RATtreks

Squibb Creek Falls 2-19-2010

The Winter That Never Ends

For the last three weeks or more, we have had an abundance of snow on the ground here, and the mountains were getting nightly doses with well below freezing temps which made for some very spectacular photos, however,  it has been way too deep and cold for this RAT to leave the hole until now.

Unaka Mountain frozen

Buffalo Mountain frozen

It has been many years since we had a real winter,  but this year has broken many records, not only here but all over the country, and seems like it is not going to end anytime soon. However, this past weekend did allow for some much warmer
weather so I was able to get out to the mountains for some much needed exercise and after all, my adventure level was getting a little low!  There was still plenty of snow to be found. There was also ample amounts of storm damage to be encountered which makes getting to the destinations difficult, to say the least,  and it also  somehow takes away a part of the beauty and aesthetics of many of our cherished waterfalls.  One in particular, Squibb Creek Falls, has all but disappeared beneath natures recent changes.

My first trip for this weekend was on Friday, Feb. 19, 2010. Having worked until nearly 6 am the night before, it was not an early start (as usual) plus I had to pick up my son Tyler at school. My friend Bol’Dar was unable to go but was planning some sort of ‘extreme’ adventure for the next day,,,,,, * ‘maybe’  .  Hmmm___, I wonder. Nah, surely not, he wouldn’t go ‘there’ ?!! Or would he ?,,,, .

I decided to go somewhere close and stay in the lower elevations, so we went to Horse Creek in the Sampson Mountain Wilderness area and hiked up to Squibb Creek Falls. This turned out to be a more strenuous hike than anticipated ! The snow had mostly melted in the valleys already but you could still see the arctic-like conditions glowing from the top of Coldspring Mountain (part of the Bald Mountains chain) as we approached the trailhead.

Coldspring Mountain frozen

As soon as we entered the Horse Creek Campground it was apparent from the road that was frozen solid, that winter was still very much alive there, and although we did not know it, was foreshadowing the trek to come.

Bridge over Horse Creek

After sliding around to a parking spot, we headed up the forest road to the first bridge where the Squibb Creek trail begins.
It was sunny, not too cold, and the snow was not very deep, so the first part of the hike was very pleasant. The first thing we seen were some ‘ice-bats‘ hanging underneath a tree over the creek. It was a unique site indeed.

Ice Bats

After crossing the two well built bridges along the trail, we soon came to the old chalet style cabin that has been there for so many years. It has not changed any in the last 20 or so years since I was there last. After a short break we continued beyond the cabin, crossing the creek, making our way to the old homestead area where the Turkey Pen and Middle Spring Ridge trails start. The trail condition was really good and there were actually signs of recent trail maintenance, however that was soon to change.

snow trees

After another creek crossing or two, all signs of humans disappeared and there was only some rabbit, coyote (or wolf), and raccoon (or bear) tracks to be seen. The snow got deeper, the temps got colder, and the worse the trail became the farther we hiked up this long narrow hollow. There were some nice cascades and rock formations along the way and eventually plenty of icicles and ice formations as we made our way up the creek crossing it so many times I lost count.

Squibb Creek Cascades

About a mile or so in, the trail all but disappeared under the snow and recent storm damage, not to mention signs of massive flooding sometime in the last 20 years. We continued on up the creek as best we could and as we neared the falls, there were some spots that were very tricky and hard to negotiate; mainly due to the now boot deep snow and lack of trail. It seemed much farther than I remember (isn’t that always the case?) but soon we could see the steep ridge coming in on the left,  shining in the now setting sun, which I knew was the location of the falls. It seemed like it took forever to reach that point as it was very tough going.

Squibb Creek

It was getting late and we had no desire to walk out of that place in the dark, so there were some thoughts on giving up, but we both knew that would not happen ! We persevered and eventually after some hands in snow crawling on all fours, climbing over some large obstacles and deep ravine like creek crossings, we finally reached our destination: Squibb Creek Falls. Or did we ? There was the left ridge, the right ridge, and the ‘3 rocks‘  landmark at the top right of the falls,  but where were the falls ? They could barely be seen and it was not just the massive amount of frozen ice and snow they were behind but it seems the bottom of the falls were filled in with fallen trees and rocks, etc and it was like we were somewhere else, but after reviewing my old photos it was clear that we were in the right place and that nature had undergone many changes since my last visit there.

Squibb Creek Falls

Squibb Creek Falls (old pic)

Just being out of the house and in the wild was reward enough, although we only had about an hour or less of daylight left and it was getting colder by the minute. We took a few pics, ate some snacks, drank some water, and made a hasty but careful retreat.

The return trip was much quicker, probably less than half the time it took to get there, so we did make it back to the old cabin and the car before it got totally dark. Feeling pretty good after thawing out and eating a good meal, I was already making plans for the next days trip.

You can view more pics of these falls in our photo gallery.

RAT

* Striderism #3