Pat's Falls and Middle Laurel Falls

The second hike over the labor day weekend to scout out some potential waterfall hikes for this fall was intended to be a short one to new falls (Pat's Falls and Middle Laurel Falls) on a trail I'd been on before (Laurel Falls Trail in Dennis Cove). It was another bad really day for taking pictures of water but it was a glorious day for going walk-about.

The side trail down to Pat's falls is about 8/10ths of a mile down the Laurel Falls trail. It's a short but excitingly steep descent of 150 feet down the side of the hill. If you like waterfalls this one is definitely worth the effort.

The upper drop is about 8 feet high, the lower is shorter at about 3 ft. The pool at the base is quite impressive, I'm sure it's quite popular with the fishermen - if not it should be. The rocks that makeup the falls are copper colored and covered in some wicked cool green and brown lichens, a really great color contrast with the white water background.

Get back up on the trail and continue toward Laurel Falls. About another 4/10ths of a mile and you'll hear the Middle Laurel Falls about 200 feet below the trail - yep, that's 200 feet of straight down the mountain holding onto roots, trees and anything else that's handy. You might want to skip this one because of the treacherous nature of the trip up and down, and the falls themselves are not the most special ones around. The falls are really just an 8 foot high cascade that empties into long pool, but there are several cascades in th area that are just as nice and easier to get to. I snapped a few pictures which were ok, but again, this was not the best day for water snapping pictures. I collapsed my hiking stick and used it like an ice axe to crawl up the side of the mountain to get back on the trail.

I intended to continue on to Laurel Falls proper but by this time there were several folk on the trail, and if you've ever been to Laurel Falls you know how much work it takes to climb the rock stairs back up the hill once you make the trip down the hill. I was tired, so I trekked back out to the truck, maybe next time.

Upper Laurel Fork Falls & Campbell Falls

The cool morning temperature that signals the advent of fall was in the air so I hauled my lazy butt out of bed early on Saturday and went waterfalling in Frog Level. To get there one must go through the Dennis Cove recreation area, past the campground, all the way to the top of the mountain. There is a gated forest service road on the right (just as the main road breaks hard left) that takes you all the way down the mountain to the level of the frogs. You'll know it's the right road if you see the huge stump pushed up against the gate. The gravel road down the mountain is a bit over a mile in length, and is in remarkably good shape, so good in fact that some folk had pulled in a pop-up camper. The road ends at a turn-about. Park there and cross the creek.

Follow the forest service road as it continues leftward, generally following the creek. The hike was very easy with very little gain in elevation but there are several very challenging creek crossings to negotiate if you are trying to keep your feet dry. After the first of these crossings you'll come upon a good sized clearing, follow the tree-line down the left side of the clearing and you'll find the trailhead marker for Laurel Fork Trail and another, more challenging creek crossing. Laurel Fork Trail is easy to follow, and is in very good shape, with only a few muddy spots, but did I mention the creek crossings? There are two more of them to negotiate over the next .4 miles before you get to the falls. You'll definitely hear the falls as you approach them. There's a small trail down to the base of the falls, but it is very steep, and wet, and slippery, and steep, and rocky, and wet. It's one time I definitely wish I had brought some rope. I have a nice rope in the truck, about 25 feet long with a knot about every foot, but it's only useful if you remember to bring it.

Once back on the trail, continue up stream to Campbell Falls. This part of the trek is another .6 miles of trail, two more creek crossings, and one section of swamp slogging with some nearly-rotten logs to walk on, it only adds to the excitment. There's a steep and muddy side trail down to the pool at the bottom of the falls, I passed up it once I saw the mud. The falls face away from the trail, so to get some good pictures you'd have to negotiate the mudslide trail to the pool, then cross the creek at the base of the falls, something I wasn't prepared to do on this day. Instead I took the second side trail to the top of the falls. There's simply no way to get a good shot of the falls from up top, but there was a beautiful cascade at the top which is where this picture was made.

There's a third set of falls in the same general area, Firescald Branch Falls, which I couldn't find an obvious trail to, I'll try harder the next time ;)