What the Heck are Dry Waterfalls?

 

Blairsville, Georgia (high 75, low 63)

 

We got up yesterday with no particular plans. Al has been having a lot of pain in both of his shoulders, so we’ve been playing it by ear.  Of course, we always pretty much play it by ear anyway, making very few advance plans.  That’s one of the biggest advantages of retirement, I think.

Al  has already had three rotator cuff surgeries, two in the right, and one in the left.  He has to be really careful, but somehow he has re-injured both of them. He’s been a little better, and we’re hoping he won’t need another surgery.

After some coffee and computer time, we headed out thinking we’d go have some breakfast, but as usual with us, we ended up on “plan b.”

We had heard that the town of Highlands, North Carolina was an interesting town, with a lot of millionaires and beautiful houses, so we headed that direction, stopping along the way at any interesting looking shops that we found.

We stopped at a shop that sells hand painted gourds, and a lot of other stuff.  Al found a big logging saw blade that he wanted. He plans to have someone paint a some sort of mountain scene on it.

This is one I found on the internet.  This is not the scene we would chose, but you get the idea.  It will go on the front of the cabin.

We were a little surprised when we got out of the truck and found the temperature only 59 degrees….at noon. Burrrr   It was 10 degrees cooler up there than back in Blairsville.  Guess we should have gone there during the summer.

Once the sun came out, it warmed up, but not too much, and it was a wonderful day for exploring.

 

We remembered a really good restaurant in Dillard, GA called the Cupboard Cafe, so that was the next stop.  Our meals were as delicious as we had remembered.  It’s a good thing it isn’t any closer than it is.

After lunch, we stopped at one of the local farms for some fresh produce. 

Osage Farms have great produce, but it is very popular and crowded on a Saturday.  Our goal was for some fresh okra, but when we got there, the huge okra bin was almost empty.  :( 

As we strolled around, we noticed a lady coming in from the field with a big batch of fresh picked okra.   :)  We weren’t the only ones waiting on the okra.

They grow much of the produce right in the fields behind the shop.  There were acres and acres of tomatoes. It was obviously a working farm.

We headed over to highway 64 which leads to Highlands, NC, and crossed the GA/NC border.

Highway 64 is a twisty, sometimes narrow mountain road, with warning signs for truckers.

The motorcyclists loved it.  Us, not so much.   :)

There were some points where there was a very sheer drop off on the passenger side.   You could hear the rushing water as you drove by. 

At one point we passed by what we later found out was Cullasaja Falls. We missed the pull off so only got a glance as we drove by.

from the web

Cullasaja Falls

“Cullasaja Falls is a series of astounding waterfalls on the Cullasaja River and can only be seen from the road (Hwy 64) that runs between Highlands and Franklin, NC. The pull off is very narrow and is extremely dangerous because of cars driving by. Use extreme caution when getting out viewing this spectacular roadside attraction. Cullasaja Falls have been featured in numerous books and photographs and is worth the stop.
Directions: From down town Highlands, go west on Hwy 64 toward Franklin. Go approximately five miles and the pull-off is on the left. The road is very narrow. There is a rock wall and no place to pull off on the opposite side of the viewing spot. So you may have to go down further to turn around and come back up to safely park on the pull off.”

Highway 64 between Highlands and Franklin North Carolina is very scenic.

We followed the river all along the way, and occasionally there would be a place to get a view of the Cullasaja River and a few small waterfalls.

 

It was definitely not a road for our motorhome!

 

The trees are starting to change colors.  We’re hoping for a more spectacular “leaf peeping” event than last year, which wasn’t great due to too much rain.

This sign caught my eye.  Jackson Hole?   It was a gem mine.  We didn’t stop, even though we LOVE gem mines!

And since the first gold rush was in nearby Dahlonega, Georgia, it didn’t surprise me to find the Gold Mine Baptist church.

 

We could hear rushing water as the road followed the river. Sometimes it became pretty loud.

Soon, we saw a pull off with a sign saying we were at “Dry Falls.”

We were in the Nantahala National Forest.

We could hear the sound of tremendous rushing waters.  Dry Falls?   What could that mean?  

There is a nice parking area and steps down to the falls. 

Our first glimpse.  It looked wet to me. 

The rushing water sounds got louder and louder.

Soon it became apparent why it was named Dry Falls.

You can walk behind the falls and stay relatively dry.

It was not entirely dry though, and it was a good thing I brought a bag for my camera when I went directly behind the waterfall.

 

The waterfall is 75 foot tall and there is a LOT of rushing water.

There were way too many people, which is to be expected when you go on a Saturday.  We normally don’t do things like this on a week-end, but since this was a spur of the moment thing, we had to deal with the crowds.

 

 
I don’t know where all that water went, because this innocent looking stream is what we saw looking downstream from the falls.

Back up the stairs, and one last look at this beautiful waterfall.

After leaving the falls, we headed towards the town of Highlands.  There were some really nice houses and a few hidden golf country club type places, but nothing much we could see from the road.

On the way home, we stopped at a few scenic overlooks.

This was Blue Valley Overlook.  Pretty, isn’t it?

We stopped at a few others overlooks, and they were all pretty.

More signs of the upcoming fall foliage change.

and more pretty scenery.

We were tired by the time we got home, especially considering we had only planned to go for breakfast.   We must have put well over 200 miles on the truck, but we had a fun day.

 

We’re going to be lazy today, or maybe do some work around the lot…maybe a combination of both.

Here is Al’s new saw blade.  He has been wanting one for a long time.

Here are my fall decorations and flowers.