Looking Glass Falls Pisgah National Forest

Well, as it turns out, apparently I didn't save any of my photos from Looking Glass Falls. This single drop 60ft fall is located just outside of Brevard, NC on US 276 in Pisgah National Forest. It's difficult, really, to comprehend the sheer amount of force coming over these falls. Don't get me wrong, I know it's not the largest or tallest waterfall in the world, but it really gives you a beating if you get up close.

The only remaining photo from Looking Glass Falls

Along US 276 coming out of Brevard, you'll pass the Ranger Station. A few more miles along and you'll come to a stretch of windy road (it's all windy) where, on the right hand side, cars are packed in like sardines (not if you get there early enough, though). During the afternoon, the close proximity of Looking Glass Falls to 276 makes is a ripe tourist stop-off. Get there before 11am on a weekday to avoid the crowds. Take the first parking spot you find as you may, like me, find that the spots closer up are all taken. Then you'll be screwed out of a parking spot.

There's probably a set of one hundred stone steps leading down to the falls which can easily be seen from the road. At the bottom you'll find a small stone viewing area from which very few people partake in the views. Instead there's a well worn path off the the left that brings you out directly into the river. And presently, into the spray-zone of the falls. This icy mountain water is refreshing on a hot day as the temperature by the falls is easily 10º-20º cooler than up by the road.

If you decide to rock-hop and/or swim (I suggest you bring a pair of Keens) then head around to your right hand side of the falls. Here you'll find that the water has carved out an infinitely deep plunge pool. There's a couple of good rocks to jump off on this side, straight into the freezing cold plunge pool. Just be careful of the waterfall's undercurrents and be sure to scout for rocks before jumping!

If, instead, you'd like to get out "behind" (you can't really make it all the way behind) the falls then go back up the stone stairs to where the first turn is in the switchback. There's a small trail here that goes off toward the waterfall over lots of strewn boulders and precarious angles on wet mossy stones dozens of feet above the ground. Like me, you probably think this sounds like fun. So pick your way around, over, across, and through these rocks until you're up and around behind the waterfall. You can jump in from here if you have the balls, or just pose for a good picture.

Here's my suggested trip itinerary: 

Common afternoon view from Black Balsam Knob

Head out from Brevard, NC early in the morning going north on US 276. Hit up Looking Glass Falls before the crowds arrive. From there continue north on 276 deeper into the national forest. You'll hit the Blue Ridge Parkway after another 20 minutes or so. Head west on the parkway from here. After another twenty minutes and scenic overlooks of Cold Mountain and Looking Glass Rock as well as passing the Mountains to Sea Trail you'll arrive at the Graveyard Fields trailhead and parking. Here you can check out the Lower Falls (yep, that's their name). There's a great plunge pool for swimming here, too. You can jump right off the falls if you climb the face, there's a good 6 foot drop. Then you can opt to either head up the MTS Trail to Skinny Dip Falls. Or go up Black Balsam Knob Road to Black Balsam Knob for an afternoon picnic and relaxation with beautiful views in 360º at over 6000ft.

Shining Rock Wilderness: Cold Mountain Hike

I set off to summit Cold Mountain at 6pm on Friday, June 24th. After two and a half grueling hours of hauling my Osprey Aether 60 up from Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp (2650ft), I finally found Deep Gap (5000ft). I was concerned for a while that I had taken a wrong turn somehow since the Art Loeb trail (starting at the BS Camp) has no blazes. I camped for the night at 5000ft at Deep Gap. When the sun rose, I set off for the summit of Cold Mountain which would be 6030ft. It took me another hour and half from deep gap to the top of Cold Mountain, even though I left my pack and hammock at Deep Gap taking only some Mojo Bars, a GU Energy packet, my rain jacket, and the Nikon D3100 up the mountain with me.

Deep Gap

My primary goal was to summit Cold Mountain, while secondarily I was interested in searching for a crashed B-26 bomber from 1946. When I headed into Pisgah a few weekends back, I stopped in at the Ranger Station just outside of Brevard in order to pick up a map of Pisgah Ranger District. When I struck up a conversation about some of the best hikes in the area, one of the rangers got to talking about Cold Mountain. This lead to that and so on and eventually one of the rangers mentioned an old World War II bomber crash on Cold Mountain. He couldn't recall where the bomber had crashed, but called over an ancient looking park ranger. This ranger said he knew where the bomber lay and marked on my map, just a little east of the trail, just before the Cold Mountain trail turns sharply west to go to the summit. He claimed it was just about 200 yards off the trail, and I'd have to "crawl on hands and knees under the Rhododendrons to find it".

I got to Deep Gap around 9pm on Friday and initially didn't recognize it as the Gap. Taking off my pack, I found water dripping onto my shorts. I rifled through my pack to check my water bottles and found they were not leaking. That's when I realized my shirt had absorbed so much sweat it was dripping onto my pants. Needless to say I changed clothes, hung those out to dry, cooked dinner and ate it with my back against a tree as I was unusually paranoid about bears that night.

"COLD" Elevation

In the morning I made the hike up to Cold Mountain and passed two hikers coming down. They advised me to keep hiking up the trail until I found some good overlooks, saying that they had missed the summit on a previous trip because they didn't go up far enough. I found that there are several good camp sites just below the summit. Continuing through these, the trail narrows and is overgrown with raspberry bushes and low trees. It comes out about three times onto narrow rocky outcroppings providing unobstructed views to the south from 6000ft elevation before finally reaching the summit rock, marked with a USGS plaque. The plaque seems to indicate that the mountain is "COLD" feet high. I'm not sure why someone stamped "COLD" onto the plaque instead of the actual elevation (6030ft) but there you have it.

View from one of the Cold Mountain overlooks, facing south

When I got back down, I took off into the overgrown bush where the old park ranger had indicated the B-26 originally crashed. I searched for about an hour but gave up after tiring myself out bushwhacking on the side of Cold Mountain. I did some more research after I got back and found out there's a book published as "Cold Mountain Bomber Crash". Maybe this book would have the clues one needs to find the lost B-26, or maybe not. This Indiana Jones adventure will have to await another wild soul to find the lost B-26. All in all it took me over 7000 feet of vertical elevation change to yo-yo hike from Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp to Cold Mountain's summit and back again. This is not an easy hike, the trail takes ascents that are nearly hand over fist and the Art Loeb lacks blazes. The Cold Mountain trail is blazed with gold paint stripes but is easy to follow anyway. The trail is hard but the rewards are worth it. Are you up for a challenge?

Happy Trails!