Wilson Creek Swimmin'!

One of the main reasons we went back to Mortimer was to go swimming in Wilson Creek. I had scoped out the swimming hole for us on my previous trip, so we woke up early on Saturday and staked out our spot after breakfast.

The water was cool, but not frigid like the swimming holes I've used in Panthertown Valley and in the streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Those tend to be very cold--probably around 50 to 55 degrees. But Wilson Creek has water that's closer to 73 to 75 degrees, I'd say. It's cool when you first jump in, but you get used to it pretty quickly. Not so those other places.

After several years of extreme drought, it's nice to see our mountain creeks up to full flow. I was especially impressed at the depth of some of the swimming holes in Wilson Creek. There are many, many places where you can jump and dive off of cliff faces and huge boulders into the pools. One of the pools where I went swimming had spots about ten to twelve feet in depth.

One could safely jump from this boulder into the creek.

We generally had a great time at the creek, even though the crowds got a bit thick later in the afternoon. But that was when we packed up and headed back to camp and I also got a hike in later in the day. The only bad thing that happened was that I tripped over a bush while getting some photographs and later discovered that it was poison oak--which I only realized when the rash and blisters formed on my foot and ankle where the leaves had rubbed my skin. Oy!

One guy hitting the pool while another waits to leap in.
(The water was about ten feet deep there.)

Carole sitting in the swimmin' hole waiting for me. This is when we had the sloping granite rock and the pool mostly to ourselves early in the day.

This was the best of the jumpin' off rocks. It was while getting this shot that I got the poison oak on my foot. Still suffering from that as I write this post. Alas!

More on Midnight Hole

Midnight Hole: the best swimming hole on Earth.

I've been swimming at Midnight Hole three times. It's located on Big Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Access is pretty easy. At the Big Creek Ranger Station you take the Big Creek Trail and follow it for about 1.4 miles to Midnight Hole. (If you want to see a nice waterfall, continue up the trail for .7 more miles to Mouse Creek Falls.) I've visited it four times, but on the last trip, in April of 2006, it was too chilly to go swimming. But the water was the highest I'd ever seen it there.

One thing to keep in mind is that the water is EXTREMELY cold at Midnight Hole. The kind of water that makes your bones ache. You never really get used to it, no matter how long you swim there. But it's such a great place to swim that the experience is worth the plunge into that chilling water. Another nice feature is that the water is deep enough so that you can leap off of the surrounding boulders without fear of hitting any unseen obstructions beneath the water. But of course the water is crystal clear--the clarity and purity of it is stunning.

Panoramic shot of Midnight Hole

Closeup shot of the short waterfall into the plunge pool.

The last time I was there, a kayaker came over the falls.

It's a nice little drop to the pool.

He quickly steered toward the shore.

His significant other was waiting there to talk to him.

I keep telling myself I'm going to go back when the weather's hot and I can go swimming there, but each year passes and I find that I've robbed myself of the experience yet again. Now it's mid-September and I doubt the mountains will see any more days warm enough to go splashing about in Midnight Hole. Maybe I can head over that way in 2009. We'll see.

I Gotta Get Out of This Place!

Four more days of work to go before I can head off into the high country. Yeah, I'm gettin' really agitated to get the hell out of Dodge. (Dodge bein' Charlotte, North Carolina.)

I can only take so much of the urban landscape before I can't stands no more. It's reached that point. If I can just make it through the work week, then it's off for five days of camping and hiking and relaxing in the high country.

Until then, I've been gazing at old waterfall photos from past trips.

Along the Virginia Creeper Trail. That's Cindi Aiken and her daughter, Emily beside the falls. Roy and their son, James are in the vegetation higher up.

Emily Aiken at Backbone Rock Falls.

Me, at Backbone Rock Falls, in Tennessee, but very close to Damascus, Virginia . This is pretty much my all-time favorite waterfall.

This waterfall is beside the highway near Beartree Recreation Area near Damascus Virginia. It has a name, but I've forgotten it.

Mouse Creek Falls in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Midnight Hole, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This is my all-time favorite swimming hole. There's not a better place to go swimming in a mountain stream.