dupont state forest, north carolina. my initial intention of this adventure was to check out some of the filming locations of the hunger games, but after poking around i decided that the dupont state forest needed to be looked at a little further. the place is amazing and i highly recommend a trip out there if you are ever in the area...it's about a 20 minute drive from asheville. since there is so much to see and i only had one day to see everything, i had to pick and choose carefully. after doing a little research, i was able to make up a little waterfall hiking tour for myself. there are trails that lead every which way and tons noteworthy places and these are just a few, but these are what i decided that i just had to see the most.
first up is bridal veil falls. this was a little bit of a hike (the farthest of the 4 sets of falls i planned to visit on this day. maybe about 2 miles, but super easy and most of it was on a gravel road. wear hiking shoes or sneakers with some good traction, you're gonna need it! these falls might look familiar to you because they are featured in the first hunger games movie. this set of falls is what initially brought me to the area of asheville in the first place. i am so glad that i hiked out this way, because they were my favorite. gorgeous. and this picture and any others i may have taken don't do it justice. at all. and if i hadn't gone here first, i may not have seen it because by the end of the day, after miles and hours of hiking up and down i was exhausted and i am sure i would have given up my quest half way there, so if you are going to choose a set of falls to visit...make it bridal veil falls. you won't be sorry, i wasn't.
next up is high falls. you will actually cross over the top of high falls on your hike out to bridal veil falls but you won't see much but the river spilling over the edge (which is amazing all by itself). stand on the covered bridge and peek out so that when you hike down to the bottom and look up, you get a real feel for how 'high' these falls actually are. again, my picture doesn't do it justice, but it will have to suffice. here, near the bottom of high falls there is a picnic area, great place to have lunch and maybe a glass of wine (if you like that sort of thing, which i do!) while standing in this spot taking a photo, i noticed a few people milling about down at the bottom, one guy fishing, others playing in the water. there's an old trail blocked off from tourists, but i was thinking that was the only way those tourists could have gotten down there, so i decided to meander down. mistake. there's a reason the trail is closed. but of course, i had comitted so i muttled through. i got to the bottom after climbing over trees and pulling myself along by various roots and weeds only to find that i would fall to my death if i tried to cross the rocks over to the bottom of the falls. okay, maybe i am exaggerating a bit, but seriously, if you don't want to get very wet and very muddy, don't bother. those people obviously didn't care. i did. i still had a long day ahead of me. so i bid them farewell and started the trecherous climb back up to the actual trail. over tree trunks, roots, fallen trees, and more weeds than i care to discuss. got some nice photos though.
next we have hooker falls. not very impressive next to the others i have seen during the day, but they were an extremely easy hike and they have a fun name. when i arrived there were some dare devils cllimbing up the side and walking out to the middle. i decided to hang around and see what they were up to. crazies. i was wondering where their parents were when they leaped off into the water below. they did this a few times and at least once i was sure i heard a loud 'thump' when one of the boys hit a rock at the bottom. but he didn't float up to the top belly up, so i guess he survived. then climbed up for another round. i am assuming they were locals and had done this sort of thing before. i was entertained for a good half hour but i had to move on.
last but certainly not least, triple falls. i did read that this set of falls was also featured in the hunger games. now i have to admit to you, that this was my last stop of the water fall hiking tour. and i was completely exhausted. the climb up to view these falls felt like it was straight up hill (it wasn't but it sure felt like it!) and after walking all day, i decided that if i had been walking down hill on the way there and knew i would have to climb back up that hill on the way back to my car...i would have completely bailed on the whole thing. kinda glad i didn't, it was an amazing sight...but like i said, i was tired, so i kind of said 'wow', took a photo and turned around to start climbing back down! if you look closely at the photo, you can see itty bitty people in there and it will give you an idea about how large these falls actually are...
over all i had an amazing day. it was a little hot, a little muggy, and i was sweaty and tired by the time i got back to my car, but a great day overall. there are few options for parking, i would imagine most people park in the hooker falls parking area and work their way up from there and kind of make a big loop. but as i said before, i wanted to make sure i saw bridal veil falls first, so i drove to and parked in the high falls parking area, hiked up to bridal veil then hiked back down to high falls. i stopped, had lunch. got back in my car then drove back down to the hooker falls parking area (they are not far from each other) and hiked to hooker falls and triple falls from there. all of the trails are clearly marked, so don't worry about getting lost. you will also pass many people along the way as this appears to be a very popular spot...don't be afraid to say hello. there were a set of falls and a lake i passed up checking out because i was limited for time (also, i am completely out of shape, as my lungs are no longer functional). so a big 'thank you' to the huger games for dragging me out into the middle of no where to see some of the most beautiful water falls i have ever seen. on to my next adventure...
