View allAll Photos Tagged BearWallow
A panorama with a storm rolling over bottom land next to U.S. 220 in Botetourt County, with the James River and CSX tracks at the back of the field and Bearwallow Mountain behind them in the west. The Gala Wetlands are to the left. ©2020 John M. Hudson | jmhudson1.com
Adult male. Mount Lemmon. Arizona.
5/2/2016.
David and I were fortunate to find this mature adult male a bit later the same morning of my previous post (EXIF is listed in EST and Tucson is PST). He was singing away as he foraged amongst the pines near a campground in the Bear Wallow area. We had dedicated the day to finding and photographing this species. It was a successful morning of shooting.
5/2/2016. Mount Lemmon. Arizona.
One of my highlights of this trip was seeing this warbler for the first time. One day we had close to 20 of this species, and it lis likely based on observations many were still migrating. This one appeared to be homesteading.
After my recent visit to Lower Bearwallow Falls, I had enough daylight left to visit nearby White Owl Falls. One of my favorites in NC.
I always enjoy visiting this beautiful spot. It's been a while since my last visit. It looked like there were a few spots where more branches were blocking the path but it wasn't too difficult to get around them. The other thing I encountered when reaching the falls was there was a large tree branch that had fallen into the stream on the right side of the falls. I easily removed the large distraction using Photoshop generative AI. Just be aware of this as it's hard to get a clean view of the falls.
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Copyright Reid Northrup, 2024. All Rights Reserved, Worldwide. Please don＇t use my photos in any way without my written permission.
Photograph 3: Eventually Ruff Butt Road, would around to this point here at the crossing of the Caney Fork River. Years ago, there was a bridge here, but after a horrific storm, it was washed away. I included this capture of the cascades just downstream at the crossing to portray the magnitude and force of the water. The Caney Fork River is actually made up of Rough Butt Creek, Piney Mountain Creek, Bearwallow Creek and several additional streams and branches cascading down from up above in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Eventually Wolf Creek flows into it and it flows into the mighty Tuckasegee River. Usually, the river is knee-deep in sections here at this crossing. After all the recent rain, today it was above the knee to mid-thigh height. Fortunately, I didn't have any issues crossing today. The most difficult part was maintaining balance while resisting the force of the water in motion.
This is the top of Bearwallow Mountain. I had some closer in shots of Colleen, Trevor and Petey but I just had to include that sky! Great evening light.
Bearwallow Mountain, which is privately owned, is located in northeastern Henderson County, towering above the Hickory Nut Gorge, Chimney Rock, and Lake Lure areas. Straddling the Eastern Continental Divide, the mountain has been a popular destination for local hikers who knew about it for years. Now, thanks to a conservation easement on the land and a beautiful new trail leading to the top, it's been officially opened to the public for hiking. The Bearwallow Mountain trail traverses this ledge,which is covered in ferns in the growing season. The mountain rises to 4,232ft above sea level with a signature open pasture on its northwest slope, visible from miles away in Fairview and Buncombe County. The rocky, grassy summit, which you share with friendly grazing cattle during the summer, provides expansive views from the south to west to north. Mountains visible include Mount Mitchell, Mount Pisgah, and the Balsams. You can see much of rural Buncombe and Henderson Counties and the Asheville area as well. At the summit, dozens of communications towers have been constructed around the historic yellow NC Forest Service fire tower and house which was used to keep an eye out for forest blazes in years past (see the link above for a great story about the tower and its history). You can't climb the tower now, but as a child, I remember visiting the mountain and spending time at the top speaking with Mr. Curtis who staffed the tower and was eager to share his knowledge about his job with visitors. Public access to the mountain was secured with the help of the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy (which is primarily responsible for the conservation easement on the land), the Carolina Mountain Club, REI, and volunteers from the community. According to CLMC, 81 acres of land were protected in 2009, almost 500 acres of land are hoped to be protected in the future, and the trail will eventually become part of a much longer one connecting to the Florence Preserve and trails in the Hickory Nut Gorge and Chimney Rock State Park. (source: www.hikewnc.info/trailheads/bearwallow-mountain/)
I snuck a quick hike up to the top of Bearwallow to catch the sunset with Petey. We weren't disappointed.
A photography group was granted special access in Gorges State Park to see the wonderful Lower Bearwallow Falls. I was lucky enough to be invited to join them. The 1/4 - 1/3 mile "hike" was 80% butt sliding down a very steep slope. Getting down wasn't too bad but the climb up sure seemed vertical in several spots. Thank goodness for sturdy rhododendron branches and roots.
Kevin Adams rated this a 10 and it surely is gorgeous. We had a nice overcast day as well. Had a great day seeing a new beautiful waterfall and making some few friends too. Pretty good day in my book.
Thanks for viewing my photos.
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Copyright Reid Northrup, 2024. All Rights Reserved, Worldwide. Please don't use my photos in any way without my written permission.
I started my long weekend off by hiking the Auger Hole Trail from the Frozen Creek Access, Gorges State Park last Saturday morning. I had spoken with my buddy who lives in Rosman the day before, and he confirmed the river water level was about average, so that was a good sign. When I hiked the trail beginning at the "Auger Hole" of the trail (starting at about 3.25 miles in), I was amazed at the road construction Duke Energy had accomplished through and around the massive landslide from a year earlier. After hiking through the Auger Hole, I walked through the river and hiked further up the trail crossing Bearwallow Creek. At some key points along the way, I explored and made some notes of "how to" and "where to" safely access several of the more prolific waterfalls in the area off the trail (all requiring rope assisted descents). There are no official trail signs or trails in this section of the park, (with an exception of a few such as Wintergreen and the Lime Kilns). I walked back through the Toxaway River (I was happy for this accomplishment in and of itself) and hiked on up the trail to accomplish 10.78 miles of hiking on Saturday. It was a beautiful day out on the trail.
with Bearwallow Mountain in the distance. Hendersonville, NC
If you haven't tried Fluidr, it really showcases your photos on flickr nice and it is free.
An evening hike showed some beautiful misty conditions with clouds below the grazing cows and cumulous clouds above.
A foggy hike up to the top of Bearwallow Mountain. We have had an extremely wet summer this year. I am ready for a couple of days of no rain...only on in the 10 day forecast. I wish we could send some of this moisture to the folks out west battling the fires.
Hiked up to the top of Bearwallow Mountain for the first time in a while. Rime ice was covering the trees especially on the north face of the mountain. I love this tree but it ws especially stunning with the white crown of ice.