RATtreks

Sill Branch Overlook (MonkeyHead Rocks) and Upper Falls – 2-9-2013

It had already been 10 days since my last hiking adventure, mainly due to the weather so, I was more than ready for a hike somewhere. The weather forecasters were promising a sunny day with near 50 degree temps on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 after a cold start in the low 20’s so I decided I was gonna take advantage of it and go hiking somewhere since who knows how long it would be before the next chance would come along. Also our friend ‘Dan-O the Man-O‘ had informed me that he was available for a hike on that day along with my friend Bol’Dar who also said he would go along on this adventure. Our first choice was to be a long uphill hike to the Buzzard Rock Overlook but Dan-O needed to get back by 4ish pm so we knew that was not possible which prompted us to change our plans to go to the Sill Branch Overlook aka The MonkeyHead Rocks. Since that is a short hike and due to the water levels being decent, we chose to lengthen the hike by going to the Upper Sill Branch Falls. That is quite a hike within itself and to prevent having to backtrack down from the Overlook the way we came and starting over, we decided we would take a shortcut straight down the incredibly steep ridge directly into the Sill Branch Valley ! This is an extreme off trail descent and not for the faint of heart and is only recommended for seasoned extreme hikers. We left Hairnt-Quarters around 9am and were leaving the trail-head at Sill Branch by 9:30am.

Taking the secret hidden ninja trail up to the ridge where the MonkeyHead Rocks reside took over an hour including some rest breaks and then a little longer to make our way off trail across the meat-grinder growth to get over to the highest and most prominent of the statuesque rock formations there for the incredible views they offer. This is by far one of my all time favorite places. From there we always make our way (carefully) further out the ridge  to the many other rock cliffs and formations that are there until you eventually get out near the end where there is a nice place to hang out under some small pine trees that also provides a good view looking down on the Lower Sill Branch Falls (although you will need a good zoom to get any decent photo`s of them from that angle). I got some much better photos of them on my last trip here. We could hear both the North and South Forks of the Sill Branch Creeks roaring loudly far below us. Although the sun was intensely bright, the views were great and we had a great time chilling out there enjoying the immense beauty although I can not be there without thinking of the first time I ever was there when we climbed up the ‘meat-grinder’ and had the ‘stealth-pack incident’.

Here are some photo`s I took from my last trip here:

After a good long break there, we went back across the rocks to where we started, only this time went under some of the larger ones to get a view from there as the rocks take on more of a character from that angle as the faces and shapes form various looks such as birds, monkeys, etc. From there we went back to the ridge to find the way we would take down that steep side to get to Sill Branch that was way down below us. While back on the ridge we came across a salt block, a stealth-camera, and a tree-stand which we thought was odd since hunting season ended over a month ago. We soon found ourselves standing on a hill so steep it was difficult to even stand on, making our way slowly down the spine of the ridge, sliding on our butts at least 10 or 20 feet each time one of us fell ! There was some good views of Longarm Ridge and the Clark Creek Valley, Sampson, etc., from there and I could even make out the rocks on the steep North side of Longarm Ridge. It does not look that far to get down but, the distance is VERY deceptive. It takes some time to reach the creek at the bottom as it is much further than it seems. There is no trail and would be too steep to build one so you just have to find the path of least resistance and make your way down. We did locate some more very nice rock formations on the way down that made the effort well worth it as I doubt many have ever seen these.

After what seemed like forever we finally reached the creek which was running really good so we had to locate a decent place to cross without getting our feet wet. We all prevailed and soon were hiking up the old road trail towards the trail to the Lower Falls. We did not have time go see them so we passed them by continuing on the old road past what we call the Snakehead Rock where Dan-O and myself stopped for lunch as it seems there was a misunderstanding which caused Bol’Dar to go non-stop all the way to the trail that leads to the Upper Falls.  He went all the way to the ‘Umba Bagumba’ spot and was waiting on us wondering what had happened ! We were eating lunch on the Snakehead Rock wondering where he was ! We took a short lunch so we could catch up to him soon as we could and it did not take too long to get to the exit off the old road where the not very well known trail is that leads to the Upper Sill Branch Falls. We found Bol’Dar sitting at the spot looking over, eye to eye with the MonkeyHead Rocks which is where we first discovered them nearly 30 years ago.

Many years ago the trail used to be clean as pin as it made its way up through pine trees, it was very shady and the trail was carpeted with moss and pine needles, it was smooth and a real pleasure to hike and back then it did not take near as long to get to the upper falls but, now due to the recent pine bark beetle damage, the trail is pretty much destroyed with blow-downs as the entire ridge is now open with all the pine trees being downed and everything is dead looking. Lots of sun now allowed in which is causing some really thick growth to replace what once was all trees. You now have to climb over and under several blow-downs but I will say that it was easier this time than my last trip here back in November of 2010 when I took my friend Dave to them. Seems there have been quite a few people stomping through here to the falls. Too bad none of them took the time to do any trail work !

Eventually the trail descends down to the creek above the lower falls and follows it all the way to the upper falls crossing a few other wet weather streams that come in from the right side along the way. There was some small snow traces there and it was MUCH colder as this is on the North side of the mountain and the sun does not shine in there. You will pass several small falls and cascades there. After a while you come to where the creek splits at a large washed out area.  The main branch stays to the left to continue on up to the upper falls and beyond to many other falls and the one to the right (which is smaller) leads up into the steep hollow there that leads to the rocky ridge above. There are a few old log roads there once you cross the creek. The lower one that follows the main branch leads to the bottom of the Upper Falls and the upper road will take you to the top of the falls where you can get a higher view and be able to use it to cross the top of the feeder falls there and get beyond the upper falls.

We took the low road in order to get the best pictures as we were pressed for time and would not be going any further on this trip. The falls were really nice with the extra water flowing over them. We hung out there at the base for as long as we could taking in the awesomeness before we finally had to leave. DISCLAIMER: Please note that I did not take my new camera nor did I carry a tripod on this trip so the pictures did suffer from it !!!

It is mostly downhill going back so we made better time and were soon back to the warm sun at the ‘Umba Bagumba’ spot. I was glad to be out of the cold refrigerator-like canyon. We rested there for awhile checking out the views of the nearby mountains and the MonkeyHead Rocks before continuing on down to the old road down below.

From there it did not take long to get back down the rest of the trail and back down the old road and past the Snakehead Rocks to the trail-head where we started that morning. We were out by 4:30pm so Dan-O was on schedule ! It had been a great day in the mountains and I had gotten some good exercise. So much in fact, that my legs were already hurting and it would end up taking me a couple days to recover. It was only a little over 5 miles total so, that goes to show just how steep and gnarly the route was ! I am already looking forward to the next trip hopefully soon while the water levels are up.

To see the complete collection of photos of the Sill Branch Overlook (MonkeyHead Rocks) please visit our Photo Gallery here.

To see the complete collection of photos of the Lower and Upper Sill Branch Falls please visit our Photo Gallery here.