Thursday, October 10, 2019

2019-10-05 Buckeye Creek Adventure

Buckeye Creek Adventure
Pisgah National Forest Middle Prong Wilderness Area
Haywood County, NC
Saturday, October 5th, 2019

Group Photo at Sheephead Falls  (photo by Ryan Mallon)
Scott (the Professor), Ryan (Mountain Cat), Me (Bushwhack Jack), Jenni, and Aby
Note:  Captain John showed up later further down the creek

For Saturday Jenni invited me along on her quest to knock a few more waterfalls off her 500 NC Waterfall Challenge list.  Also joining us would be Scott, Ryan, and Aby.  Captain John would make an appearance later and much further down the creek!

I decided to head up early to catch a sunrise along the Blue Ridge Parkway which turned out to be a bust.  The entire stretch of the BRP all the way from Asheville to Haywood Gap was 100% fogged in.  In fact, I do believe this was the thickest fog that I have ever driven through!

Since I still had about an hour before our meetup time, I started the day with a short hike in the fog up Black Balsam Knob.  Other than there being way more humans than I was expecting, it was an enjoyable but uneventful start to the day!

 No view this morning from the summit of Black Balsam Knob along the Art Loeb Trail

For the main adventure of the day, we would hit all the waterfalls along Buckeye Creek.  I suggested doing the hike as a loop, but was over-ruled and the group decided to run a short shuttle to cut about mile off the hike distance.  We left a few vehicles at Haywood Gap and drove down to Buckeye Gap to begin our adventure. 

Here are some of the photos from our journey down Buckeye Creek!

Jenni and Ryan at one of the drops of Upper Buckeye Falls

Upper Buckeye Falls

The Professor along Buckeye Creek

Aby and Jenni working their way down Buckeye Creek

Sheephead Falls on Buckeye Creek

 The Professor shows how it is done (followed by Jenni, Aby, and Captain John)

 Nice cascade along Buckeye Creek

Jenni and Scott along Buckeye Creek
Who says you need words to communicate!

 Selfie Time with The Professor and Mountain Cat along Buckeye Creek

Buckeye Falls

The Professor at Buckeye Falls

 
 Buckeye Falls

Buckeye Falls

Buckeye Falls

Buckeye Falls

Lower Buckeye Falls

 Lower Buckeye Falls

The total distance was only about 4.6 miles.  However, more than half of that distance was in the creek making for a full day adventure!

Here is the GPS track from our hike:

It is always a pleasure hiking with Jenni, Scott, Ryan, and John!  And It was great meeting Aby for the first time and helping her along on here first extended creekwalk/bushwhack!   The fog might have covered up the sunrise, but it made for perfect weather for this type of adventure!  

My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157711272574776

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