Photos: Cane Creek to Piney Creek Falls

The ascent from Cane Creek was not quite as steep as the descent to the creek. That was good. My cardio health is not all that great, so the uphill sections are always more challenging. The path wound around and through and over entire fields of large boulders. Many of them had been moved and positioned into a kind of rough staircase. Thankfully, the way throughout was really well marked so I didn’t get lost.

The trees in this area, for the most part, didn’t have leaves yet. But the grey of the bark and limbs set off some other amazing colors:

This picture gives some vague idea of what the trail was like:

After scrambling to the top of the bluff I walked through more of the type of forest I’d seen on the first day. This section was somewhat dull, to be honest. There were many downed trees that had fallen across the path. And the sound of water vanished as I moved away from Cane Creek.

It wandered back and forth — southwest, east, west, southeast — until I eventually arrived at another suspension bridge. This one was longer than the first and spanned across the gorge with Piney Creek at the bottom. The sound of the water was really great. Here’s a picture from before I got on the bridge:

From the middle looking up Piney Creek:

Looking back the way I’d come:

Around the corner from the bridge the sound of the water rushing trebled. It really got loud. And I kept getting glimpses of Piney Creek Falls through small gaps in the trees. So my expectations were really high. But when I got to the overlooks of the falls, both were really kind of blocked by trees. It was a bit disappointing to be honest. Here is the clearest view that I could find:

I spent a great deal of time here trying to find a better view. Unfortunately I never did. I wished there was a trail to the base. There probably was and I missed it.

See all my pictures from this trip.