Hello everyone, I hope you had a nice weekend. Today, I would like to take you back to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the US state of North Carolina. I spent about two weeks driving and camping around this area as a part of a road trip I took after my sister’s wedding near Asheville. This is a beautiful part of the country, with lots of misty, gem-filled mountains, rushing rivers, and thick, mysterious forests. In this post, I will introduce you to a new addition to the Worldmappin map, the rocky and meandering Catawba Waterfall, deep in the Pisgah National Forest.
To get to this waterfall, you will first need to do a bit of hiking. The trailhead is about 25 miles outside of Asheville, which is a popular town for people to visit in the area. If you find yourself in North Carolina, I highly recommend visiting Asheville, as it has many unique shops, outdoor activities, and a vibrant music scene. There is a small parking lot at the beginning of the trail, as well as some simple bathrooms.
There are two paths to choose from, one to the left and the other to the right. I highly recommend taking the path to the right, as it takes you directly to the river and follows it gently until you reach some stairs. To me, it seemed preferable to do the majority of the elevation gain on the stairs, as opposed to going the other way and suffering through an hour and a half of straight incline and never-ending switchbacks. Since this is a loop trail, you will have to do the switch-backs at some point. I just prefer doing them on the way down.
The trail is not too difficult, but you definitely need to be in decent physical shape, as there are a fair bit of stairs, some light scrambling, as well as two hop across (from rock-to-rock) river crossings. That being said, we did come across a group of nice elderly folks that seemed to do just fine …although, they may have turned around before hitting the switch-backs haha
We also came across this nice dog while on the trail. Very friendly and clearly happy to be included in his owner’s adventure into nature.
There was some light rain at the beginning of the hike, and some misting throughout. This gave the air a nice freshness that I really wish I could bottle up and take with me back to the city. The moisture did, however, have a downside, which was the added danger of slipping, especially on the wet metal stairs towards the top of the waterfalls, as well as the rocks you will have to cross over. I will admit that I was maybe not wearing the best shoes for this hike, and could have been paying better attention, which led me to slip a bit on one of the rocks. Luckily, I was able to catch myself before hitting anything. If you come here, sturdy shoes with good tread should be considered.
Along the trail were many cool mushrooms; I just wish I was better at identifying them so I knew which were edible. Honestly, there were so many different kinds that I think I will share them in a separate post. For now, please enjoy these nice wildflowers I saw on the trail.
Overall, the hike took about two and a half hours at a leisurely pace, with a total distance of 4.32 miles.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to Catawba Falls in the Pisgah National Forest in USA.
All photos are my own. Have a great day!