The boys and I decided to go adventuring as part of our Memorial Day weekend mini vacation in the mountains. About 3 months ago we watched a show on secret swimming holes and they had two NC features, one of which was Sliding Rock. Unfortunately that was still several hours away from where we were staying in Sparta and the weather wasn’t looking to cooperate. But we do nothing if not wing it and decided to pile in the car and go for it.
As we headed past Brevard and made our way through the Pisgah Forest, we quickly began to realize that our secret spot wasn’t going to be so secret on this weekend. People were parked everywhere on the sides of the road. That was our first warning side. Our next disappointment was a GA tour bus that was literally one car ahead of us pulling into the Sliding Rock area before us. The final nail in our proverbial coffin was the small sign that said “Fee Area” as I started to pull in with absolutely zero cash. Instead we pulled on around the bus and headed toward the ranger station to see if we could find out if they took cards and how much the fee was.
After a restroom pit stop, Caleb informed Daniel and I that we needed to focus and not get side tracked in the ranger station. After immediately getting side tracked with one of those maps with the buttons and blinky lights that you pressed and it showed you notable sights in the state, we finally made our way to the ranger desk. The sweetest lady ranger immediately informed us that the fee was $3 and that Sliding Rock was closed because of the previous night’s rain. Caleb had noticed a picture of a beautiful waterfall called Courthouse Falls on a map and after Daniel asked her if you could ride horses on the trail and was given a brochure on the Pisgah Stables, I inquired about the falls. She had us at swimming hole and then proceeded to hand us a slip of paper with directions like go 12.5 miles, turn right on parkway, go 6.7 miles and turn on to gravel road, etc. She informed us people always missed because they didn’t follow the directions precisely. She had us at people always failed and gravel road…challenge accepted.
With our paper in hand we rolled out. Soon we were on the Blue Ridge Parkway hugging the curves and admiring the scenery. After hitting The Devils Courthouse Tunnel we hit our first marker at 12.5 miles. We made it down the mountain 6.7 miles and turned left onto FG142, a gravel switchback with a creek running along it. Gravel might be an understatement as it also contained some softball sized rocks that I tried dodging with care. I reset our trip odometer and we proceeded our “about 2.5 miles” to the trail head. At about 1.75 miles it began to rain…hard. At 2.5 miles we could find nothing and I was getting apprehensive about driving on this gravel top uphill in the rain. I did a textbook 3-point turn with my head out the door and we preceded back downhill to one spot that sort of looked like the description on our paper directions.
It continued to rain and I began to lay the groundwork for hey guys maybe this isn’t going to work out. Caleb was not happy. Eventually he found the umbrella and proceeded to dance-walk backwards around the car in the rain while Daniel and I giggled. And it continued to rain as he finally came back into the car. Slowly the sounds of rain drops pelting our top began to space further and further out between pings. Their hopes began to arise while I was secretly still worried about heading back up the hills with an even wetter surface not to mention having no idea if we’d ever find the trail-head and if so, what shape it might be in after this rain. And with no service I had no idea if we have 50 minutes or 5 seconds before the rain would began again. I thought about starting up again and looked in the mirror and saw a couple we had passed earlier who was literally living in a tent on the side of this road walking down the road. I hopped out and asked them if they knew the trail and waterfall we were hunting. We got an I think it’s up over the hill but not all the way to the end and I think there is a sign. We fired it up and the hunt was back on.
We found another clearing near the top of the hill and pulled off there. Maybe it was the trail-head I told the boys. They were antsy from sitting anyway so I figured no matter what we could use the walk. We grabbed the umbrella and made it 30 yards before it dead ended. Not really wanting to drive down the next hill and have to drive back up it, I suggested we walk down and see if the trail-head could be found. The rain had stopped and we goofed down the hill. We could hear the water a little louder than before and I was beginning to think maybe we were going to actually figure this out. Then about 3/4 of the way down Caleb was looking off in the distance and spied a bridge on a trail. We had to be close. Another 50 yards and we walked across a bridge with a weight limit sign and found our trail head. Our trail was soggy, muddy, slippery, ….and perfect. It was all we dreamed it would be, an adventure, a challenge, and a secret. We’ll be back again when we can swim in the swimming hole. It had a great forestry service sign that let us know people had died being stupid there as well as a hand written note that said to put the rope back where it goes. We were rewarded with a beautiful hike down to an amazing waterfall and on the drive back after we changed our muddy shoes and clothes, I reflected on many lessons we learned this day.
- Lesson One: when disappointed, dance in the rain. I’ll never forget the image of Caleb dancing around the car in the rain and the immediate joy it brought to Daniel and I.
- Lesson Two: always trust the lady park ranger. I used to not ask a lot of questions or seek help. Life is too short not to and you can miss out on adventures that are only unlocked to those willing to ask and trust the park ranger lady and the tent people walking down the road in the rain.
- Lesson Three: mud is okay. Shoes can be replaced. Sliding in the mud with your dad and brother is priceless.
- Lesson Four: disappointment can be an adventure. Nothing worked out right or went as originally planned. You can make something good out of things going awry
- Lesson Five: don’t waste time arguing about things that don’t matter. I’m not perfect, things took is longer than expected, and we ended up arguing about how fast we were going to go to sleep like 2 hours before we were going to be going to sleep. It wasn’t worth it.
- Lesson Six: best way to honor those that gave all on Memorial Day is to make lasting memories with those you love. It’s what they would tell you they would want one more second doing. I’m glad our Memorial Day was adventurous, whimsical, wet and muddy and a heart felt thanks to all those that served and sacrificed to let me and my boys adventure on a wet, rainy day in the mountains.
From The Whale's Belly 