Western NC is going through drought conditions. The creeks and rivers haven't dried up by any means, but water flow is low. This is a great time to explore the larger creeks and rivers by rock hopping and wading up and down the streams. This week end's pick was the Whitewater River, up river from the bridge on 281 south. Bernie and John had taken us to the area near Hwy 107 a few weeks ago, but there were 4 more new waterfalls to see down river. On Saturday, we met Bernie at the 281 bridge and he took us to the upper 2. On Sunday, Harry and I headed back to see the other 2 plus the one we had seen last year.
River wading isn't for everyone, but it's the best way to see everything the river has to offer. Rocks are very slippery and if you get hurt, help is hours away. You're not always in the water. As you might see from some of the photos, there are areas of dry bedrock, boulders and banks to walk on or climb over. On this trip I was never in water much past the bottom of my shorts. This was in the calm areas. In swifter flowing parts of the river, care has to be taken not to slip and be carried into a deep pool. There are also usually areas where staying near the river is impossible or too dangerous, so we have to do some bushwhacking to get around and back to safer water. A hiking stick comes in very handy for balance if I'm stirring your interest.
The pictures in this series are backwards - since we did the lower ones on Sunday, they will be first. If you park on the north side of the river, you'll see the trail going down to a camp site next to the river. This what we did on Sunday. There is a trail that runs part way up the right side and we decided to take it as far as it went, just to see. If you look at the topo, we crossed Waddle Branch on the trail then took it a little farther where it headed sharply uphill to an old logging road. The trail came back down to another camp site near the river. It was at this point where we hit the river. Not too far up, a creek shown on the topo comes in from the left. Just up creek is this small waterfall.
