Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Shope Creek Trailhead Short Loop 1, Asheville, NC


Date Distance Time Elevation Gain Average Moving Time Year to Date Miles
6/22/2021 2.9 miles 1 hour 44 minutes 698' 1.8 mph 123.8

Map: Gaia
 
Parking: 
  • 35.65466, -82.44064 
  • End of Shope Creek Road, Asheville, NC. 
  • The end of the drive is on a dirt road with potholes. The road goes over a shallow stream.
  • Parking for around 10 cars.

Route: Google Maps

For information on trails from the Shope Creek trailhead:
  • https://www.hikewnc.info/trailheads/shope-creek/
  • Gaia GPS

This park is very close to our new house, so will be perfect for after work hikes. There are several trails, so many different loops can be formed. I read up on the area before our first trip. The trails are not marked. There are a couple official trails, and many unofficial trails. Bringing a map is a must (as it is on every hike, but even more so on this one, since the trails are not blazed).

The main Shope Creek trail starts beyond the gate

 

We turned right after passing the gate and came to this stream. And promptly lost the trail. After studying the map we realized where it went. Krummholz loves streams, so he was happy for this detour.

We returned to the main Shope Creek trail. It's a gravel path with a gradual climb. There are many side trails off this main trail.

The trail splits, with the end of the Shope Creek trail being the less obvious trail to the left. It brings you to a small clearing. Past the end of the trail (as marked in Gaia), we saw the trail continue into the woods, but we turned back.

Heading to the clearing.
Which has patches of flowers.
There are several of these shrubs in bloom along the trails.
Image of where the Shope Trail ends, but the trail continues into the woods.
We returned to the intersection where the Shope Creek trail splits off to the left, and then headed north to the next trail intersection. At this point we turned around. We headed south, and then turned right onto a trail to the west of the Shope Creek trail. This was an easy, pretty trail with nice footing

We passed a trail junction that leads back to the Shope trail.

And continued to the end of this trail.

We turned right to head to Casita falls. The trail gets very muddy in this section. There are a lot of side trails where people have gone to get around the mud. We just got muddy.

The trail became steeply banked, and we slowed down in order to be careful with our footing on the wet ground. We went past where Gaia showed the falls. Yet we didn't see much. I read about the falls online, and it sounded like maybe we had to go even further to see something? I tried to take a photo of what we saw....yes there was running water, but I wouldn't call it a waterfall. I'm guessing we just didn't climb up enough. We did see a very narrow trail which continued to steeply climb, but we didn't continue up it.

We turned around and headed straight, following the trail back to the trailhead.



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