RATtreks

Upper Upper Dick Creek Falls – 11-8-2014

I have been going to Dick Creek and the lower falls there for over 30 years now having camped and hiked there many times in my lifetime but, it has only been in the last decade that I have become a waterfall-aholic and learned that there was an Upper Dick Creek Falls which I have since visited often. I have always suspected that there would be more falls above the upper falls but, I was yet to get the time needed to explore that region. I had been planning to get to that sometime this year however, the legendary backwoods explorer, Larry Jarret beat me to it as he spent a lot of time this year deep in the bowels of the Unaka Mountain area where just one of his many discoveries was at least four major waterfalls that lie deep within the rugged and remote area of the upper Dick Creek valley. On this hike I would see almost all of them for my first time along with my fellow mountain adventurers John Forbes and Kenneth Woody. We would also have the pleasure of being accompanied to the upper Dick Creek Falls with Michael Taylor, my brother from another mother.

This trip would be somewhat different than any others in the fact that we would be traveling the first leg of the journey, about a 2+ mile stretch beside Dick Creek from the Limestone Cove side in which we would be riding in two four wheel drive vehicles that would take us to the end of the forest road just above the lower falls. Of course this would save some much needed time since we got such a late start ending up at the trail head about 11 am. Parking in the field there (Johnny`s Pasture) we began our adventure by taking the lesser known and much harder to find ninja trail which goes up the left side of Dick Creek to the Upper Dick Creek Falls. This is a short section of laurels to negotiate at first and a precise magical spot to cross the creek to find the one and only place where the beginning point of the left ridge can be accessed but, after that it is really smooth sailing with extraordinary views of the creek that will be way down below you from that point on. I always take this route going in and come back on the other side. Michael was not a fan of this route !

The sun was cooking the earth with not a cloud in the sky all day so as usual, there would be no special pictures possible. This would not stop our eyes from taking in all the beauty nor the amount of fun that we would have. After hanging out at the Upper Dick Creek Falls for while, we parted company with Michael and the remaining three of our party continued upstream in search of the illusive waterfalls we knew would be waiting for us there.

Of course there is no trail from that point on and there would be several enormous obstacles that we would have to overcome to continue. It did not take long at all before we came across the first and largest set of ‘new falls’ that we have temporarily penned the Upper Upper Dick Creek Falls. (Larry will get the privilege of naming these falls and listing them on TN Landforms later if he so desires) These are so close in fact that Michael may have heard me scream from back at the upper falls where he stayed to get more pics. There was no chance that he heard anything from Ken as he became speechless at that point and barely uttered another word for the rest of the day !

These falls were even more amazing in person than Larry`s excellent pictures had portrayed as he had no way to show the scale and enormous height of these falls which I am guessing are pushing close to 50 feet high. I will be bringing my friend Dave Aldridge to these so he can accurately measure them with his laser hypsometer and I will have my handheld gps with me on a future return trip to log the coordinates of all the new falls. The monolithic sized cliffs that cradle the falls on each side tower high above them and seem to stretch out of sight in each direction. They are monumental to say the least and are by far the largest and most difficult barrier to overcome on this journey.

John took the larger left side and Ken and I took the right side to search for secret ninja passes that might allow us to scale this encumbrance safely. I was actually looking for signs that Larry had been there as he normally would cut some limbs out of the way in places he has been but, he was obviously in stealth mode this time as I never seen a trace of a human being anywhere in that valley beyond the upper falls. Of course there is the possibility that he is not human ? or perhaps superhuman ? Ken and I ended up climbing a bit too high and had to climb back down to come out right at the top of these magnificent falls where we could hear John was approaching from the other side. Due to the difficulty of this climb I did not try to get any pictures during it. Standing at the top of the falls getting a closeup view of where the water splits into two chutes was breathtaking.

Another stunning view was to look down on the top of the vertical cliff that stands like a totem pole at the base of the right side of the falls. John and I have vowed to sit upon it one day. From there we hung out at the top of the falls as it is a wondrous place before moving on upstream where more hidden falls and cascades would await.

There would be some more tricky places with laurels and other rocky impediments along with some short and sweet open and non restrictive stretches before the next click was over and we found the next set of falls. These were not as tall at only about 15+ feet yet, perhaps in some opinions more beautiful than the others.

The light was still too vivid for any good pics so we absorbed its exquisiteness and began searching for a way around a new rock hindrance that embraced both sides of these falls. Luckily there was a sweet ninja trail to be found in a large crack between the cliffs after climbing a short ways up the steep hill.

We then found ourselves at an elevation well above the creek and had to descend back down in order to continue onward. From there it was a repeat of some smooth, some rugged, then another small falls that I recognized from Larry`s pictures. Not very tall but, elegant nonetheless.

Getting around these was not too hard but we soon ran out of time not far beyond that point. Knowing it would take time to make our way back over all the treacherous hindrances between us and upper falls and then back out to the vehicles, not wanting to do any of it in the dark, we were forced to turn around. It was disheartening and difficult to do but, I knew the last set of falls were at the very head of the valley at least another mile away with no trail and more obstructions to mediate so at a gorgeous area of the creek where many small falls and a spring was gently seeping out of the ground beneath some perfectly placed boulders, we bid our adieu and swore we would be back here to finish the expedition soon.

Going back did prove somewhat easier and did not take near as long and the light was slightly improving as the sun was now beginning to get behind the steep fingers of the mighty Rattlesnake Ridge which enabled us to get a few pictures that hopefully would be better than our first ones although still nothing fancy.

I enjoyed coming down the opposite side of the Upper Upper Dick Creek Falls than I had gone up, as those cliffs are monstrous and very impressive to be on. I got a few pics again at the bottom before continuing downstream back to the upper falls.

We were able to communicate with Michael via John`s phone and knew he was already back at his vehicle and had already been to the lower falls so we stopped at the upper falls just long enough to get some hopefully better shots before taking the old log road trail on the other side to speed things up in getting back. I was at the top of the falls shooting what I call ‘the corkscrew’ when I looked up and seen John and Ken disappearing out of sight on that trail leaving me way behind.
This did not stop me from climbing down to the base of the upper falls yet again to grab a few quick shots where I then climbed up the insanely hard to climb (for short people) feeder falls that would provide a short cut to the old log road above on that side. This was perhaps not the safest or wisest decision as a fall here would prove most unfortunate now that I was alone. I was successful and soon was hurrying down the nicer and more known trail on that side. I would not meet up with John or Ken until I reached the camp site back at the end of the road at the last creek crossing.

I took several of the corkscrew, just because I think it`s awesome !

My last shots of the Upper Dick Creek Falls:

We walked out from there to the field together where we met back up with Michael who was taking a siesta in his new Toyota FJ. There was just enough light left in the day to get some shots of the lower Dick Creek Falls before completing the last leg of the day which was the 2+ mile off road vehicle ride back to Limestone Cove Road where it would get dark on us before we reached the pavement there. The following shots I got with my pocket cam without a tri pod:

The rest of these were taken using my larger camera and a tri pod:

It is not always about the adventure but, who you share it with and I am blessed to have so many fellow hiker trash friends to share my adventures with that make life much more enjoyable.

It had been another awesome and epic day in Mother Nature`s bountiful world which had filled our heads and overloaded our sensory mechanisms with new spectacular sights that we are sure to be coming back to see again very soon. I must complete this mission and see the falls that we did not make it to on this quest. Until next time,,,,