Grayback Falls GSMNP

Bloodroot in bud along a stream

Grayback Falls GSMNP 

Sunday March 15, 2020

Dana & Kenny Koogler 

3 miles  round trip 

Grayback Falls Hike Pix 

   We wanted to do a short hike today without a long drive to get to the trailhead.

We had talked about hiking to Grayback Falls behind the Walker Sisters place.

We had not done it yet.  The first attempt was made during the Summer and from the wrong direction.    We figured if it was going to be off trail we'd do it before it got hot or snakey or the vegetation got thick.     We knew in advance the waterfall was not a huge one, but it was intriguing that it was so near behind the Walker Sisters house.  All the times we'd hiked there we'd never known of it or seen it.

 Grape hyacinths

 toothwort with raindrops

 Green just starting to appear in the land

 Hepatica blooms

 Creek and trail were one for a spell.

 Above and below... stream/trail.

 Bloodroot bloom

 Misty spider web covered in rain droplets

Above  are a few shots of how foggy the forest was even after the rain stopped.  

It shows the condition of the manway.  Not the worst we'd ever hiked, but lots of downed trees. 

      Today we parked at a manway in Wears Valley and hiked in to Little Brier Gap from there.  The corona virus was going on, but as yet the national park had not closed.   We ended up being very glad we visited when we did.   It wasn't long after that they did close off the park.  

   The hike along the little stream is very pretty.  A few Spring wildflowers were starting to pop up.   We saw bloodroot, star chickweed, toothwort, a few hepaticas and some grape hyacinths.  I'm guessing the hyacinths were probably planted by someone in the past.   

    We walked up the manway and in the creek.  We made the bend and started up the steeper climb with all the downed trees.   It ends at Little Brier Gap and that is where we had official trail for a bit. 
Below is a shot of Kenny with a benchmark that we found discarded!

   We encountered a fair number of hikers on the trail.  Everyone was real nice. We spoke with some of them, but kept a polite distance as was suggested.
No one was wearing masks.   

   Once we got to the turn for the Walker Sisters house we ran into a larger group of people leaving as we arrived. 

 Walker Sisters spring house. From here the falls is about 0.6 miles further.

 Large group of people leaving

 Walker Sisters House above and below

 Barn at the Walker homeplace

Above: I am looking back at the house and just about to start the off trail part of the hike to the falls. 

 Kenny ahead of me. Here you can see a little bit of a path.

 Above and below: a very spooky looking cedar tree in the forest on the way

 The woods were fairly open.

 Still somewhat of a path near the start

 A rock pile.

 Above--rock pile. Below.. old bed springs. Right about here is where any semblance of a trail disappeared.  We had to rely on  the GPS.    We lost the manway here .. if there was one... but very briefly. 

 Below -- rock wall in the forest

 Above and below:  This is the foundation stones left from some structure.

 Kenny is standing within the rectangular foundation left from some man made dwelling.

 Above: a piece of pottery.

 Another rock cairn of old.  Probably used to clear fields for farming.

 Above: a better manway appeared again

 First piece of survey tape we encountered.

 Kenny going over a log on the manway

 Second piece of survey tape

 Above: Witches butter

Above: third and final piece of survey tape.  

  We had crossed a spring branch. Passed some rock piles, bed springs, and a foundation, a wall.    We wove in and out of the bushes.   We saw rusted buckets and a piece of old pottery.    We finally came to a place where we swung round a ridge and down the embankment.  We arrived at the creek and in about 100 feet we stood in a rhodo thicket that chokes up tightly around the base of the falls.

We had to get in the creek and rock hop to approach it.  It was not too bad to get to.  I'd never try to type up directions or tell anyone how to get here.  It was rather confusing for such a short hike.    Yet we found Grayback Falls and it was quite pretty.    It had turned out to be worth the effort to locate.

 Above and below: Grayback Falls

      

   It is about 13 feet high.  I have a feeling the water flow dwindles pretty bad during warm weather.    Today it was running good.  We were happy to have found it.   The old logging road that appears at the end right at the falls continues through the stream and you can see it going round the bend into the distance!

I couldn't help wondering if Mike Gourley was the person who put out that survey tape?   

   We enjoyed the falls very much.  It began to rain again on us while we were there.   We did not linger a long time since we still had to hike out in the rain!

It quit by the time we got back to the house and barn. 

We hiked back to the vehicle down in Wears Valley.  It was a nice leg stretcher hike.   It felt great to get some fresh air.  It felt good to finally follow through with something long planned.    

Below is a short video of Grayback Falls