May 12 – Dupont State Forest

The forecast had called for a relatively clear day so we were going to do some short hikes to viewpoints. When we got up it was rather cloudy so we switched back to waterfalls. It finally did get sunny later in the morning.

We drove the short 14 miles over to Dupont State Forest to see 3 huge waterfalls.

We parked at the visitor’s center and first hiked down to High Falls. Then it was off on the longer trail to Bridal Veil Falls and then back to the car. We moved to another parking lot and then I did a quick hike up to check out Triple Falls. Altogether Jennie did 6.5 miles and I did 7.5. We were pretty done in by the end.

Off to High Falls. The trails were well maintained and smooth.

It seems that we are low enough now for the Mountain Laurel to be blooming.

We guessed that these may be seed pods on this strange little plant.

On the way down they entice you with a viewpoint.

We kept hearing a helicopter. It would circle around and then hover over each of the falls for a while. It did this several times in the morning and then again when we were coming back from Bridal Veil Falls in the afternoon.

Down at the bottom High Falls are 150 feet tall. Once again the pictures just don’t show the size.

Find the people down in the right bottom corner in the next few, for some scale.

Even me.

So many patterns on the water.

I went up close to try and get some of the sprays from the side.

We sat, had lunch and stared for a long time. I finally figured out that I should put the polarizing filter on the camera. Much less glare.

We headed back up the hill to check out the covered bridge that was at the top of the falls.

You couldn’t see much from it though.

On the way back we did see the helicopter, hovering again, from here.

We debated about going to Bridal Veil Falls. It is a 5 mile round trip and as usual the pictures I seen online had did not exactly inspired me but the books said it was worth while.

Once we got there we were really glad we went but both going and coming back we weren’t so sure. To get there you must walk on this wide gravel roads. The large gravel and directly exposure to the sun made it a long, hot, tough walk.

This was our sneak preview from a lookout just before we arrived.

There is a small falls at the top and then a massive wide rock face that the falls cover most of and here they really earn the bridal veil name.

I spied an rock that gave us one of the most interesting view of a falls we have ever had. We were there a long time and shared it with a few people.

The rock protrudes out over the bottom of the falls so you can sit on the edge and the water rushes by, just inches below your feet.

You just had to get down as close as you could.

We sat here a long time and even came back and sat some more after we had trekked up to the top.

When we decided to explore the top of the falls, we discovered this guy (or girl) among the rocks we had been climbing on.

Not knowing what it was we gave it a wide berth.

We headed up making sure to stay on the dry spots.

Tiny, very dark, me just to the left of the small falls. I should only wear red shirts.

Back at tiny Jennie, in her red shirt.

Checking out the potholes.

Jennie said that it looked like you could get behind the falls. Like an idiot, off I went. I didn’t even take the pack off. I slipped once going in and almost ended up in the water.

The view underneath was pretty cool. If I REALLY wanted to I could have made it to the other side.

We headed back down to our perched over the veil.

Walking on the water.

We eventually dragged ourselves away for the long trudge back to the car. We had left some ice water in a cooler which was great but even better we had left some strawberries with part of a chocolate bar on top. By now the chocolate had melted all over the berries. Wow!

We were both really beat but I couldn’t leave without seeing the third falls. So Jennie stayed in the car and I headed up the short trail.

The trail goes flat along the creek for a while and then goes steeply up to a view point. Naturally Triple Falls is made up of three close together falls.

After climbing a bit higher you then had to down a long set of stairs to end up on the plateau below the second falls.

Another set of huge falls, 120 feet in total, that just isn’t captured in the pictures.

I didn’t have the energy to climb up the rocks so I just watched other people do it.

I also wasn’t looking forward to climbing back up those stairs. I had noticed these guys sitting below the lower falls.

A while later they were gone and I knew they hadn’t climbed up so I assumed they were able to get out by going down stream. Down I went.

The lower falls.

And looking back just before my exit point which just happened to be at the bottom of the long climb.

An easy walk back to the car.

We really treated ourselves when we got back to town. First we hit an ice cream stand and then after some shopping we had a pretty good BBQ at the Hawg Wild restaurant.