waterfall on Steel Creek
waterfall
on Steel Creek
7-30-06 - It's nice to know that there are still hidden gems that I haven't seen yet. The waterfall on Steels Creek is one of those gems. I'm not sure why I hadn't been here yet - it's in the old Kevin Adams book as well as the new one. It could be that this was the perfect time to visit this waterfall for the 1st time. Water levels in the mountains have been low this year, making access to some of the trickier places easier. There's a lot more dry rock to climb around on. Remember that if you read this a year from now and water levels are higher, you might not be able to get to the good views. A rainy day visit would be suicide. The rocks would be too slippery. Even on a dry day during higher water flow, the spray might wet some of the rock areas you would need to be dry.
Access to this waterfall is from FR 228 off of Hwy 181 north of Morganton. From I-40 you'll need to get off at one of the Morganton exits. The Hwy 18 exit (105 I think?) takes you through town, then you pick up 181 north on the far side. The better exit is the Hwy 64 exit west of the Hwy 18 one. Take 64/70 EAST towards Morganton, then look for Hwy 64 to turn left - take it. Hwy 64 intersects 181 not too far down the road - turn left onto 181 north. From where the 4 lanes on 181 turn to 2 lanes, drive north on 181 for appr. 14.5 miles and look for the 1 lane gravel FR228 on the left. Brian Greer just emailed me and said this road is seasonal - the gate is locked from January 1st to April 1st. Thanks Brian! You can come off of the Blue Ridge Parkway also. Exit around Mile Post 312 and head south on 181 for 11 miles, turning right on to FR228.
Drive slow on forest roads! They are 1 and sometimes 1 1/2 lane and if you meet a vehicle coming around a curve, you could have problems. Drive just under 4 miles to the end of this road to the parking on the left. You'll pass a couple of side roads, but just stay on the main one - it's pretty obvious. There are several overused primitive camp sites along Steels Creek near the end, so expect other vehicles and people near the camping, but probably not at the waterfall. After parking, head up the old road along the creek to the swimming hole below a small cascade. You can't miss it. You have to cross the creek at this point. The easiest way was above the cascade. If the water is up, you may have to get your feet wet. After crossing, look for the paths that head away from the creek and hook up with the Mountains to Sea Trail a short distance away. Turn right on the trail and head up along Steels Creek, following the white blazes on the trees. Not too far up, the trail turns back down to the creek. It was a very warm sunny day and Harry and I already knew at this point that we were going to hit the creek. If you are not into creek walking, you can continue on up the MST for a total of almost a mile to the top of the waterfall. The problem is that there is no really safe way down to the base of the falls to see the good stuff, like the lower part of the waterfall with the cool potholes in the above photo.
Back to where the trail crosses the creek, there are a couple of little swimming holes here also. Again, water levels are down so the creek walking was easier. I say walking, but that's oversimplified. Obviously you have to get your feet and more wet and the going can be very slippery. Plus, you never know when you'll get to a place where you can't safely go any farther except by bushwhacking through the woods. You can also slip and sprain an ankle or snap your leg in half because you slipped when your foot was wedged between 2 rocks, or incur lots of other nasty injuries is you aren't very careful. Worst of all, you might get your camera equipment wet. Anyhow, we picked our way up the creek and came to a very large pool below where the creek takes a left and begins to head up towards the falls. We were on the right side of the creek at this point and had to cross to the left side in front of the pool to continue. This is one of those places where creek walking is no longer an option, so we had to scramble up in the woods on a faint 'path' on hands and knees. It's steep at this point. Stay close to the creek without falling over the cliff and the path will become more obvious. The only way back down to the creek that we found was near the base of the main waterfall. It should be very obvious. The land doesn't just fall off and you can butt slide down holding on to trees and such. If it's been raining recently, even this may be too dangerous. Don't blame me if you slip and crack your skull.
If you make it down, you should be at some nice little cascades below the falls. We could see where the falls was, but the water flow was hidden in the carved out rock. I've posted a series of pictures in a PBase Gallery - click here to the 1st one, then click next to view the rest up to the top of the waterfall. This link should open in a new window. Once we got back to creek level, we headed down towards the pool to see what we missed, then continued up the waterfall to the top. The waterfall is in 2 sections as shown in the pictures. I couldn't find any images online before we went, so I had no idea what to expect. What a pleasant surprise - it's such a fascinating little place with the potholes and carved rock. The main pool is very deep and cold! Here's a shot with me swimming below the falls - I'm having to tread water to stay up.
If you've made it to this point, you are surely going to want to climb up to the upper falls. It's either that or go back the way you came and try to scramble up to the MST. It's up there on the left side of the falls. If you are at this point in that photo, look up to the left at about 10-11 o'clock and notice some foot/hand holds up the slippery moss to the tree roots to your right. It's fairly obvious at this point that people have been scrambling up this way. I'm not saying it's safe - if you've never done scrambling like this, it probably isn't a good waterfall to make your 1st. Plenty of people die every year at waterfalls doing things they thought were safe. Once up to solid ground at the tree, the scramble path leads up towards the MST. Next is the upper section of the falls.
More potholes! The only way to get this view is to creep down a big rock to the clearing. You'll see it. If you slip here you will die, so use your best judgment. This series of small falls is about 30' high which gives you an idea of the size of the potholes. We didn't see any safe way down, so we didn't even try. We picked up the MST to the top of the waterfall for a view, then took the trail back to the vehicle. What I thought would be maybe an hour or so in and out turned out to be a 3-4 hour adventure. You would think I would know better than that by now.