January 7, 2018
Being in the southern mountains, we are adaptive to cold winters, but not like this the past week: nine days below freezing, -15 & -20 windchills, snow and absolute misery.
As soon as the weather broke (and by that I mean it was above 10 degrees) I headed out to the trail.
Upper Creek Falls is a fantastic 1.3 mile loop hike, just outside of the Linville Gorge Wilderness in Pisgah National Forest (Grandfather District). On a normal, summer day, I would take my family here, enjoy the 50 ft. Upper Creek Falls and maybe jump in one of the many swimming holes. On this day, the pictures really speak for themselves: a creek you can walk across and climbers scaling up a completely solid waterfall.
For someone who tries to keep two feet firmly planted on the ground at all times, it was quite mesmerizing.
GPS link: https://www.movescount.com/moves/move194120801
Total mileage is 1.55 miles.
Wow. Good on you for getting out in the cold. I find it hard to motivate myself when it’s below 40 here in Texas, but the couple times I’ve done it, I’ve really enjoyed it.
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I think it’s just because it was so cold, 20’s felt great!
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Good post and lovely photos! 😃
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Thank you so much!
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Yes, nice photos. I love frozen falls and rivers/creeks, especially on snowshoes. Congrats for getting out in it!
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This is amazing. Really loving this blog!
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What a brilliant hike. Evergreens make winter hikes just much more special. When the leaves have fallen evergreens give the landscape some much-needed color. I don’t think I would be prepared to scale an ice face though. Looking forward to your next post!
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Absolutely! That’s a spot re winter hiking. You and me both re the scaling of ice. I just stood there in awe for 30 minutes watching them scale a waterfall. Amazing! Thanks for following.
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Very cool, I got to check this place out!
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Linville Gorge area is tremendous!
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