Crabtree Falls

taken from the bridge

Crabtree Falls is another one of those waterfalls that all the pictures on the interwebs look the same, most are taken from the same angle, but they are pictures of a really nice waterfall, 70 ft high, lots of angles and splashing, nice plunge pool, all excellent features. I dug out my 'Waterfalls of North Carolina' book and entered the route info into the Garmin and took off early Sunday morning for the two hour trip. 

The parking area and trail head were easily located, camera bag was packed, and with tripod in hand I set off, the only thing I'd done wrong so far was to buy the wrong boots. The sign at the trail head has 'strenuous' written on it ... and honestly this is first time I've seen any description of this trail mention that word ... that awful word. 

The trail leaves the parking lot and immediately begins to descend. With each downhill step the sense of dread builds; that little voice in your head says "You do know you're going to have to walk back up this trail when you're done". 

GPS Track of the descent

You have to suppress that voice and keep going. How bad could it be? It'll be worth it, right? 

Well let me tell you, it's downhill, every step, all the way to the falls, about 750 ft of elevation change in about 3/4 mile (that's a 10% grade). At least there's three sets of rock steps to negotiate the really steep parts.

After taking a couple of brackets from the bridge a small herd of folk showed up. I moved to the far side of the creek. The wind was blowing a bit so a picture that had any amount of foliage would be a blurry mess. There was also a good bit of spray coming off the falls, the whole place was drippy wet, so I walked around and found the place where the classic pictures of the waterfall are made. I set up there, placed a towel over my camera to keep it dry and waited until the herd left.

the classic pose

So here's my take on the classic picture of the falls. Some nice color in the leaves, the sun's rays are on the trees and across the falls, not too bad.

The trip back up the mountain was exactly what I expected, uphill, all the way, every single step. Those three sets of rock steps are really hard on old knees. But now I can say I've been there and done that ... mark another one off the list.