Upper Creek Falls–Beautiful but POORLY Marked

Friday August 19, 2022                                         
Bear Den Family Campground                              Most Recent Posts:
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Took a drive today to Upper Creek Falls in the Pisgah National Forest about 16 miles and 30 minutes from  Bear Den.

There were interesting fungi on the trail.

The warning signs told me I was going down onto some rocks and I could hear the water.

Turns out, the sign warned me to be careful,  I was at the top of the falls and could see Upper Creek behind them.

I had to cross the creek up here and thought about going back but I decided it was worth it to just go on and get my feet wet.

Here is a short video of Upper Creek behind the falls.

This is the top of the falls and the great view of the Blue Ridge.

The picture below is taken from just a little further down the falls.  Here is a 9 second video of it roaring down the rock face.

From there, the trail provided numerous views of the cascades and other sections of the falls.

I took this very short video from the exact spot below.

And then the trail started getting very sketchy.

There were fewer and fewer metal triangle markers.

This trail had so many different looks at the falls as they went down.  Here is a short video of this section.  Not sure if this was the most powerful section but it might be.

Trail got narrower and narrower …

It widened out at one point on nice rock slabs.

But then, the trail looked like this.  I thought perhaps the tree had fallen over the trail so I crawled under, over, around and trough to find no end of obstacles.  So I climbed back out and back tracked to where I could find the last metal triangular trail marker.

There were no more trail markers  between that one and the obstacle.  The only side path went right to the water.   So I walked down to take a look.

And sure enough, there on  the other side of the fast flowing “creek” was the yellow triangle.  I didn’t take any pictures up next to the creek but I did take numerous videos as I tried to figure out how to get across.  Of all the ones I took, there are only two here.  I really didn’t want to try to cross but I’d have to walk 2.5 miles back and there was less than a mile to go.  I paced back and forth over and over thinking about my alternatives.

This first video shows what I saw when I got down to the water.  Notice the fallen tree, that’s where I crossed over the water.  The rock sides near the water were wet and slick.

The second one is a video from the other side once I got across.  As you can hear me say, the problem was my short legs.  I did actually have to step in the rushing water.  My hiking pole was invaluable.  I actually held my breath and hoped I didn’t slip and go sailing on down and out of sight.

From then on I felt like I was home free.

There were no more views of the Falls but there were some interesting fungi.  I “think” these are staghorn.  Correct me if you know differently.

Aren’t they cool?

I managed not to get lost during this last 1/2 to 3/4 mile.  The yellow triangles weren’t more numerous but the side trails were fewer.

And near the end, a sweet set of steps.

It was a difficult hike in that it was poorly marked and I lost the trail 4 or 5 times and had to backtrack to the last metal yellow triangle marker and see if there was some other path that was the real trail and not a social trail.  They need WAY more markers then they have.  Too many side trails, too few markings. 

I had to cross the river twice.  No easy crossings and the last one was down right scary but to turn around would have been 2.5 miles. I was less than a mile from the end.  Plus I would have had to cross the first river spot again so I figured I might as well take a chance and go on.

The hike took much longer than its mileage would indicate and it was frustrating at points but now that I’ve done it, in the end, I’d do it again.   The waterfall views were fabulous and no one else was anywhere around.