Tuesday, October 25, 2016

2016-10-21 DuPont State Forest

DuPont State Forest Hike
Transylvania County, NC
Friday, October 21st, 2016

Hooker Falls

When DuPont State Forest first opened to the public back in 2000 it quickly became one of my favorite hiking destinations.  It was relatively unknown at the time so you could visit the spectacular sights without running into a whole bunch of people.

However, in recent years DuPont State Forest has become more and more well known and has gotten WAY to crowded for my taste.  Plus a handful of Darwin Award Nominees have caused forest officials to litter the more popular areas of the park with Caution Tape, Barricades, and Do Not Enter Signs!

Because of all this DuPont has lost some of its appeal to me and it has been close to 5 years since my last visit.

I decided I wanted to try to hit the Fall color at DuPont, so I took Friday off from work to avoid the weekend crowds.  I still ran into quite a few people but it wasn't overwhelmingly crowded.  And it was a beautiful day for a hike!

I ended up hiking almost 16 miles hitting many of the highlights along the way.

GPS Track


Here are some of the photos from my hike (in order):

 Hooker Falls
The Low Water Level gave this one even more character!

The Lower Drop of Triple Falls from the base

Triple Falls from the Overlook

The base of the Middle Drop of Triple Falls

High Falls

High Falls
The Low Water Levels made it much easier to get to this side of the creek.
First time for me taking a photo of this waterfall from this vantage point!

Black Snake along the trail

view from the top of High Falls

The DuPont Covered Bridge

Lake Dense

Lake Alford

Summit Lake  (aka Lake Julia)

The DuPont Barn

Bridal Veil Falls

Me at Bridal Veil Falls

view from the top of Bridal Veil Falls

view from the Bridal Overlook

view from the end of the Airstrip

The end of the DuPont Airstrip

Summit Lake (aka Lake Julia)

The DuPont Boathouse

The DuPont Boathouse

Looking up at some nice Fall Color

Joanna Mountain above Lake Julia

Lake Imaging

The obligatory stop on the Caesars Head Overlook on the Drive Home

view from the Caesars Head Overlook

view of Table Rock Mountain from the Caesars Head Overlook


The complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157672085197484

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