This is our final hike and post of our fabulous Fall and water fall trip to Sapphire, NC! The waterfalls were what caught Bill’s attention, this is a place to hike with lots of great rewards. Our last post, contained two hikes in the Gorges State Park. Our first post contained the best waterfalls we could find in this area. So this one was a bit more about challenges, some waterfalls but the view was the best of all our hikes. We didn’t know that when we selected it – which is our usual method. What we do know is that you can’t drive anywhere with out seeing beauty in this area!

It was a beautiful day for a drive up the mountain, which was something Bill struggled to enjoy! The first time we came to this area, we camped in Sylva, which is in the upper left of the above map. It was our 31st campground called Moonshine Creek Campground and located at 2486 Dark Ridge Rd, Sylvia, NC 28779. We found it using Passport America so it was a bargain. I’m sad as I realized I never wrote a blog post but here was what we wrote about it in our year end summary as FULL timers: “This was an interesting campground. Pretty basic but it did have nearly everything you need. The laundry mat was small. There was a railroad track right beside us, but it only ran twice a day. The views and adventures were excellent here. I need to write a blog post.” I can’t recall our hikes at all. So I must press on and finish this one as I have a habit of late of not documenting our adventures!

As we said in our first post about this area, we came to hike and see waterfalls! We continue to use All Trails App to help us so we selected “Salt Rock Gap” as an area to explore. It was about 15 minutes away as the crow flies, but it took nearly 30 minutes to get to the trail head. And it was a beautiful drive there! Here is a slide show with captions to show some information about this hike:

We were unable to determine the name of the first waterfall. It was before our near “waterloo.” The name of this hike was “Granny Burrell, Frolictown, and Wilderness Falls via Panthertown Trail.” We found and I could identify the Frolictown Falls. But we found a waterfall early on that Bill called the Slide Waterfalls. We always like to leave something on the table to return one day. This is a hike that was great but yet we don’t think we actually completed it. I am not sure we would return to figure out how to complete it.

Here are three short videos to help explain the beauty and fun we encountered. Turn up the volume to hear me explain:

While we may not attempt to hike on this particular trail again, we are going to return to this area. We have friends who bought a mountain cabin around here. While I said I would love to own a place here, it would have to be a condo with all the amenities we have in Myrtle Beach! I hope just visiting it twice a year will satisfy my need to hike!

I’m delayed in writing this blog post. Subsequently, I can’t remember all the details. This past Saturday, November 19, I was into my Bible study on the Book of Revelations in Chapter 4. This chapter gives us a sneak peek into Heaven. In our study it referred us to Psalm 104, to read: “O Lord my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment….” Psalm 104:1-2a I had to read on and that was when I knew I had to finish this blog post! The Psalmist, assumed to be King David, continues with more of God’s creation:

He sends the springs into the valleys;
They flow among the hills.
¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² By them the birds of the heavens have their home;
They sing among the branches.
¹³ He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.

Psalm 104:10-13 NKJV