Lost Cove

Tate and I decided to explore part of the Lost Cove area of Pisgah National Forest today. Much to Tate's dismay I woke him up at 5am so we could get there in time for a few waterfall shots before the sun got up too high (will post those tomorrow, too tired to be happy with the editing of them now haha). First we spent a little time at Huntfish Falls until the sun quickly got above the ridge and I couldn't shoot any more waterfall shots for the day. We'll have to get up and leave a little earlier next time I guess.
After Huntfish we headed over to a part of the area I've never been to before today, North Harper Falls and the Little Lost Cove Cliffs. The trail begins at FS road 58 heading directly downhill along some slippery wet rocks, until you reach the magnificent N. Harper Falls (trail 266). We didn't climb all the way down the waterfall as you can't really climb directly down the rocks, you have to take the trail around. We instead got onto trail 239, which seemed to be an old logging road. This 1.3 miles of trail had some really nice forest that was fairly free of Rhododendron and had some large Oak and Maple trees. We headed up the Little Lost Cove trail 271A which leads up to an old apple orchard on top of the knoll. We were somewhat disappointed at the view from up top, but maybe we didn't search around enough off the main trail. We wrapped up the hike with a brief walk back up FS road 464 to FS 58, then lunch and a campfire on the creek. (All trail directions/numbers are based on US Forest Service Wilson Creek Area Trail Map)
The top photo is of the trees in the early morning golden light at Huntfish Falls. The bottom photo is of Tate crossing over a little bridge on Trail 239. It was the only bridge we saw on any of the trails all day, and looked like a hiker had spent a little time piecing together the branches it was made of. Check back tomorrow for waterfall photos and more info about the Lost Cove area.