Glenn Falls, Scaly Mountain, and Sunset Mountain

Glenn Falls was close to Highland, NC.

Again, we started our hike in 34 degree weather.

It was rather brisk, but invigorating!

The hike down was a piece of cake.  With the exception of some slight obstacles.

There is a series of 3 waterfalls. This is the second one. Further down you will get a view from the top.

The third waterfall.  We were grateful for hikers returning on their way up.  They alerted us to when we got to the "T" in the path to go right.  If we went the other direction, we would have hiked to who knows where. (We did venture down that way afterwards only to turn around after 15-20 minutes).

 Here is the first one we missed on our way down, but caught it on the ascent.

The drought conditions allowed us to be able to walk onto an area that is usually to dangerous to walk on.  It gave us the opportunity to snap some pictures of the beautiful landscapes.

This is the edge of a very steep waterfall.  I can only imagine in the spring when the snows are melting how much water will gush over the edge!

"Hey Dino, want to catch a bone?"

Doesn't look like much, but this is a sample of the many steps we went down to view the falls.  We did shed many layers of clothing on our way back up!

Once finished here, we made our way over to Scaly Mountain.

The hike started on a fire road, but soon turned off onto the trail.

This hike reminded me of Blood Mountain in Georgia.

Clif is standing on the Scaly Peak.

We hiked through Rhododendron tunnels!

In the evening we headed into town, but first a picture of the lake we always pass.  It looks like a thriving community.



Then up to Sunset Point just on the eastern outskirts of Highlands, NC.  We were hoping to get a picture of a beautiful sunset, but there were too many clouds.

 A great place to visit though.  FYI, be like the locals and bring your wine, cheese, and blanket!

Rufus Morgan Trail and Wayah Bald, NC

Let's see if I can't get caught up on these vacation pictures so I can move along to the happenings of November and December!

We got up to a brisk 34 degrees and headed off to Rufus Morgan Falls.  There were several hiking opportunities in the area and being it was an hour drive to get there, why not spend the day exploring the area.

As we tootled down another bumpy dirt road, we had the thought, "I wonder if it is hunting season."  I wasn't too concerned.  But then, at the parking area, there was 1 lone pickup truck with hunting kennels secured to the bed and 2 hunting hounds in them.  Why on earth would a hunter leave his dogs in the truck?  Our answer came upon the trail.  We ran into this hunter with his rifle squarely on his back walking another hound on a leash (see the orange hat in the picture? That's him).  Turned out in hunting the day before, his dog tracked an animal.  So much so, he wandered 30 miles from where he was hunting. Good thing his hunter had a tracking device on his dog, or he would have never found him!  Come to find out, hunting season started 2 weeks earlier, but fortunately for us, we were hiking in the "bear sanctuary" so hunting technically is limited to other wildlife.

He let us know, we didn't have too far to go before reaching the falls.

It was a pretty loop trail that took about an hour to complete.

Evidently, hunters like to use the sign for target practice! 

Next up, the historic Wilson Lick ranger station.  It is well preserved, but was boarded up.

A further drive up the mountain brought us to the fire tower.

A view of Franklin, NC off in the distance.

Just off to the left, but not quite in the picture, you could see there was indeed a forest fire off in the distance.  Just above left of the city, you can see lingering smoke in the valley from it.

Some fall foliage, but not as brilliant as in years past.

The tower has been reconstructed somewhat.  It isn't as tall as the original structure, but still lent to some spectacular views.

Lots of hiking opportunities up there.  

We ventured onto the AT for a little adventure.  Clif has had a dream to hike the whole thing, only now that he is almost 60, he said it's not in the cards.  I guess his stamina is not what it used to be.

The scenic gravel road back down the mountain.

We decided to continue a loop to the north instead of just heading straight back to camp.  This led us through the Natahala River Gorge.  The sights were beautiful.

Although, not far from here, as we approached Bryson City, smoke filled the air.  It was hard to breathe.  I was glad we were camping further south because it didn't penetrate that far.

Dry Falls, NC

I was looking at the blog and realized I never finished blogging about our trip to NC in October.

On our way back to camp from Potholes Falls, we passed Bridal Veil Falls.  Not worth stopping for.  Because of it being dry, there was a minimal trickle that probably wouldn't show up in the picture!  But we did precede to Dry Falls which is just off Hwy 64.  The names of these 2 waterfalls need to be reversed.  These falls weren't dry at all.  The unique feature...you can walk behind them.  So cool!

 This waterfall was about a mile, two at the most from our campground.