White Owl Falls, Lake Toxaway

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
2/22/2023	0.6 miles	41 minutes	128'	1.1 mph	97.1

Parking: 

• See book

Map:

• Gai Gps

Directions:

• See North Carolina Waterfalls by Kevin Adams

Carolina Mountain Club Challenges

• 100 Waterfalls Challenge, White Owl Falls

After Krumm's herding lesson, we headed towards Lake Toxaway to do a couple of short waterfall hikes. The first was White Owl Falls. There is parking on a pull off on the side of the road. The book gave instructions on how to find the start of the hike. I didn't read them closely enough maybe. I went to the end of the guard rail and found a herd path. I followed Krumm who kept leading me down. Well, this wasn't the right herd path to the waterfall. It was wicked steep. It goes down to the river, but then veers away from the falls. So, I started bushwhacking back towards the falls. Ack. It was not a fun bushwhack, walking on the side of a slippery steep hill. Glen followed the Gaia track more closely and got back on the correct herd path much sooner than us. The correct herd path is flagged with tape. So, if you don't see tape, you're probably in the wrong place. The CMC challenge lists this hike as easy. Maybe it would have been, if I had hiked the right route :)  The waterfall was a good one for dog swimming, so we stopped and took a break and threw sticks for Krumm. 

I started my hike to the right of this guard rail across the street from the parking area.
An easier route is further to the right, in the middle of the next guard rail.

This is what the tape looks like that flags the easier herd path.