Info on Wilson Creek (near Blowing Rock NC)

[TallPaul]

Does anybody out there have any experience backpacking in this area?
It has a few features that might entice my kids out for another trip - namely, the creek and distance from Charlotte.

Any recommendations on trails or loops?
Are some areas easier to drive into the trailhead than others?
Any good swimming holes? My adventurous teens like to jump off rocks into water.
And any experience hammocking here?

Thanks

[MedicineMan]

First google hit might entice the adventerous girls:
http://www.hikertohiker.com/thishikinglife/archive/2010/09/17/mountains-to-sea-trail-wilson-creek-day-1

[Gqgeek81]

I believe I cut out a snippet on this area in Backpacker's years ago. They said good things. That's all I've got.

[TATO]

Absolutely love this area. Great views, plenty of waterfalls. Most trails I have been on has numerous water crossings so be prepared. Stop by the visitors center and pick up a very nice area map. It has all the trails highlighted. This is a designated wilderness area and many trails are unmarked and some are not used often. It's a little easy to get turned around especially with the numerous side trails for the trout fishing. But the best info is get the map, it's great.

[TallPaul]

MM - Thanks for that link.
Gqgeek81 - I'll have to see if I can find that online
Tato - I like a good map, especially in areas with few signs. Thanks for the recommendation

[CJK]

Harper Creek Falls. This is a warm weather trail. You will cross the creek many times. There are some great hammock spots.

[MedicineMan]

and we're expecting a cool trip vid TallPaul :)
wondering how waterproof the Note 2 is HA!

[BigA]

I have been here many times. Very popular for us fly fishermen. Any place you chose will have great water and plenty of adventure for the kids. All the trails are easy to find and follow. Look forward to the video when you get out there.

[Grits]

Does anybody out there have any experience backpacking in this area?
It has a few features that might entice my kids out for another trip - namely, the creek and distance from Charlotte.

Any recommendations on trails or loops?
Are some areas easier to drive into the trailhead than others?
Any good swimming holes? My adventurous teens like to jump off rocks into water.
And any experience hammocking here?

Thanks

TallPaul you will have a blast. The mountains to sea trail runs 24 miles through from Beacon Heights on the parkway to raiders camp creek trail on Hwy 181, from Gragg Prong Falls to Harpers Creek Falls there is a lot of places to hike and all camp sites are along the creek and are great for hammock camping. If you do a loop hike there will be some forest service road walking. FS rd 464 and the intersection of fs rd 58 has car camping sites. Get the Wilson's Creek forest service map for accurate trail discriptions. Also check out
http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/wilson_creek1.htm

[Michelle the Camper]

I'm going there this weekend coming up. I am going to try to catch some trout! I'll let you know what I find

[Jason in Tn]

Wilson creek my old stomping grounds. There are two many trails to name and lots of adventure to be had. Jumping off rocks and swimming the gorge area above brown mountain beach. Or hike down to hunt fish falls on lost cove creek a feeder stream to Wilson beautiful area large deep pool right at bottom of trail. Easy walk in steep walk out but worth it take plenty of water. Harpers creek has a upper and lower waterfalls. Lots of other feeder streams to explore. I have fly fished every inch of every creek that feeds from the gorge all the way until they are pretty much dry at the top of grandfather mountain. When I was younger I would spend many long weekends in there camping and fishing with dad. What a great place and lots of memories there. There is a formal type camp area at Mortimer if you want bath rooms and such. Nice central area to work out of.


Jason

[Michelle the Camper]

ho lee smokes! This is a beautiful area! It was so exciting being there this weekend! It was pouring rain as we got out of the car at The Little Lost Cove Cliffs trailhead. We hiked through 4-6" of runnning water on the trail, most of the way. We went over the mountain on the Little Lost Cove trail, then down the N. Harper Creek Falls trail. It finally stopped raining after flooded creek crossing # 3, so we set up camp. Lot's of rain overnight, then beautiful all day Sunday. We broke camp and played around on the cascades, then it started to pour again for our entire hike out, too! Barely made it out, as Brown Mtn. Beach Rd was flooded out, Hwy 90 was nearly flooded out, we drove over a few dodgy looking spots. I heard 90 was shut down shortly after we made our way out! Whoo, buddy!!

[TallPaul]

ho lee smokes! This is a beautiful area!

Thanks for the report. Glad to hear you enjoyed it even with all the rain. I'm sure the creeks were flowing good!
It was a coin toss if I was going there this past weekend as well. I opted for elsewhere and deciding to save this place for warmer and less wet weather.

[TATO]

I too opted out on going here this weekend..... Those streams can be a real booger when there's a lot if rain. Instead caught up on some TATO Gear work I've been putting off and caught a movie with the wife and my son.

[darkbyrd]

ho lee smokes! This is a beautiful area! It was so exciting being there this weekend! It was pouring rain as we got out of the car at The Little Lost Cove Cliffs trailhead. We hiked through 4-6" of runnning water on the trail, most of the way. We went over the mountain on the Little Lost Cove trail, then down the N. Harper Creek Falls trail. It finally stopped raining after flooded creek crossing # 3, so we set up camp. Lot's of rain overnight, then beautiful all day Sunday. We broke camp and played around on the cascades, then it started to pour again for our entire hike out, too! Barely made it out, as Brown Mtn. Beach Rd was flooded out, Hwy 90 was nearly flooded out, we drove over a few dodgy looking spots. I heard 90 was shut down shortly after we made our way out! Whoo, buddy!!

Wow, you picked a hell of a weekend to visit my stomping grounds! Collettsville got hit with a microburst, got an insane amount of rain and hail in a short time, causing landslides and flood damage. It is a great place, with something for everyone.

[darkbyrd]

TallPaul, I recommend stopping by the visitor center on Brown Mountain Beach Rd, and picking up a map there. Excellent hiking throughout, depending on what you want to get into. As mentioned, Hunt Fish and Harper Falls make excellent swimming holes for jumping in, and the gorge section is worthy of a visit (although very crowded on nice weekends). The hike Michelle did is particularly nice, with great views off the Little Lost Cove Cliffs.

N harper falls:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Tqn3VZx_NgI/UeNhb0bquqI/AAAAAAAAC80/n75j9AmZtV4/s800/n%2520harper%2520pano.jpg

View from LLCC: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-g5SA_DGeduY/UeNha1u0rnI/AAAAAAAAC8c/2BmfqsODB4Q/s800/llcc%25201.jpg

[Michelle the Camper]

Nice photos. I talked to a young guy who works for my company last week who told me he kayaked down N. Harper Falls during a flood stage. Crazy!!

[Gqgeek81]

What map should I (can I) order online? I want to take a looks and maybe go this fall.

[darkbyrd]

What map should I (can I) order online? I want to take a looks and maybe go this fall.

http://theforeststore.com/product/wilson-creek-national-wild-scenic-river-trail-guide/

[davekrehl]

My 9 yr old and I went twice last summer to that area & he has not stopped talking about it or pestering me to go back. He loved playing in the water and the hikes were not bad at all. We parked at lost cove trailhead and started east. followed that down and around to then climb bee mtn. And pick up timber ridge trail background to car. Awesome weekend.

[TallPaul]

My 9 yr old and I went twice last summer to that area & he has not stopped talking about it or pestering me to go back. He loved playing in the water and the hikes were not bad at all. We parked at lost cove trailhead and started east. followed that down and around to then climb bee mtn. And pick up timber ridge trail background to car. Awesome weekend.

Thanks Dave - I think it's about time to go visit this area. Need a nice hot weekend so swimming in the creek is refreshing.

[Michelle the Camper]

NoT this weekend, then!

[darkbyrd]

NoT this weekend, then!

No kidding! Ruining my plans to go out there this weekend. @#$! autumn rain! :cursing:

[darkbyrd]

I'll add to this thread that lately, all the roads were in good shape (despite the ominous "road hazard ahead" signs on every road) this past weekend. FR 464 (pineola rd/old mortimer rd) has been regraded, and is smoother and better than ever.

[Gqgeek81]

Got the map in for this area and I've been looking it over.

There grade the trail by difficulty and have a lot of marks for very difficult on many of the trails, but I need some perspective.

How to the trails compare to say Rock Jock in Linville gorge?

I'm worried that Grayson Highlands has spoiled me and I'll plan a loop too big.

[darkbyrd]

Gqgeek, I'd say most of the trails on the wilson creek map are easier than Rock Jock. My then 6yo did several of the "most difficult" trails with no problem. Other trails, like the Harper Creek trail, are rated most difficult for steep grades and routefinding (further from the trailhead I assume, since I've never had a problem on it). If you have any questions about a specific trail, I'd be happy to help if I'm familiar with it.

[brianmat]

We did Wilson Creek last year as a little 2 night short hike just to get us all out of the house. I can give this one word of warning: check your maps to see which trails are maintained. We picked an easier trail "medium" difficulty since the area we wanted to head to was listed as hard (or extreme - I need to check the map again).

We got there with plenty of time and finally found our trail head. That should have been the first clue we should probably move to the next trail.

We were belly crawling under fallen trees, bear hugging over downed trees, and generally looking at the map every 1/8th mile to make sure we were still on the trail. This was with a National Guard officer who teaches land nav for the JROTC groups in the area. Turns out our trail wasn't maintained any longer but was still on the maps.

Long story short: I broke my toe on the hike in, we ended up setting up camp on the trail about a shoulder width wide, and we all ended up twice sliding down mud covered parts of the trail.

With that being said, the area was great. You just should have seen the look on our faces the next morning when we finally found the spot we wanted to get to on the hike in and saw cub scouts hiking around the trail. I would have probably laughed much harder were it not for my completely busted up toe.

I'd love to head back up for a 2-3 night "get out of the office" hike. One of the best things I can see anywhere is the no signal indicator on my phone.

[TallPaul]

No signal indicator on the phone?
This place is sounding even better!

I might have to see if REI has this map today. Otherwise I'll need to order it.

10-day forecast looks promising... just saying :)

[darkbyrd]

Brian, that sounds a lot like the Philip Branch trail. It is rated "moderate," and it was a mess 2 years ago. A mountain biking group has stepped up and done a lot of maintenance. Philip Branch has been cleared at least to the waterfall near the start, and I can't imagine they would have stopped there.

The folks at the visitor center are friendly and knowledgable.

No bars in more places sums this place up nicely.

[brianmat]

I believe is was the Phillip Branch trail. I can't find my map at the moment but I'm going to keep digging for it.

Even with that incident it was a fun trip and the second night was just awesome.

[darkbyrd]

For GPS and Google Earth users, here is a collection of some tracks and waypoints I have collected from the internet and in the field. I haven't field-checked all the tracks, but the ones I have followed have been reasonably accurate.

GPX: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zlubv66xidxbza6/wilson%20creek.gpx
KMZ: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5xb5wv63hxjg0m3/wilson%20creek.kmz

[Dev]

My family took a trip to Blowing Rock last summer and it was great. We went to the river where everyone walks to, was a fun little day hike!

[darkbyrd]

Waterfall on Philips Branch

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mct-ROVZQTc/UYWnfjfoGjI/AAAAAAAACXo/jEgJrmYBq50/s640/DSCN6377.jpg