Sunday, November 29, 2020

2020-11-27 Upper Whitewater River Adventure

 Upper Whitewater River Adventure
Jackson County, NC
Black Friday, November 27th, 2020
 
Selfie with the Professor at Entrance Falls
 
As tradition, I spent Black Friday out in the woods!
 
This year The Professor Scott Burns joined me on a return visit to the Upper Whitewater River area of Jackson County, NC. 
 
Sculpted Falls
 
 
We had both been here less than a week prior, but felt the desire to connect a few dots and fill in some blanks from our previous adventure!
 
We were able to find a route to Entrance Falls staying entirely on public property. I am 100% confident that the route we took was NOT the path of least resistance! 
 
Entrance Falls

Scott working his way down the side of Entrance Falls
 
Sculpted Falls


 
Rather than crossing the river and taking the trail down to Exit Falls, we decided to see if we could find a safe route staying on River Right.   No safe route was found!
 
We were able to find a route to get to Green Party Falls from above, but I would not recommend this route to anyone! 
 
Green Party Falls
 
 I had a wonderful day exploring with Scott.  We saw no other humans during our day in the Mountains of North Carolina.

 

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

2020-11-22 Upper Whitewater River Adventure

Upper Whitewater River Adventure
Transylvania and Jackson County, NC
Sunday, November 22nd, 2020
 
A few photos from our adventure along the Upper Whitewater River and some of it's tributaries!
 
 Jen and Andy by Jen's favorite tree of the day!

The Professor clearing some deadfall from FR89 Falls

FR89 Falls on Deadfall Branch


 
The Gang at 55MPH 

 
Three Amigos

 
Andy Crossing the Whitewater River


 
The Trail

Carlos at 55MPH Falls

 
Merge Lane Falls


 
The Badger and Carlos exploring a Cave


 
Bedrock Betty


 
The Badger at Bedrock Betty


 
Carlos arrives at Green Party Falls


Green Party Falls



Democrat Creek Cascade


Spencer and Scott!  
Team Waterfall Powers Activate!



My complete set of photos is posted here:
 
 




Friday, November 20, 2020

2020-11-18 Introducing Samson Falls + Rock Creek Exploration and Sky Falls

Introducing Samson Falls!
Rock Creek Exploration and Sky Falls
with Kyle and Samson (aka Sammy)
Laurel Fork Heritage Preserve, SC
Gorges State Park, NC
A Bit of Private Property, NC (with permission)
Jocassee Gorge Wildlife Management Area, SC
Wednesday, November 18th, 2020

Selfie with Sammy and Kyle at Sky Falls

Kyle, Sammy, and I had a great day exploring around the Rock Creek area of SC/NC
 
From US278 in Rocky Bottom, SC we drove Horsepasture Road to Canebrake Road.  I believe Canebrake Road is open seasonally from September 15th  thru January 2nd  and April 1st thru April 30th.
 
GPS Track of our Adventure
Note:  I intentionally cropped out the northern part of our loop since it crosses private property.
 
From our start point along Canebrake Road we headed north through a parcel of land that until recently was private property.  It is now Public Property and part of the SCDNR Jocassee Gorges Wildlife Management Area.   Note:  South Carolina State Law (and common sense) requires either an orange vest or an orange hat when entering Wildlife Management areas. 

We continued north into the Laurel Fork Heritage Preserve where we would begin our exploration of an area of Rock Creek that looked promising!

Sammy by the first drop along Rock Creek a short distance below the road


A small tributary stream that doesn't show up on any map enters Rock Creek a short distance further downstream.  This next one was the most unexpected surprise of the day.   Unless I determine that someone else has already named this one, I am proposing Samson Falls!

Kyle and Sammy at Samson Falls


Samson Falls

Samson Falls

 
We continued downstream past a few more nice waterfalls and cascades along Rock Creek.
 
Sammy by a nice cascade on Rock Creek

Sammy and Kyle by a nice waterfall on Rock Creek

Nice cascade along Rock Creek

Nice Waterfall along Rock Creek

Kyle and Sammy heading down Rock Creek

Waterfall on Rock Creek

Sammy taking a break

Up until this point we stayed 100% on public land.  Downstream from here Rock Creek forms the boundary between private property and public land.  Our intention was to attempt to stay either in the creek or on the public side.   It soon became obvious that our intended route would not be safe and instead we entered private property via the very inviting looking Walter Kludge Trail.
 
Kyle and Sammy heading up the Walter Kluge Trail
 
Old Moonshiners vehicle along the Walter Kluge Trail

Waterfall along the Walter Kluge Trail.  
This one is immediately upstream from Indian Ford Falls.

Selfie with Kyle by the Waterfall along the Walter Kluge Trail

While trying to find a safe route down to Indian Ford Falls, we heard yelling from up above.  Sammy quickly turned around to make friends with one of the property owners.  They strongly advised us against continuing down the way we were going and instead led us down to Sky Falls.
 
Thanks Jack and Diane Boyer for allowing us to access Sky Falls through your property and to continue our planned loop!   

Break Time at Sky Falls


Sky Falls

 
Selfie with Sammy and Kyle at Sky Falls

We never did end up making it to Indian Ford Falls, but at least we have good reason to get back!

From Sky Falls we continued downstream along Rock Creek to where it meets the Foothills Trail at Lake Jocassee.

Nice cascade downstream from Sky Falls
 
Sammy fetching sticks in Lake Jocassee
 
 
Sammy and Kyle at Lake Jocassee

From Lake Jocassee we finished our day with a long climb along the Foothills Trail and Canebrake Road back to my vehicle.

Sammy leaving Gorges State Park
 
Dog Tired!
 
Kyle and Sammy along Canebrake Road

It was a fun day of exploring around the Carolina Mountains!

My complete set of photos is posted here:

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

2020-11-13 Mount Mitchell Plane Crash Search

The Search for the 1949 Mount Mitchell Plane Crash
With Captain John and Sean
Somewhere along the East Side of Mount Mitchell
Yancey County, NC
Friday, November 13th and Saturday, November 14th, 2020

Captain John and Sean with a fuel tank from the 1949 crash!

My friend Captain John who is a commercial airline pilot has an obsession with seeking out old airplane crash sites.  I have had the pleasure of joining him on several of these searches over the past few years.

On October 5th, 1949 a Douglas C-47D (DC-3) crashed somewhere on the side of Mount Mitchell.  So far we have had four failed attempts at finding this crash site.



Since the crash happened over 70 years ago before GPS was commonplace, we do not have exact GPS coordinates.  It has been like looking for a needle in the haystack.  Especially since we believe the largest pieces of the wreckage were removed many years ago.

Some additional research since our last attempt led to a few more potential spots to check out.

But first a few photos from before starting the search!

Sunrise along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sunrise along the Blue Ridge Parkway

The Obligatory Selfie at the Mount Mitchell Summit Sign
 

 At the Mount Mitchell Summit

Once John arrived, we began our search.  We've seen parts of the Mitchell Mountainside that no humans have ever laid eyes on!

After about 7 hours of searching around the cliffs and forests on Mount Mitchell, we were about to give up for the day.  However,  I spotted a piece of crumpled aluminum mostly buried under 70 years forest growth.

 
The first piece of debris spotted

We found a few more pieces of debris nearby and knew we were close to the crash site.

With the time change, we were running out of daylight and still had a hike to get to our evenings accommodations!  (Thanks again Chip for letting us use your Cabin!)

Sunset from the Trail
 
The Cabin at Night - The stars were amazing!

At the Cabin, we formed our plan of attack for the next day.

Leaving The Cabin on Saturday Morning.
Thanks again Chip!

We returned to where we left off the previous day and continued our search.   
 
Success!
 
John inspecting one of the fuel tanks

Engine Exhaust

John checking out some of the wreckage

Captain John at one of the many cliff faces we bushwhacked to over the course of this adventure
 
Landing Gear Wheel Hub  

More of the wreckage
 
 
After many hours of research and bushwhacking through some of the must rugged terrain east of the Mississippi, we believe we can finally call the search complete!
 
It was a fun and memorable multi-year search!  And my friendship with John and Sean has grown because of it!
 
My complete set of photos is posted here:

 







Meet Zoey

 Meet Zoey! Amy and I just adopted this beautiful girl!