Meadow Grounds waterfalls
Jul 18, 2015 21:59:59 GMT -5
Post by AegisIII on Jul 18, 2015 21:59:59 GMT -5
Photos
A couple of months ago, I decided to revisit the Meadow Grounds and Roaring Run Falls. The goal was to do an out-and-back of the entire Jarrett Trail, from the north end of the lake bed all the way to the falls.
I started at a small parking turnaround at the end of a gamelands road. The trail starts off as a gates gamelands access road and soon crosses Roaring Run on a bridge, here a gentle creek. The road is grassy and had plenty of wildflowers. It passes through a set of meadows, soon turning south above the lakebed, with occasional views of it. I saw no blazes in this section, but the going is mostly straightforward. The road soon entered the woods, narrowing and faded red/orange blazes appeared.
Soon, as the woods road descended to the lakebed, a trail headed off to the right, with the same faded blazes. Above the lakeside, the trail wound its way south, dipping to cross multiple small feeder streams. Some pine plantations along the way, some wildflowers. One old woods road to cross, and the trail gets more open and grassier further south. On my way back, instead of taking this trail, I took a red dirt temporary trail heading through the lakebed. Mostly dry and windy, there were some wet and soft areas along the way, especially by a new small retention pond. As the trail ended, I decided to just bushwahck back out of the lakebed and find the trail for the rest of the way back.
The trail led me to a clearing by the lake spillway, where it continued, staying on the west side of Roaring Run. I stopped for a break at a couple of old woods benches. The creek here was flat and close to elevation to the trail and benches; maybe a beaver dam downstream. After a climb and drop, I reached the pipeline crossing, where I found out that the creek culvert must have become clogged, as that is what had formed the temporary pond behind. I didn't really want to do a wet stream crossing here (as I had planned a dry one here) so I continued on the trail on the west side of the creek, until I reached the rock hop slightly more downstream. On the way back, I didn't trust the rock hop going the other way, so I continued on the east side to the pipeline. There I headed on a gamelands access road taking me to the dam. I crossed the dam, and instead of continuing to the spillway, headed down a temporary red dirt trail/road through the lakebed.
Below the first crossing, I followed the trail as it wound its way along the creek; sometimes next to it, sometimes above. Sometimes an old woods road, often singletrack of varying narrowness. Blowdowns had been recently taken care of. Trimming of young growth could be used. Creek crossings were dry with some effort. Passed the usual cascades and rapids along the way. Took the same way back.
At the falls, I took views both from the upper outcrop and from the rocks below. A good spot for lunch. Took some photos, but a break in the canopy prevented long-exposure shots. There was plentiful deadfall in the pool below the waterfall, complicating the shots.
Next up was the main reason for the hike. I had last hiked to the falls about two years ago as the lake was being drained. Afterwards, I decided I needed a better approximation of where the trail was, as I had found no acceptable GPS track of it (still haven't). Evergreen cover meant aerial photos were not useful. So I downloaded the LIDAR data from both the USGS and PAMAP to look at the area, at 2-foot contour intervals. Looking along the creek, I could narrow down the location of the falls to two spots. Considering the locations of the ledges, I figured out the location. But then there's that issue of the second possibility. Certainly looked like there was a waterfall there. Was there in reality? One way to find out. Shouldn't be too difficult; it's only about 500 feet downstream from the known falls.
So, I continued downstream from the main falls. Pretty much a bushwhack. Through boulders, then down a large rock and crossed the creek. I then followed what appeared to be a faint game path, passing a box turtle. Just past, I was at the top of the lower falls. Two parts with an "island" in the middle. I scrambled my way down the surrounding rim to get some better shots. (On the way back, I noticed very faded blazes, showing that at one time the trail made it to the lower falls, since generally forgotten.) I will have to explore the area further. I'm especially curious of an apparent "Narrows" feature slightly more downstream.
A couple of months ago, I decided to revisit the Meadow Grounds and Roaring Run Falls. The goal was to do an out-and-back of the entire Jarrett Trail, from the north end of the lake bed all the way to the falls.
I started at a small parking turnaround at the end of a gamelands road. The trail starts off as a gates gamelands access road and soon crosses Roaring Run on a bridge, here a gentle creek. The road is grassy and had plenty of wildflowers. It passes through a set of meadows, soon turning south above the lakebed, with occasional views of it. I saw no blazes in this section, but the going is mostly straightforward. The road soon entered the woods, narrowing and faded red/orange blazes appeared.
Soon, as the woods road descended to the lakebed, a trail headed off to the right, with the same faded blazes. Above the lakeside, the trail wound its way south, dipping to cross multiple small feeder streams. Some pine plantations along the way, some wildflowers. One old woods road to cross, and the trail gets more open and grassier further south. On my way back, instead of taking this trail, I took a red dirt temporary trail heading through the lakebed. Mostly dry and windy, there were some wet and soft areas along the way, especially by a new small retention pond. As the trail ended, I decided to just bushwahck back out of the lakebed and find the trail for the rest of the way back.
The trail led me to a clearing by the lake spillway, where it continued, staying on the west side of Roaring Run. I stopped for a break at a couple of old woods benches. The creek here was flat and close to elevation to the trail and benches; maybe a beaver dam downstream. After a climb and drop, I reached the pipeline crossing, where I found out that the creek culvert must have become clogged, as that is what had formed the temporary pond behind. I didn't really want to do a wet stream crossing here (as I had planned a dry one here) so I continued on the trail on the west side of the creek, until I reached the rock hop slightly more downstream. On the way back, I didn't trust the rock hop going the other way, so I continued on the east side to the pipeline. There I headed on a gamelands access road taking me to the dam. I crossed the dam, and instead of continuing to the spillway, headed down a temporary red dirt trail/road through the lakebed.
Below the first crossing, I followed the trail as it wound its way along the creek; sometimes next to it, sometimes above. Sometimes an old woods road, often singletrack of varying narrowness. Blowdowns had been recently taken care of. Trimming of young growth could be used. Creek crossings were dry with some effort. Passed the usual cascades and rapids along the way. Took the same way back.
At the falls, I took views both from the upper outcrop and from the rocks below. A good spot for lunch. Took some photos, but a break in the canopy prevented long-exposure shots. There was plentiful deadfall in the pool below the waterfall, complicating the shots.
Next up was the main reason for the hike. I had last hiked to the falls about two years ago as the lake was being drained. Afterwards, I decided I needed a better approximation of where the trail was, as I had found no acceptable GPS track of it (still haven't). Evergreen cover meant aerial photos were not useful. So I downloaded the LIDAR data from both the USGS and PAMAP to look at the area, at 2-foot contour intervals. Looking along the creek, I could narrow down the location of the falls to two spots. Considering the locations of the ledges, I figured out the location. But then there's that issue of the second possibility. Certainly looked like there was a waterfall there. Was there in reality? One way to find out. Shouldn't be too difficult; it's only about 500 feet downstream from the known falls.
So, I continued downstream from the main falls. Pretty much a bushwhack. Through boulders, then down a large rock and crossed the creek. I then followed what appeared to be a faint game path, passing a box turtle. Just past, I was at the top of the lower falls. Two parts with an "island" in the middle. I scrambled my way down the surrounding rim to get some better shots. (On the way back, I noticed very faded blazes, showing that at one time the trail made it to the lower falls, since generally forgotten.) I will have to explore the area further. I'm especially curious of an apparent "Narrows" feature slightly more downstream.
