Waterfall Wandering Trip Report - Lake T oxaway, NC

“Waterfall Wandering Trip Report
Toxaway Falls, Memorial Falls, Lower Rhapsodie Falls, Rhapsodie Falls, Dismal Falls
Lake Toxaway, North Carolina
Sunday, November 16, 2003
SCJack, Waterfall Rich, Emmett, Bill, Donna, & Dave

In Kevin Adams book, "North Carolina Waterfalls", he states that there are several requirements for a hike to Dismal Falls. "a map, a compass, quality hiking boots, and a temporary loss of sanity"

Call me insane if you want, but this was a great hike! I would also have to add that it also helps to have Waterfall Rich as the guide. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have found Dismal Falls without him!



I was ahead of schedule, as usual, so I stopped off to take a few pictures of Toxaway Falls prior to meeting the group. Toxaway Falls is nice, but it could do without US64 crossing over the top of it. I was also disappointed to see new houses being built right up in the face of this impressive waterfall. There should be a law against that!

Even with my stop at Toxaway Falls, I was still a little early, but Emmett and Bill were already waiting at the Lake Toxaway Post Office. Waterfall Rich, then Donna & Dave arrived right on time at 10:00am. From there it was about a 10-minute drive to the trailhead.

Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of US64 & NC281, head north on NC281. Shortly past the post office, turn left on Slick Fisher Road, which meets back into NC281 after about 4.5 miles. Turn Left of NC281 and look for a pull-off on the right and a gated forest service road on the left. There is room for only about 2-3 cars here, so car-pooling is recommend. The hike begins at the gated forest service road.


WARNING: Do not attempt this hike alone, and make sure you have a good topo map and compass! I would also add, make sure someone in your group has done this hike before! The trails are not blazed, there are several turns you have to take, that you would probably miss if you didn't know to look for them, and many times there is no trail at all, just feeling you way through the woods and hoping that whoever tied the orange ribbons around the trees knew what they were doing.


It begins as an easy hike on a wide and flat trail heading in a generally westward direction. There are several small creek crossings and a couple of mucky areas. After about a half mile, at a small clearing, a short side trail heads north to Memorial Falls, a nice 50-ft waterfall.

Continuing on, at about the 1-mile point the trail enters into an open pine forest area. We turned to the South (left) here, but there is nothing to really tell you which way to go as the trail pretty much disappears. Some ribbon tied to the trees showed us the way, but there is no guarantee the ribbons will always be there.

After crossing a small creek (the West Fork of the French Broad River), a trail becomes apparent again, but now it is much narrower and steeper. After a little while of climbing through tunnels of Rhododendron, we arrived at "Lower Rhapsodie Falls".

Dave had a bum ankle, and wasn't up for going any further, so Donna & Dave headed back at this point, while Emmett, Bill, Rich, and I continued on.

The trail gets even steeper at this point, and the thick covering of leaves on the trail didn't make the climb any easier. After a bit of climbing, the orange ribbon, which leads to Dismal Falls, heads off to the left. We made a slight detour and tunneled our way to the right, through the brush to arrive at Rhapsodie Falls.

Rhapsodie Falls is beautiful, falling about 80-ft over a cave filled with lush green moss. You can actually walk behind the falls, and on a warmer day it would have felt great to cool off underneath the Falls.

Returning back, we continued following the orange tape into the forest. The trail completely disappears at times, and the climbing again gets even steeper. If it wasn't for the orange ribbon, and Waterfall Rich, I would have never guessed this would be the way to get to Dismal Falls.

When we got to where we were about as high as we could go, the ribbon headed to the left down into a much thicker section of forest, and straight down hill! I would have to say that this was the steepest section of "trail" that I have ever been on. There were points where it was hopeless to try and stay on (2) feet. The leaves on the steep trail were slicker than snow and it was much easier to just slide down on your butt.

We successfully arrived at the base of Dismal Falls, a very impressive 200-ft waterfall. After taking a nice long break to snap a bunch of photos, we decided to head back the way we came.

Again, it was hopeless to try and stay on two feet. We were on hands and knees grabbing onto any tree we could find to pull ourselves up. All the while, laughing at each other while slipping, sliding, stumbling, and falling.

The return trip was much quicker. I am not sure of the exact distance, but we were out there for over 4 hours, and I would guess we hiked about 5.0 miles total.

Usually in my trip reports I give a "trail quality & enjoyment" rating, but I will have to separate them out for this report. This was one of my most enjoyable hikes to date, but it had nothing to do with "trail quality". I had a great time, and I am really looking forward to more Waterfall Wanderings with this group.

Enjoyment Rating = 10/10
Trail Quality Rating = 1/10
Difficulty Rating = 9.5/10
Hiking Companions: 10/10

Waterfall Ratings:
Toxaway Falls: 4.0/10
Memorial Falls: 4.0/10
Lower Rhapsodie Falls: 5.0/10
Rhapsodie Falls: 9.0/10
Dismal Falls: 8.0/10


Pictures can be viewed here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/100377555RqzHfL?289

SCJack”