South Mountain State Park - Upper Falls Trail Campsites - March 18, 2005 - Member Trip Report
| Hike Name: | South Mountain State Park - Upper Falls Trail Campsites |
|---|---|
| Country: | United States |
| State: | North Carolina |
| Trip Rating: |  |
| Trip Date: | March 18, 2005 |
| Duration: | 2 days |
| Trail Conditions: | Good |
| Trail Traffic: | Moderate |
| Trip Weather: | Sunny, Partly Sunny, Partly Cloudy, Cloudy |
| Trip Winds: | Light |
| Trip Precipitation: | None |
| Trip Temperature: | High: 61-70, Low: 31-40 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Trip Report: | 3/18/05 - Sunny and cool to 60's H, 30's L. Waterdog and I hit the road for Charlotte by 7:30am today after he picked me up at the house. We made it to the Charlotte Colisieum by 11:15am and dropped off our NCAA tickets at Will Call for the two people that bought them on E-Bay. By 1pm, we had made it to Denver, NC where The Camel works and after meeting up with him, we went to the Taco Bell/KFC in town for a late lunch. The Camel followed up lunch with some quick grocery shopping while I listened to the NC State NCAA game in the truck. Then Waterdog headed back to Charlotte to meet up with his folks. It took us just over an hour to reach South Mountain State Park by 4pm which recently re-opened their hiking trails after Hurricane Frances hit in April 2004. There was still signs of damage (bridges out, pavement gone, etc.) but the trails were in decent shape. After speaking with a ranger and grabbing a map at the visitor's center, The Camel and I decided to take a three mile loop and stay at the Upper Shoal Falls Tent Sites for the night. The ascent to the campsites was tough, but went quickly despite the feedback we got from two other hikers. The Camel and I were pleased to see the picnic tables, fire rings, bear pole, and large stack of firewood in a large meadow with the four sites. It was a nice set-up, and at 5:30pm with darkness approaching, we expected to have the place to ourselves for the night. To our surprise, however, we saw two headlights heading toward camp around 8:30pm after we finished dinner and sat by the fire. They quickly disappeared into a hidden campsite in the woods and both The Camel and I thought they had been to this area before; but an hour later, we found out this wasn't the case. The four guys were freshman/sophmore's from nearby Clemson University and they had nearly drained their flashlights on the hike in. To make matters worse, they couldn't get the fire started since the wood was wet from a week of rain. So they came to our campsite and huddled around the fire preparing to make another trip to the parking area to haul in some more gear which included their hot dog dinner. The Camel and I talked them into pitching at our site, using our fire, and taking some instant potatoes that we cooked up on our stoves. Two guys stayed to pitch tents, and two guys went back to the cars. The bridge was out on the short route, however, so the car expedition was short lived and the leftover potatos and beef jerky had to get them through the night which wrapped up around 12:30am. There was frost on the table this evening and I expect the temperature was around 32 degrees tonight. The coons were very active in this area overnight. 5/19/05 - Mix of sun and clouds. Temps to 60's H, 40's L. The Camel and I slept until around 9:30am this morning then cooked up some breakfast. The college guys from last night had some Pop Tarts, did some mountain biking, then headed back to the parking area to grab some more supplies since they planned to camp out again tonight. The hike past High Shoal Waterfalls was great, with nice views from platforms at both the top and bottom of the falls. We decided to complete the loop even though the bridge was out and the trail was closed. It turned out that it was fairly easy to cross the river even without the bridge, and The Camel and I were back at the parking area in less than an hour. Once there, we ran into the Clemson guys again who were eating peanut and jelly sandwiches and were generally appreciative of our assistance last night. We gave them two extra lighters since their matches were almost gone, then headed back to Charlotte to watch NCAA hoops this afternoon. |
Trail Map For This Area
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