upper section of Dismal Falls
upper section of Dismal Falls
My story of Dismal Falls and Rhapsodie Falls now has 3 chapters, the latest could be titled 'I finally see Dismal Falls'. It all began when a group of us attempted to find Dismal Falls back in the summer of '99. Joann said she had been the previous winter and could get us back there with no problem - and like fools, we believed her - just kidding sweetie. Adams' book's directions are sketchy at best and all I had was a topo map off of topozone.com. It showed Dismal Creek and Falls, but not all of the other little creeks scattered through the woods. To make a long story short, we ended up semi-lost for 3 hours, finally stumbled upon the small falls below that I thought was on Dismal Creek. From there we then found a faint path leading to a trail back to the vehicles.
On my New Years '01/'02 trip, Harry and I decided we would try again. I had since bought Mark Morrison's book and he had better directions to what he was calling Dismal Falls. Here are directions to the trail head (updated 9-3-07) - take Hwy 281 north from Hwy 64 near Lake Toxaway for about 1.5 miles. Bear left on Slick Fisher Rd just after a small cafe - 281 curves to the right. Slick Fisher is a very curvy road. Follow it for 4.5 miles until it dead ends back into gravel Hwy 281 and take a left. This part of 281 has been under reconstruction and these are the new directions. Drive less than 1/4 mile and turn left at the small sign for the Camp (Winding Gap?). The road soon forks. Bear right and park at the barricade. This is the old section of 281 and the barricade is conveniently at the old trail head which is the gated road heading down to the left. Hike this road heading west, crossing several creeks and wet weather areas along the way. After about 1/2 mile, look for a side path to the right just before you cross a small creek. This path goes a short way up the creek to this next waterfall - Aunt Sally's Falls.
More water flow would make this falls nicer, but hey, it's a waterfall and it's about a 50' drop. There's a smaller upper section not shown and the rock face the water flows over is about twice as wide as shown in the above photo. The next shot is from the winter trip and is some moss and icicles to the right of the main water flow.
So to continue with the story, Harry and I got back on the main trail thinking we were heading for Dismal Falls. This is still where you want to be if you're heading towards both falls and here are further directions. Cross the little creek mentioned above and take the right path heading generally west. After about another 1/2 mile, cross under some power lines. After about another 5 to 10 minutes, the trail enters a small pine forest. At this point you may notice a path to the left. I'm not sure where this goes, go up a few more yards and look to the left for an opening in the rhododendrons and crossing the narrow west fork of the French Broad River. If you pass the pines, you've gone too far. Once you begin heading left off of the trail, the opening becomes more obvious. On the winter trip, Harry and I spotted orange tape as soon as we crossed the creek, so we followed it to the right towards another creek that comes down off the mountain to meet the French Broad. As the trail begins a steep ascent, a side trail to the right leads to the small falls we had been to in '99, and I thought we were now on Dismal Creek. A good sized log had since fallen across the top of the falls, but the setting is still really nice in spite of this. The creek spills over an unusual rock formation after about 20 - 30 feet before narrowing and dropping another 5 feet, then disappearing into the rhododendron (next photo).
From here, Harry and I got back on the taped trail and followed it up the mountain, still on the left side of the creek. After 15 minutes or so, the tape headed to the left and away from the creek. We weren't sure why at the time, so we headed to the right through rhododendron and towards the creek. We were greeted by this beautiful 60' waterfall with huge icicles hanging from the ledges. Harry is behind the falls at the bottom. We thought this was Upper Dismal Falls - it matched Mark Morrison's picture in his book - so I posted photos on the site as such.
Shortly afterwards I received an email from Jay saying this wasn't Dismal Falls. He and his wife had been there recently and the photos didn't match what they saw. It took him 3 or 4 emails to finally convince me he was right, then I received an email from Jim Plick saying the same, and that he and his buds had placed the tape we saw. It did indeed lead to the base of Dismal Falls which is on the next creek (Dismal Creek) to the left. Jay had previously mentioned that he wanted to name a waterfall after his wife, Rhapsodie, so I agreed to name the falls that Harry and I had found Rhapsodie Falls. So far I haven't seen this falls named anywhere else.