Monday, June 11, 2012

Land of Waterfalls


Our tour began with Abbey Falls . . .  on the site of a failed development.

There was lots of Galax in the woods -- its shiny green leaves make long-lasting decorations and mountain folks often gathered it to sell to florists.

On the same site was the more impressive Boren Mill Shoals Falls  . . .

I wonder if Boren is a corruption of boring -- 
there used to be water-driven boring mills for cleaning out rifle barrels. 

The wildflower below is Goats Beard.
 

Next came Estatoe Falls. The word estatoe turns up often in this area.
 It's  the Cherokee name for the extinct Carolina parakeet.

The tree below made me think of Tolkien's Ents.

Below is Twin Falls -- the one on the right is somewhat obscured by greenery.
This is located in South Carolina in the Estatoe Valley.

There was a viewing platform here. . .

An unknown fungus -- if you know what it is, please tell me.
Mamabug tells me it's Yellow Coral Fungus -- makes sense! 

A house and an old mill overlook what may have been my favorite stop...

Below is Mill Shoals Fall . . .

And just to the left of Mill Shoals Fall is French Broad Falls . . .

Two rivers converge here -- it's pretty spectacular.
 
Fire Pinks were blooming on the roadsides. . .

And Flame Azalea lit up the woods. . .

 The last stop was Woods Cove Falls
 So much beauty. . .
 Everywhere.
Below is our intrepid guide, Craig Miller of Miller's Land of Waterfalls Tours. 
Craig was knowledgeable and charming -- 
if you visit the area, I highly recommend this tour. 
Posted by Picasa

21 comments:

Thérèse said...

No idea about the fungus (and I don't want to know... :-)
I wish we could find the Galax leaves around here though,
Impressive falls!!! A lot of people must be pretty glad the development failed...

Ms. A said...

Great, great, great photo opportunities and I'm glad you shared them with those less fortunate... me!

Martin said...

Beautiful, and reminiscent of some falls I've visited in Wales and the Lake District.

Susan M. Bell said...

I hope someone can tell you what that fungus is. I have pictures of the same stuff I took last year and have always wondered.

Kath said...

Love waterfalls! What a wonderful tour.

Pat in east TN said...

What a fabulous day you must have had! The pictures are amazing!

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

A waterfall tour - what a fabulous. That tree near Estatoe Falls is spooky.
Sam

Brian Miller said...

oh wow what a trip...love the waterfalls and could almost hear them...

June said...

I love the little bit of info about "estatoe." Words! Words!
Without your help I might have thought an estatoe was the rich relative of the potato.

I am inordinately proud of that.

Jean Baardsen said...

Beautiful pictures! It's fun to explore something different once in a while.

Vicki Lane said...

The whole tour lasted about five hours -- driving time between waterfalls was brief.

June, June -- I'd be proud of that one too!

Alan Burnett said...

Lovely, I can almost hear the sound of the water cascading down the falls.

Wayfarin' Stranger said...

What is it about waterfalls that so completely draws us in? I've never seen a falls I didn't like.

Beth said...

Lovely photos, Vicki! You've had some wondrous wanderings, I see. Thank you for sharing them.

I love Ents.

Mel said...

What a great tour! I love the waterfalls in the Carolinas. We did a self guided waterfall tour in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, equally stunning. Your photos are wonderful. I don't know the name of the fungus, but I know if you posted it to project noah, some mushroom fan would ID it in minutes!

NCmountainwoman said...

Yea! Now I have yet another place to visit. Great waterfalls. Definitely on my list.

katy gilmore said...

Oh what lovely photos! And I wonder if the salal of the Northwest is a little like your Gala - salal also evergreen and collected for florists.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Fabulous waterfalls, and that tree trunk is very unique. I've never seen anything quite like it. It does resemble an Ent.

Vagabonde said...

I love your post For the Pun of it – so clever – you are great with words. I love words you know – I always have a piece of paper with me where I write down words that I like – I collect them, just like I collect postcards. The problem is that I can rarely use them in my posts as I am not that good at remembering them for the right sentence. I am pleased that you and your husband found your field of daisies and were able to move there and make a living. It is not that easy to go and live in an ideal place and survive.

I love waterfalls – yours are very pretty – somewhere in one of the Carolinas I imagine?
Just read the following post – magnificent waterfalls. So much power in the mist of these waters. What a wonderful tour.

Christine said...

Love all those beautiful waterfalls! Vicki the yellow unknown is called Yellow Coral Fungus. I love lichens and fungus; I found a really cool one last month in the smokies called orange slime.

Miss_Yves said...

Great photos of a spectacular landscape!
I love your comment "The tree below made me think of Tolkien's Ents."