WNCOutdoors.info Blog

From Craig of Ski Country Sports: “The festival will be held this Saturday 9/29 2pm to 6pm & Sunday 9/30 10am to 2pm. There will be free riverside camping just down the road from the trailhead. The campground has several campsites, power, a port-a-potty, fire pit, and horseshoe pit. We will provide free pizza and cold beverages for all volunteers.

We will work Saturday 2pm to 6pm(meet at the main trailhead – off of 251 Riverside Dr.). Then we will cool off in the river and have some pizza and cold beverages, maybe a game of horseshoes. Sunday we will work 10am to 2pm. If you know of anybody that has some musical talent tell them join us Saturday night. Please contact other possible trail work volunteers.”

A new pump track is being built on Sept 30 by volunteers at the Bent Creek Community Park (more…)

Guided hikes will be offered to a variety of destinations in the southern mountains, including Pisgah National Forest, Dupont State Forest, and more. Get more information at the official web site.

In 2002, the town of Canton’s Board of Alderman approved a conservation easement for the Rough Creek watershed draining parts of the Newfound Mountains, which the town owns. Now, they have endorsed a trail to be built for hiking and mountain biking through the watershed. (more…)

Update 8/7/07: Hemlocks which still appear to be healthy along the Parkway and Linville Falls are likely ones which have been chemically treated, rather than helped by the predator beetles. Hemlocks are dying rapidly where untreated or treated only by the predator beetles, and it appears that the biological control method will be ineffective. Since chemical treatment is difficult to do large-scale, it looks like we’re losing the war. Article originally posted Sept. 11, 2004.

Original article (edits marked in red):

Spears of morning light shoot through the forest as tiny, winged seeds spin down through the beams like flying insects, or a light snowfall. (more…)

With two confirmed waterfall accidents this year in WNC, I have to pull out a little bit of harsh reality and look at this situation from a different angle. Waterfall injuries and even deaths are far too common, and it is absolutely senseless that anyone should have to suffer like this in connection with one of nature’s most beautiful creations. Historically, people are injured and die each year at North Carolina’s many waterfalls, and all of the occurrences have a common thread: the person slips and falls at the top of the falls, or (more rarely) is swept over the falls by a strong current. All judgment aside for anyone who’s ever fallen at a waterfall, this goes out to anyone who is considering doing it in the future. Folks, the solution to this problem is pretty simple.

Don’t do it. Do not EVER put yourself in a situation where a slip could send you over a waterfall. Do not climb across the creek at the top of a falls. Do not swim in a pool right above a waterfall. Do not climb the rocks beside a waterfall. Just use common sense!

I would think that people’s self-preservation instinct would tell them this already. But apparently not. Nothing except perhaps drunk driving burns me up more than people falling off a waterfall. The sad thing is that if you aren’t concerned about your life enough to keep from deliberately putting yourself in danger, you obviously don’t care about your family who must suffer the tremendous emotional and perhaps financial consequences of your decision, the rescue workers who risk their own life to haul you out of the woods, or the innocent bystanders who just don’t deserve to have to watch someone suffer a horrible death on what should have been a pleasant hike to the waterfall.

Consider the death at Moore Cove Falls last year. As if this wasn’t bad enough, it happened directly in front of his new fiancé and other families and children who were visiting the falls that day.

Most of our waterfalls are already named, and we won’t be renaming them after you when you fall.

A man fell off the lower tier of Triple Falls at around 3:30 PM Thursday, sustaining head injuries. He was airlifted to Greenville Memorial Hospital. (Update 8/8/07: The man identified as Joseph H. Leonard, 54, of Easton, Md., died on Saturday, August 4 from his injuries). (more…)

The Foothills Conservancy recently purchased a 23 acre tract of land for $400,000.00 on loan, which connects a publicly accessible road with the section of Pisgah National Forest containing Catawba Falls. Now, the conservancy has 2 years to repay the loan, which it hopes to do by selling the land as quickly as possible to the Forest Service. Until that time, public access will be limited to guided hikes but this represents a magnificent opportunity for residents and visitors of Western North Carolina. You can find out more and make a donation on the Foothills Conservancy’s web site.

The NC state downhill championship race will be held August 18th at Wolf Ridge Ski Area in Madison County, about 45 minutes north of Asheville. Get more information…

Woody Keen, of Trail Dynamics, Inc., writes about the importance of contributing to trail maintenance efforts and how complaints about trails being easier or less technical after repairs might not be in mountain bikers’ best interests. Read more in this post on MTBR.com…