Twenty-seven TrailBlazers were pleased to welcome several newcomers and/or first timers to hike to three waterfalls located in the same general area.  The weather was bright, sunny and quite warm, or downright hot in the opinion of Yours Truly!  The greenery along the drive was just a forerunner of what we would see on the trails.

 

 

First we drove east on Highway 16/21 to Glory Hole, following Tim Ernst’s instructions, until we saw the red barn with “E” on it on the left side of the road that heralded the fact that the trailhead was only a short distance farther on the right.  Gotta love that barn!  Before the hike, Becky warned us that someone had recently taken a bad fall down the hole to the rocks below, so she urged us to err on the side of caution.

 

This is only a two mile round trip hike with the only problem being that we trek down to our destination and then huff and puff back up to get back to our vehicles!  Glory Hole is truly unique.  We arrived at the round hole perfectly drilled through the rocks by centuries of running water.  After climbing down to the canyon and open cave underneath, we saw the water, now a waterfall, pouring down into the cave.  The creek did not have as much water as usual, so the falls were not as full as we have seen them on some occasions.

 Nevertheless, this is a spectacular place with lots of photo ops and chances to explore while watching our feet because of the rocky trail with some slippery, muddy spots. The whole canyon is truly an unusual geological formation.  It was pretty warm hiking back out and fortunately one of our hiking regulars was able to furnish a newcomer with a short sleeve T-shirt to make her more comfortable for our next hike.  On the upward trek some of us saw a yellow ribbon snake lunching on a little critter in the leaves along the trail.

 After a short drive, we were on our way to our second 2-mile round trip hike that was a gentler downhill than the first hike.  By this time the troops were hungry, so we moved along knowing that when we reached Magnolia Falls we were going to eat lunch with a view.  Some trekked up to eat on the ledge along the side of the falls and others sat on rocks at the base of the falls with a head-on view of the falls.  One of our newcomers slid on a slippery rock into the shallow creek and got a little cool down but she laughed it off as all part of the adventure.  It was downright hot at this point so the water probably felt refreshing.

 Again, water was less abundant in the falls than on some occasions but the area is beautiful with wildflowers, a pretty creek and a short trek to Woods Boys Falls that were hard to see due to all the spring foliage.  We were, however, treated to some magnolias in bloom, some past their prime and others waiting to bloom.  The trek back was a little uphill but not as steep as our previous hike – there is method to our madness in the way we plan things!

 Great day for hiking!  Newcomers, y’all come back!

 

Click on any pic below to enlarge and start the slideshow.

 

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