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Decided for an impromptu outing yesterday to High Shoals Falls in the South Mountain State Park in NC. This waterfall is the highlight of the park.

If you take the entire loop trail as I did, the hike is listed as 2.7 miles. I logged in some more while investigating the many cascades along the Jacob Fork of the South Fork Catawba River.

The hike is listed as strenuous but, while pretty tough, I think the shorter hike up Hawksbill Mountain is much harder. Starting out from the parking lot is about a mile of a wide well groomed trail up at a slight incline. At this point I got my first glimpse of the High Shoals Falls. My first thought was, "How in the hell am I going to get up to it!" It looks like a really steep slog and it is. It is mostly stairs and, if you take your time, you get up to the top fairly quickly and it's not as bad as it first looked.

As you can see from my photo there is a large viewing platform for the falls. This spot was really as close as I wanted to get. Any closer and the spray would have been impossible to keep off my lens. If not for that I would have perhaps gotten a few more compositions.

At this point you have a choice on the return route. You can simply hike back the way you hiked in or, as I did, I took a upward side path to the right, which completes the loop. These steps were not fun. Much taller steps and there are still a ton of them to reach the top of the falls. When you get there, another small waterfall and cascades greet you. At this time I was in full sun and there was no way I was going to get a shot. Compositions here are a bit thin as you have to stay on the boardwalk.

You then cross the stream and, yes, you get to keep climbing uphill for what seems to be forever at this point. You are now walking away from the river in nice forests and as most people don't take this route, I was all alone. Once you reach the top you get to start a fairly steep descent for a long way down. I was thinking the steps down from the waterfall would have been the wiser choice.

But overall it was a great place to visit but would not want to do it when temps are high. I am planning a return visit in the fall as the trees would look incredible.

Thanks for viewing my photos. Comments are always welcome.
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Copyright Reid Northrup, 2023. All Rights Reserved, Worldwide. Please don't use my photos in any way without my written permission.

Tags: boardwalk cascade deck forest high shoals falls jacob fork long exposure nauture nikon north carolina reid northrup river rocks south fork catawba river south mountain state park stairs steps stream trees water

Planet or Business. Astro Cruise
by Ben Heine

Planet or Business. Astro Cruise

by Ben Heine

N 2 B 40 C 0 E Feb 1, 2023 F Jan 31, 2023

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Planet or Business. Astro Cruise
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