Waterfalls 1 - North Carolina - Day 4 - To Dillard

Another waterfall day through the mountains.  Hotels have been nice. The one in Brevard did not have breakfast, so we had to go out but that's okay, Brevard is a touristy town so plenty of places to eat. 
Started by taking 64 south to 281 (Whitewater Road).

This photo is what I like about small towns....they are so cute in their decorations.

Brevard

Today is a little bit of north south driving to cover many many waterfalls.

Go from east to west on red line

White Owl Falls: This was crazy! First finding the place to stop was not clear and then the hike inside was not marked. I think these falls are for the die hard hikers. I was not willing to get lost or twist my ankle here so we skipped this. Although photos show it to be a beautiful falls, but for me its not worth it if trail is not clear.  

Whitewater Falls: $3: 0.5 mi hike. This was a proper state park hence the entry fee - but it is on honor system. There was a large parking lot. The hike was all paved and part of it was wooden stairs. The falls were really fantastic. I could put a chair out and just admire them!

Whitewater Falls

From there it was south and north to 130 south to state road S-37-413 (cuts to 107 north)
 
Silver Run Falls – A short hike to the falls. A forest service sign along the road marks the small roadside parking area for 4-5 cars. It's a nice falls. Water was nice and cool. Totally swimmable.

Silver Run Falls

This leads us to Cashiers. One can have food there. But we were full so we went up 64 towards Highland (tourist town) and up north for some falls.
 
Sequoya Falls  –  This is actually on a dam. We did not see a parking lot but roadside parking was okay. Not much to see except to stop, click and move on.

Sequoya Falls

Bridal Veil Falls – This is directly on the road. Just park and take photos. And one can walk in it, around it or not. There is so little water that it hardly qualifies as a waterfall, but water is falling! 

Bridal Veil Falls

Dry Falls – There is a parking area for this and then a short walk to the falls. There was a bit of a crowd here. Falls were with lots of water and looked and sounded great. One can walk behind the falls and get view from the other side too. Really like it to get close and personal with the falls :

Bust Your Butt Falls – They are visible from the road. The reason for the name is that you can slip on them! (about 3 miles from dry falls).

Bust Your Butt Falls

Glenn Falls - This is on a dirt road from 106 off Highlands Hwy 64. There is not a lot of parking as it is a bit of a hike kind of falls. We were tired but we had time, so we squeezed in one more waterfall. And how lovely this was except for all the downhill and climb up! It is a three tier water falls. Go down to point A and get a lovely view, then down more to point B and then another maybe half mile for point C which is the bottom. One does not get view of point A from B. So its like three different waterfalls. The hike is at a bit of grade, but its a nice maintained trail so quite doable. The waterfalls were pretty but could use a bit more water :-)

End of the day!! Get back S on 64 to 106 S -> 246 -> 23 S to Dillard.

To leave this day without mentioning that the drive was quite pretty is to do injustice. The mountains, the wildflowers were everywhere. Although it was getting hot by the afternoon, but it was still quite a pleasant day to be outdoors.

 The last couple days were quite uneventful. We stopped at BAPs, Atlanta and stopped in Gainsville, Florida and then drove back home. Two days of waterfalls were quite nice. And of course Florida sunset on the waters....

Waterfalls 1 - North Carolina - Day 3 - Pisgah Loop to Brevard

 

Take Hwy 110 to 215 south to Blue Ridge Pkwy (east) – will be sort of a U turn and the 276 south – take right -  to get to Brevard (Forest heritage scenic byway – 276 – Pisgah HWY)

https://www.romanticasheville.com/forest_heritage_scenic_byway.htm

Little Bird Falls - There's 2 pulloffs next to a guardrail that's on the opposite side of the road from the river. A short climb up and maybe 5 minute walk leads to this lovely waterfall! Could not find.

Sunburst Falls – 10 mins round trip. I think we managed to see this from the road. Did not see the bridge.

Sunburst Falls

Wildcat falls – turn right into a gravel drive marked with a small sign that says BR1. About 1 hour hike. There were two waterfalls on this route. I think because of low water, they were not all that impressive. Just be careful here, there were two places where one has to walk in the water to continue the hike.

Turn east (left) into Blue Ridge parkway. Drove on the parkway for a while.

Graveyard Fields (mi marker 418.8) - not much to see here even though it seems like a tourist spot. 

Skinny Dip falls - at Milepost 417 at Looking Glass Overlook) – about 2 miles RT. I am not sure if these exist or not anymore but we completely missed them! Maybe they should not be skinny - hehe.

Take Pisgah Hwy (276) east – kind of a U turn.

Pink Beds – picnic area. Just a nice place to have a picnic.

Sliding rock falls after 7.5 miles of entering 276. Popular on weekends $4. This was fun! Definitely should go during the week when there is less crowd. It was weekend for us and it was busy!! 

Sliding Rock Falls

These falls led to the stream which was quite pretty. It was following the road so we stopped to take some photos...really pretty and I think quite pretty falls too!

Moore Cove Falls - About a 1 mile hike into the forest. The falls were not so great - I would skip it...

Moore Cove Falls

Looking glass falls – quite pretty and can be seen from the roadside. One can walk right by them, only a few hundred meters from the road.

And that was the first day of waterfalls!! We continued on 276 to Brevard, turn right on 64 S to hotel.

Waterfalls 1 - North Carolina - Day 1 - To Ashville

 What goes up must come down :-) My previous blog was on driving from West Palm Beach to Columbus, now I have to come back to West Palm Beach. This time I made the trip so I could enjoy the waterfalls in North Caroline and the Great Smoky Mountains a bit. I planned out the trip for about 5 days drive. 

First day would be to just get to Asheville, NC. Nothing exciting about that leg of the journey, except a Trump follower holding up the FBI office on gunpoint near Cincinnati and causing a massive traffic backup on I-71. Ugh!! Had to take a detour through countryside to get back on the highway. All in all we did not lose much time and also got to see the beautiful farmland of Ohio.

So here is the trip from Asheville to Dillard. After Dillard, it was just a drive through Atlanta to WPB. Nothing that exciting so I will finish that part in one blog entry.

The goal was to see waterfalls, so I planned some detours and some long routes to make sure we see as many waterfalls as possible.

Some good weblinks:

https://www.romanticasheville.com/forest_heritage_scenic_byway.htm

https://blueridgemountainlife.com/waterfalls/

The Oregon Diaries - Final Thoughts

Overall, my trip was great! I enjoyed all the wonderful, new and amazing things I saw: the mountains, the coast, the dunes, the flowers, the gardens, the waterfalls, painted hills, volcanic landscape and lush green tree landscape. Oregon surpassed my imagination of nature. The rivers were free flowing, clean and pretty. Their sound was so nice that I had to record it. I always would sit by them for a while. If I could - I would build my house near there. (Well my house is near a flowing canal!). 

I also did all the things I wanted to do and more. I walked the downtown of Portland, saw everything on my list, extra thing was the tram that I took. Then on the coast the dune buggy ride was a must for me! Except for a little time loss there, it was great! I wanted to have Tillamook ice cream and grilled cheese and I did. I drove everywhere that I could think of, or was possible. And I also got to do rafting! Despite that I could not get on the tour I really wanted, I still did it – the only regret is I have no photos because of the greediness of the Seventh Mountain people. But I have the experience in my mind forever and oh what fun it was!!

I ate everywhere I wanted to. I was not miser about it and honestly it was not that expensive at all. On average I think I spent about $15 per day – that may include all the chips, fruits and carrots I bought.

The drawbacks for me were: travelling solo and so not getting all the benefits I would have at certain places (like the buggy ride or the small hotel room); I had no one to share any of my experience with - I really missed having a loved one by my side. Kids do make it more enjoyable but then you are limited by how much you can do. But they do make it fun! Again, not much I can do there.

The other drawback for me was that I was doing everything all by myself. This can be very tiring. Sometimes I would have just like to sit back and enjoy the view. For me it was always a do or die issue…and since I am not planning on coming back anytime soon, I had to do it all.

But I did sit by the rivers and enjoy hearing the water flowing....here is one other one as a last homage to Oregon.......

The Oregon Diaries - Day 9

Last day in Oregon. Today is the day to see all the falls! It’s a 30 mile distance so should not take long to do. Left The Dalles around 9:00 am. No breakfast – only one banana. This motel was just so so. The flush was not that great, shower was too small and did not drain. Coffee was there but the quality was hopeless.  I guess I got what I paid for….

The drive towards west was confusing. Even though I know I have to go on Hwy 30, it was really confusing as it merged into I-84 once in a while and goes into Business 30 in some places. Ugh! I will not miss these stupid road confusions of Oregon.

Finally found the Hwy 30 I want to be on – it is also marked as the Historical Hwy. Very interesting highway. It is like the Hana drive of Hawaii; very curvy and narrow with stops all along the way for waterfalls. The waterfalls in Hana drive were small, however these ones were all something else!

Horsetail Waterfalls

I was going east to west (most people go west to east as they are coming from Portland).  So the first water fall I saw was Horsetail. Really tall falling like a thin tail. It was right on the road. Perfect. Very nice falls. 

Got on the road for the next one – Oneonta Falls. This one was first through a tunnel (which was also historical). I could not see the falls anywhere so started walking back, when a lady with two little kids came and mentioned that the falls are a little bit of hike. So I followed her. The hike was interesting. It was all a dry river bed. Walking through it, itself was an adventure. And then came the huge boulder, which I also managed, but I could not manage the next one on my own. It was a huge pile of dead tree trunks. There was no way I could have crossed that without any assistance. Even getting back on the huge boulder was not possible without this one guy helping me out.  Either that is supposed to be part of the adventure or maybe the people managing that area should really make a path. Disappointed, I came back.

What to do? Traveling alone does have its drawbacks.

The next falls was the most advertised one, the Multnomah Falls. The picture of these falls are everywhere! They had developed these falls a lot. There was a gift shop, restaurant, rest room, coffee and what not. Anyway… I went to see the falls first. Beautiful falls – and really high! I would say easily 10-12 stories high. The main problem was the sun - it was right where the waterfalls were starting so it was really hard to take a good picture of the entire falls.

 

There was a trek going up to see where the falls start from. Thought about doing that trek as it would be nice to see it. Talked to some people on the way and it seemed it was going to be uphill trek (normal, because the falls are falling from high up!). At one point I gave up, then a lady convinced me to keep going otherwise later I might feel that I should have gone. Well okay…so I kept going. Saw old people coming down and children going up, so I thought, sure I can do it too. But after going on for so long, a sign finally said, 0.8 mi trek. Ugh! I cannot do so much, especially with my back aching the way it was. I asked some people what was up and they showed me photos. And I changed my mind. It was only a stream. One cannot even see the falls falling because they are falling at an angle and there is no proper angle to see them. What a waste of time and energy! I came down. Of course coming down was way faster than going up.

Was so exhausted that I really regretted making the trek. Had soup and salad at the Multnomah restaurant. I had the prime seat. Right where I could see the falls! Beautiful. I was looking around envying all the people with families, but later realized, most adults were not talking to each other. If there were kids, they would talk to kids but otherwise they were all busy on their phones or just not talking. How sad. Here I am, dying to talk to someone, and they have someone yet they are not talking. Life is so unfair.

Went to the gift shop and bought myself a magnet. That is what I have been doing. I don’t know what other keepsake to buy.

It’s about 1:30 pm now. Got back on the road to the next waterfall – Wahkeena Falls. This seemed to be the least popular falls. The trek was not bad at all, the falls were quite pretty. There was only one other group there who left when I got there, so I was the only one. It was so easily accessible. One could go under the falls also.

Wahkeena Waterfalls

The next fall was Bridal Veil Falls. This was a little bit of a trek 0.6 mi one way. Up and down I went, but the falls are visible only from the very end of the trail. And what beautiful falls. I say that for all, but the truth is – I love waterfalls. To me they represent motion and beauty. There were many people here. Nice! Back at the parking lot was another trail going to see the overlook. Went on it – nice overlook – although later I got some better overlooks. I could have skipped this one.

Bridal Veil Waterfall

On to the Shepperds Dell Falls. Not very far from the road. A short upward hike led to the falls. This was divided into two falls like Multnomah Falls. One tall one and then flat and then again. There was a trail going up to the starting point – but no – this time, I cannot do it!

Sheppards Dell Waterfalls

The last water fall was Latourell Falls. I think this was the best! And the tallest. A little hike took me to the falls. Just so gorgeous and completely uninterrupted view! Too good.  The nicest part about all these water falls is that they are all fresh water, and they are easily accessible and there is no one preventing you (except your common sense) to bath in these falls. Some people were coming in with bathing suits while some were playing around. Fun!

Latourell Waterfalls

Then it was the Crowne Point Vista House – a viewing point. but apparently it used to be a resting point for travelers at one point. I was driving on a nice road so could not tell, but when I looked off the viewing point, we are hundreds of feet above the Columbia River. The view is amazing!

Next I had to decide whether to do the 14 mi drive up to a viewing point from which one can see 5 mountain peaks. Well…since I don’t have to walk, I can drive 14 mi. It was around 4 pm now. It was now or never. So I did it. The drive up was just a little stressful, very curvy and narrow – but pretty drive. There was not too much traffic, so had to be careful. Just when I was on a curve, a car would come from the other side.

Got up there in about 25 mins. Then did not know where to go for the view. Walked on the one single trail there. But then it spilt and there were no indications as to where I should go. I climbed one side (plenty of stairs), but then there were 3 splits. Came back. Luckily ran into a guy who was also going and he guided me to the right path. It was straight ahead (The Sheppard Point). And there were stairs!! Oh Lord! Why does it have to be stairs? Went up the stairs. I was not going to turn back now. And so good I did not. The view up there was amazing. There were very few die hards to come to this place so it was not crowded at all. Starting from the left was, Mt. Helens (a flat top mountain, as it lost a lot of its top during the last volcano), Mt. Rainier (not quite visible), Mt. Adams – perfectly visible as a beautiful peak, then Mt. Hood (oh what a sight!! It was front and center of all the peaks) and finally Mt. Jefferson (this was hidden behind some mountains, so only the peak was visible).

Admired the view for a while and then came down the stairs and drove down also. 5:30 pm. Have to keep track of time, as I have to return the car also today. One last stop at the Women’s Forum Overlook. Lovely view of the Columbia River and also the Crown Point. Did not spend too much time there.

Now it’s time to head back to Portland. Not looking forward to the crazy traffic and roads, but it has to be done. Did get lost going to Ramada, but finally made it after calling them for directions. Checked in (why don’t these hotels put in some elevators! Carrying a suitcase even one flight of stairs is trying when one is tired). 

Went to return the car. Was a little worried about leaving it on the road, but what to do – no choice. Walked across the huge Burnside Bridge to get to the Skidmore station to get the red Max train. I was remembering 9 days ago, when I made exactly the same trek on the first day of touring. How different that was! The train took about 50 mins to get to the airport. Called Ramada to send the shuttle to pick me up. Luckily there was one more person. Didn’t feel so guilty about just a pick up.

Got to the hotel and just wanted to crash! But there is no rest. Had to clean out my stuff and make sure everything was packed as I have to get up at 4:15 am – and I will not be packing then. Sleep was not easy to come as the stupid AC kept coming on and off and made a great noise when it was on. It was always one noise or another. Must have slept though!

Got up a couple times at night, but finally woke at 3:30 am. Don’t know what it is with the internal body clock, always wakes up before the alarm (for most part). Had send text to Bhaiya to wake me up at 4:15 am and he did call!

Then it was just about getting ready and taking the shuttle to the airport at 5 am. All went smooth. I am writing this now in Las Vegas airport as I have so much time to kill. And yesterday I was too exhausted to write. 

The Oregon Diaries - Day 8

Have to drive to The Dalles (pronounced daals) today. Its about 4 hrs drive and I have to take one stop in the middle to see one water fall (Tygh River water fall). So got up late and packed my suitcase. Everything fit! Of course!   

Left around 10 am. The drive was straight up 97 and then 197. As 97 changed to 197, I stopped at McDonalds for lemonade and fries – perfect combo! It was a beautiful day outside so sat outside and ate. Lovely. I will miss this weather. As soon as I got on 197, the scenery took a 180 turn. Gone were the trees and greenery. It was rolling hills in a very strange rolling pattern and short shrub like trees everywhere. And the very common green/yellow shrub I have been seeing everywhere.  This looks very much like a volcanic area – which has been formed not too long ago since the vegetation is so less. Hwy 197 is even more desolate than some of the other highways I have been driving on.

There were snow peak covered mountains coming one after another. I kept thinking each one was Mt. Hood, but they kept coming…so no they were not. The drive was really beautiful, the valleys, the hills and the far away snow covered mountains…and the hills were either yellow or green (farming). Just gorgeous.

Took the Tygh White Water River exit. I did not even see any river, but by the time I reached the park, I could hear the river. It was a lovely park, so many youngsters were there having fun. The restrooms had plumbing!! I knew there was a little bit of a steep walk down (thanks to Google!), so took some water and walked down. It was 2 pm and was bloody hot! I got half way (as someone coming up mentioned that it might be enough). Going down is never a problem, its coming back up. And darn the water falls – they are not all like Niagara falls that you can walk to. Most are either up or down!

The river did not have much water in it, but still the falls were quite amazing. There were two parts to it, one cannot see both at any given time. I could see one from the top, the other part I had to walk down to. The river was muddy. The water fall did not quite look like I saw on Google pictures, so I knew that there was less water in the river or they would have been even more amazing.

The entire walk and look took about 30 mins. I was back on the road again. Wanted to go east for a little more scenic drive, but just did not have much energy. It was about 3 pm and decided to check into my hotel – the Oregon Motel. The owner turned out to be a Gujrati (my second Indian or 2.5 Indian if I count the Itty Bitty Inn owner). The room is very comfortable. On looking for things to do, besides driving, there is zipling – but that is 40 mins drive. Not doing it; and besides the last tour is at 5 and it lasts about 2 hours. I will be exhausted by the time I come back. I have another long day tomorrow, so just want to stay chilled today.

So then the other option is to do some local stuff. So decided to go to the Museum, which yet again was not a straight forward route. 

The museum was myeh – just okay. Oregon does have a lot of interesting history. I admire how tenacious people were in moving here from the east. The whole wagon thing is amazing. Really shows the adventurous spirit and determination of people back then. Or maybe they had no choice but to move. Now Oregon is thriving on lumbar, fish, cherries, wheat and not to forget tourism. There is so much outdoor activities to do here. At least in summer time, it would be criminal to stay at home. There was a little pathway around the museum, walked on it for a while. It was nice.

Next stop was the Sunshine Mill Winery. It seemed they had some interesting interior, so I decided to go. It is a really old building and they make their wine there. No tours were given, but tasting was on. So I thought why not? They had 5 wines for $7, and then you would also get one little copa to take (a little cup wine thingy).  The lady was pouring quite a lot of wine, so by the time I had my 5^th one, I was a little woozy! And then she mentioned that white wines have little more alcohol content than red ones, and I like white better than red. I took some pictures, took my copa and came back to the motel. I was really feeling the kick of the wine by then!

On the way back from the museum, I noticed the Thai place next to the hotel. At about 7:30 pm I went there to get something to eat. Ordered some vegetable soup and vegetable rolls (the rice paper ones). Brought them back to the motel to eat later. Both were awesome! Best $10 spent. 

That’s it for the day. Am very tired and am just waiting to go back to Florida now.

Cambodia Excursion - Day 4

Got up with a fantastic cold today! My body must be getting tired or maybe its the AC-humidity that is causing the cold.

After breakfast we took a taxi to Phnom Kulen mountain. There is a water fall there and also some other interesting touring spots. First we took a little stop to see how they make palm sugar - which is kind of like making gur, but from palm not sugar cane. It was yum!

Then we went to Banteay Srey temple. This is famous for the fact that women were in charge here. There were beautiful carvings here (little more beautiful than the other temples). A good stop.

All the way to the mountain, I took small naps. The cold was getting to me. The first stop after we reached the mountain was the river that had more than 1000 shivling. Wow! What an amazing sight. The water was flowing on them (just like we pour water over shivlings in India), so the size had decreased over time. Very beautiful to see.

Then we climbed up a bunch of beautiful stairs to see the sleeping Buddha - a monolith. Another wow! Just beautiful. The general area was also pretty - green and flowers. Very peaceful and it smelled great there.

Then the walk to the waterfall.  The first one was small, kind of cute. But that led to the main one, which still needed some walking. The climb down to the waterfall was a little challenging since the wooden stairs were a little scary, some were missing, and all I could think of was - I have to come up these stairs!!  The climb down was very rewarding! The waterfalls were beautiful, amazing and just full of water. So many people were playing in the fresh water. Just a lovely place to be on a hot, humid, summer day like today. Sadly, I was not in my swim suit :-(

We skipped lunch so we could see the last temple of our tour - Banteay Sam Re. This was a nice peaceful stop after all the days touring. There were not many people there, the layout was slightly different.I was drenched in sweat by now, but we saw it all.

On the way back, stopped again at the local market, Phar Le. Did not really buy anything because I did not need anything and then Sam was walking too fast to see if I wanted to buy anything. We were back at the hotel by 4:30 pm. Took a nap and then we went for dinner - Curry wala - another Indian restaurant (Sam was looking for chole bhature). The food was terrible.

The last thing to do here was to get the fish massage. This is uniquely Cambodian thing. You put your feet in a tank of water of fish and they clean up and eat all the "stuff" on your feet.It is ticklish, relaxing and therapeutic at the same time.  Really enjoyed it. For $1 I got the massage and a coke!! Who can beat that?