid-friendly mini-museum.
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| falling water on a Visitor Center wall (apologies for the sun rays) |
Then we hiked to Upper Bearwallow
Falls. This 0.4-mile (0.8
miles round trip), well-groomed trail descends 213 feet through
rhododendron and mountain laurel to a viewing platform of the distant falls. We
took pictures and chatted with a couple from the Pittsburg area exchanging ideas on other things to
see in the area. Then we hiked back up.
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| Upper Bearwallow Falls |
We went back to the Visitor Center for a picnic lunch on their
veranda overlooking the distant mountains. The views were spectacular.
After lunch we headed down
the 1.5-mile trail (3 miles round trip) to some other falls. The trail descends for the first mile, then climbs. So you can say “It goes uphill both ways.” One
hears the cascading river for much of the last half mile. The trail heads to
the park’s main attraction, the 150ft tall Rainbow Falls – which is actually
located in Pisgah National Forest, but accessible through Gorges State Park.
The trail leads to a nice view of the falls and Bill scrambled to areas below
and next to the falls.
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| Rainbow Falls |
Barbara headed back at this
point, while Bill continued a little further to the 25ft Turtleback Falls.
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This is one of the wetter
regions in the east, but this year has been particularly dry. Despite the dry
climate, the falls looked great and we had a gorgeous day exploring Gorges State
Park.
