Aldaron
Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2012
- Messages
- 1,487
Since I moved back east after nine years of traipsing around the Rockies, I don't feel like I have trip reports or pictures worthy enough to post on here, anymore. But I'll post some, anyway.
Last weekend my wife and I met a friend of mine from grad school in Clemson, SC, and we took a hike in Panthertown Valley outside of Cashiers, NC. When I was at Clemson 16 years ago, this place was completely unknown. I would go up here for solo hikes on the weekends and wouldn't see another soul. That has changed. Backpacker Magazine was nice enough to feature it recently in the magazine, so that was unfortunate.
But we went up here, anyway, because it's pretty, has lots of waterfalls, and several granite domes.
And here's what we got from the day.
This is a picture of smoke from a forest fire. The fire was at the base of Big Green Mountain, and the mountain in the picture is Little Green. We didn't even know there was a fire until we climbed all the way up Little Green and were greeted by thick smoke billowing up from the valley floor. We had planned on hiking down the opposite side of Little Green and circling the mountain, but the trail descended straight down to the fire, so we had to backtrack the way we came. After leaving, we found out it was a controlled burn. The Forest Service was considerate enough not to post any signs about it at the trailhead, though.
Warden Falls. The hike to this fall is a steep climb through some crazy thick rhododendron.
Schoolhouse Falls. This is the waterfall everyone goes to Panthertown to see.
These pictures were taken from just outside of the Valley.
Silver Run Falls
Chatooga River
The Valley is still really nice, but I think I'll focus on hiking it on the north end to get away from the people. It won't be quite as pretty, but it will be more isolated.
Last weekend my wife and I met a friend of mine from grad school in Clemson, SC, and we took a hike in Panthertown Valley outside of Cashiers, NC. When I was at Clemson 16 years ago, this place was completely unknown. I would go up here for solo hikes on the weekends and wouldn't see another soul. That has changed. Backpacker Magazine was nice enough to feature it recently in the magazine, so that was unfortunate.
But we went up here, anyway, because it's pretty, has lots of waterfalls, and several granite domes.
And here's what we got from the day.
This is a picture of smoke from a forest fire. The fire was at the base of Big Green Mountain, and the mountain in the picture is Little Green. We didn't even know there was a fire until we climbed all the way up Little Green and were greeted by thick smoke billowing up from the valley floor. We had planned on hiking down the opposite side of Little Green and circling the mountain, but the trail descended straight down to the fire, so we had to backtrack the way we came. After leaving, we found out it was a controlled burn. The Forest Service was considerate enough not to post any signs about it at the trailhead, though.
Warden Falls. The hike to this fall is a steep climb through some crazy thick rhododendron.
Schoolhouse Falls. This is the waterfall everyone goes to Panthertown to see.
These pictures were taken from just outside of the Valley.
Silver Run Falls
Chatooga River
The Valley is still really nice, but I think I'll focus on hiking it on the north end to get away from the people. It won't be quite as pretty, but it will be more isolated.
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