Team Waterfall Black Friday Adventure
Morning scenes around the Lake Lure Marina,
Rumbling Bald Cave with Captain John,
Hickory Nut Falls from across the Gorge,
Flamboyant Falls and Rainbow Falls
Rutherford County, NC
Friday, November 23rd, 2018
Team Waterfall Group Selfie by The Badger
(photo by Thomas Mabry)
(photo by Thomas Mabry)
However, there is a small percentage of the population that prefer to celebrate the Black Friday holiday by going hiking! We call ourselves "Team Waterfall"!
There was a Team Waterfall adventure planned for Friday Afternoon, but since I like to get a much earlier start, I suggested a morning hike for any other early risers. Captain John was the only one interested so we decided to explore the caves of Rumbling Bald Mountain.
While waiting for John to arrive, I enjoyed a nice morning stroll around the Lake Lure Marina area!
Black Friday Morning around the Lake Lure Marina
Black Friday Morning around the Lake Lure Marina
Black Friday Morning around the Lake Lure Marina
Once John arrived, we headed over to the Rumbling Bald to explore the caves!
Captain John inside the Rumbling Bald Caves
Captain John inside the Rumbling Bald Caves
view from the Attic Window
Captain John outside the Attic Window
Captain John inside the Rumbling Bald Caves
After our cave exploration, John and I met up with the rest of the group and headed over to Chimney Rock Village where we would begin our main adventure of the day!
Rainbow Falls is part of the recent Chimney Rock State Park expansion. However, it is very difficult to get to without going through private property. Fortunately Andy had a plan!
The first part of the hike offered up some really nice views across the gorge of Hickory Nut Falls! Some pops of late season fall color was an added bonus!
Hickory Nut Falls
Chimney Rock State Park
Hickory Nut Falls
We continued on up the mountain until we were within earshot of the un-named stream that Rainbow Falls is located on. The topo map showed potential for additional drops downstream, so we decided to head towards the creek.
We were rewarded with a beauty of a waterfall that none of us had ever been to or was even aware of. We are calling this one Flamboyant Falls!
Flamboyant Falls
The Professor at Flamboyant Falls
Flamboyant Falls
Spencer at the Top of Flamboyant Falls
Note: at the time, we thought we were still inside the State Park Boundary, but I believe Flamboyant Falls is located on private property. We did not come across any no tresspassing signs or property boundary markers.
Continuing on up, we came across some impressive boulder fields which some of us took time to explore!
Carlos on the Rocks!
Me taking a shortcut through the rocks!
(photo by Jill Cash)
Jill checking out the rock cave
Carlos and the Professor
Eventually we arrived at the spectacular Rainbow Falls!
Rainbow Falls
The Badger and Spencer at Rainbow Falls
Selfie with The Badger at Rainbow Falls
Cameron at Rainbow Falls
After a nice long break at Rainbow Falls it was time to either head back or continue on!
How do we plan to get from here to there?
About half the group decided to continue on up the mountain, while the rest of us decided to head on back. I wasn't in the mood to be hiking after dark and I had a college football game I wanted to get home to, so I went with the group that decided to head on back!
Christy and The Badger heading down from Rainbow Falls
Andy and I did decided to check out another short section of stream between Rainbow and Flamboyant Falls and found a few smaller waterfalls and cascades.
For the final stretch of the hike, we enjoyed some additional views of Hickory Nut Falls and ended the day at a small carnival in Chimney Rock Village!
Back on Pavement
Badger Selfie
Me after the hike at Chimney Rock Village
This was the perfect way for me to celebrate Black Friday!
My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157698192260910
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