I first read about the Bonas Defeat Gorge on the Tuckasegee River at Slickrock Expeditions a few years ago. This is Burt Kornegay's site, the same guy that has the must-have Panthertown Valley Trail map and offers an expedition to the area. Panthertown is just south of Bonas Defeat, but Kornegay's map doesn't extend that far and I couldn't find any other info. Exploring the gorge had been put on the back burner, until my pal Dana brought it up right before our Labor Day '02 trip. She found some photos of the gorge and I found some directions on the nature.org site, so we decided we would do it on the first nice day of the week end.

Long story short, there was a chance of rain on Saturday, so we opted for Panthertown and had a great time. Something came up on Sunday and Dana and family had to head home, but Cathy, KT, Hal, Harry and I decided to go for it. I had called the Highlands Ranger District of the Nantahala National Forest for any info on the area and they had none - except the fact that there are no trails and they didn't think there was to be a water release in the gorge that week end. Armed with the vague directions and a topo map from topzone.com, we set out.

We met Cathy and KT at the Post Office on 281 north in Lake Toxaway and took Slick Fisher Road which is a short cut to farther up 281. Back on 281 north, we went 7.2 miles and took a left on SR 1139 just after the Wolf Creek Baptist Church (#1 on the map). The directions we had said that is Gray's Ridge Rd, but it's not labeled. One mile down 1139, the road kind of splits (#2). The right fork is a private drive - we pulled over and got out to check out the other drive. It cut back immediately to the left and downhill and is a single lane 4x4 road. We parked one vehicle at the top and took mine down the road. If you decide to do it, you'll need 4x4 with decent clearance - the road is in rough shape and is steep in places. After 1.2 miles, the road flattens out and there's a place to park (#3) and turn around just before the river and the bridge with a metal grate mentioned in the directions we had.

From here, we walked across the bridge and took the path to the left next to the river. We then crossed the river again on a small spillway towards the power substation. To the right and up river was a large sign stating - "Danger - water level may rise very quickly" or something like that. Anyhow, if you are bound and determined to do this and you prefer going uphill, this is your starting point. Our directions said to head up the access road, so we did. This gravel road winds up the ridge and after about 1/2 hour of walking, we came to a split. We headed right and downhill and soon came across a big No Trespassing sign. Just a little farther, the road ended at the west end of Tanasee Creek Lake and the water release point at the east end of Bonas Defeat Gorge.

At this point I should say if you're going to attempt to enter this area, do not do it if there is a chance of rain or if the water level is high. There is no trail and most of our travel was on bedrock, or on, over, under, and around huge boulders and rock. Rescue or body recovery would be extremely difficult. Our day was mostly sunny - great for gorge exploring, but bad for good photos. That said, I must also say that this is one of the most amazing places in North Carolina that I have seen. It is unlike any of the other gorge areas that I have seen, I guess mostly because of all the potholes and curvy carved out areas in the rock, both above and below water level. The 1st photo shows some of this - Hal's trying to shimmy down and not fall in the river to his right or the huge chug hole to his left. It is absolutely amazing. Some of these holes were 3-5' in diameter and over 10' deep! Enough babbling - to get down to river level, we headed back up the road a bit and took a little side trail down to the rocks. I've thrown in some video clips also, both Windows Media and Real Player versions.

The 1st section is pretty wide open. The water level was very low as you can see above in the 1st drop off, but that made the going somewhat easier for us. From the pool at the base of this section, we headed down river into the bushes and rock. The gorge quickly narrowed and the scenery changed dramatically.