DuPont State Forest - July 14

With the kids away at Camp Grandma for a few days, we decided to take a day trip to Dupont State Forest to see a few water falls. We set out early in the morning to try and beat the crowds, no kids in tow. Our first stop was at the parking lot for Hooker, Triple, and High Falls. The parking lot was not well marked and is on the right side of the road if heading in from Hendersonville. We drove past it once and had to turn around.

Once on the trail, we hike towards Triple Falls, which was very pretty. There were access points to the lower parts of the falls, but they were not easily accessible and we missed them on our way up the trail. So, we decided not to back track and to continue up the moderate trail towards High Falls.

High Falls was a lot of fun. The fall was huge and there was a place on the left side where you could slide in and swim. There was also a lot of areas to climb over rocks. It would be a good spot to bring kids to. The total trail for these two falls was about 2.5 miles.

After this, we hiked back to the parking lot and towards Hooker Falls, which was the opposite way of the other two. The trail was 0.7 miles and all downhill to get there. The fall was short but wide with a large area to swim under the fall. We went on a Thursday so there were not a lot of people there, but I believe it gets crowded on the weekends. The hike back up to the car was not long but was straight up hill!

Since it was just the two of us, we made good time and were off to see Bridal Veil Falls just before lunch. This required us to drive to another trail head a few miles away. The hike here was tougher, covering 5 miles total. There were some unexpected finds on the way there, such as an airstrip and an old horse barn. These were left over from a summer camp that ran in the 1960s-70s.

The picture below doesn't do the falls justice. There was a wide area to get in the water, sit and watch the falls. We probably spent the most time at these falls as there was almost no one else around. The hike back however, was pretty strenuous with 600 ft of elevation gain, mostly on one lonnng hill!

We noticed several mountain bikers at the second stop, which would be interesting. Overall it would be cool, but there were some long hills and we saw many folks pushing bikes back up. They looked like they were all rented from a local place.

Also, we learned that a State Forest is not the same as a State Park. There were far fewer facilities and amenities here. I am sure you can camp but there were not as many drive-in camp sites that we saw. The tails were well maintained though. Many trails at the second stop were driveable. I believe they are handicap accessible if you request a permit ahead of time. We had a lot of questions about the forest and why it was named after DuPont. It's an interesting story and involves the NC Government getting taken to the cleaners.

We left the park and drove south west looking for a vista to see. None was found, but we did go to Brevard which was nice. On the way back we attempted to stop at the famous Red Bridges BBQ in Shelby, but they were closed :(. We had nice weather and it was a great day to get out on a date! We would definitely go back with the kids or for a camp out.

Triple Falls