Buffalo Creek Park is the gateway to 1,500 acres of land conserved by the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy on Weed Patch Mountain that protects the northern headwaters of Lake Lure in Hickory Nut Gorge. The town of Lake Lure has since purchased 200 acres for the creation of Buffalo Creek Park and a network of hiking and mountain biking trails. When fully developed, it will offer more than 10 miles of intermediate to advanced trails and picnic facilities along Buffalo Creek and on to the conservation easement. The new multi-purpose trail has three sections: The Head, the Heart and the Tail (HHT). After a brief warmup, it’s up the hill you go, eventually gaining roughly 500 feet of elevation. There is then a smooth traverse in the middle section that takes you through a large boulder field. Finish with a fast, flowing descent on banked switchbacks. I hiked the Buffalo Creek Loop on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 between 10:30AM and 12:45PM. My plan was simply to check out this new trail.

First opened in Spring 2014, Buffalo Creek Park is the latest addition to the ever-growing trail system in Hickory Nut Gorge. Soon, it will be extended by 7-10 miles through rugged backcountry to state park property at Eagle Rock near Shumont Mountain, ascending another 2,000 feet to reach high ridge lines and scenic viewpoints. This planned trail will eventually connect with Chimney Rock State Park on the north side of Rumbling Bald Mountain, itself a popular hiking, climbing, and mountain biking destination. A bike-accessible circuit of the entire northern valley is in the master plan, along with an extended thru-hiking experience that will circumnavigate Lake Lure in a 30-40 mile trail that summits several surrounding peaks.

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Well, you will have to be patient. All that will take lots of time and money. You can do your part to help by joining, or donating to local land conservancies, and by becoming a trail maintenance volunteer. A good place to start is this overview of North Carolina land trusts, and this map to help you find one near you. If you love the outdoors, participating in conservation efforts can be quite rewarding.

I’ve been to the Buffalo Creek area many times before. Golf is my 2nd hobby, and there are two marvelous courses here called Apple Valley and Bald Mountain. You pass them on the way to the trailhead. Upon arrival at Buffalo Creek Park, you will see two large sign boards, one with a map of the park, and the other with various rules and regulations. There is enough parking for half a dozen vehicles. The trail starts out in a southerly direction, following Buffalo Creek.

Soon, it crosses the creek on a very well made foot bridge and approaches a trail junction. That’s the photo at the top of this post. If you continue straight ahead, there is a nice picnic area along the creek, and an alternate access to the park for the residents of the Rumbling Bald resort community. To the right, and up the hill, is the trail for this hike. There are more wooden plank foot bridges over mountain streams, and then the trail comes to a fork where the actual loop begins.

Something unique here that I really like — for the safety of hikers and bikers — they alternate the direction that you proceed around the loop. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday mountain bikers will go left and pedestrians will go right (counter-clockwise), and on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday, pedestrians will go left (clockwise) and mountain bikers will go right. This is to prevent downhill bikers from overtaking slower hikers in the same direction creating a hazardous condition.

Hikers and mountain bikers always proceed in opposite directions so they can see each other on approach. Alternating days of the week, the direction reverses. This is a thoughtful safety feature of Buffalo Creek Park.

No matter the direction, the loop zigzags like a tangle of ribbon up the mountainside. While it ascends fairly steep terrain, the abundance of switchbacks enables a constant moderate grade. When you are on the trail, it becomes pretty obvious that it was designed for mountain biking. Many of the switchbacks are banked for bikers, and you will notice several rollers — man-made bumps for jumping. Still, there is not a thing wrong with walking.

I was fortunate to take my first pass around the loop with all the leaves down, enabling me to see the surrounding terrain. There are several nice views of the cliffs on Youngs Mountains across the valley to the east. I imagined myself here in October amidst the Autumn brilliance. With the oak and hickory especially, I suspect this is a gorgeous trail. This also seems to be prime wildflower territory for Spring hiking. Speaking of hickory, I could certainly see how the gorge got its name. There were literally thousands of hickory nuts scattered all up and down the trail, at least in late November when I was there. Watch your step, or you’ll be roller-skating.

Upon approaching the crest you enter the “Heart” section of the trail, fairly level and through a large boulder field. Some of the outcrops are as big as your house. Keep your eyes peeled for the rare Green Salamander that likes to wiggle in, out, and around cracks in the large rock. You may also see rock climbers who love to come to Hickory Nut Gorge for the various challenges. At the highest point, you’ll finally be able to catch a glimpse of Lake Lure itself through the trees… quite picturesque.

Downhill is more of the same dense forest with lots and lots of switchbacks. I noticed some switch cane along the trail, usually more common down in South Carolina, but this area is very near the state line after all. Be wary too of the rolling hickory nuts, especially downhill. Actually, as many as there were, I’m kinda glad I wasn’t there a few weeks earlier when they were falling out of the trees. Might have needed a hard hat.

If you are curious about the plans for Buffalo Creek Park, and beyond, check out the frequently asked questions on the Town of Lake Lure website. Dirt is moving for expansion even as you read this. The loop will eventually reach 5 miles. Then the trail will head west for an additional 5-7 miles to connect with state park property at Eagle Rock near Shumont Mountain. The town anticipates possibly adding some back country camping amenities to this leg. The map below is the GPS track I recorded during my hike clockwise around the loop. Enjoy the photo gallery below the map.

This post was created by Jeff Clark. Please feel free to use the sharing icons below, or add your thoughts to the comments. Pack it in, pack it out. Preserve the past. Respect other hikers. Let nature prevail. Leave no trace.

Chimney Rock State Park is one of the newest in North Carolina. The state acquired the land from private ownership in 2007, and the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy continues to obtain additional parcels in the Hickory Nut Gorge to eventually expand the state park. The Rumbling Bald section of the park is separate from the more famous namesake, Chimney Rock. Because this park is new and still in the planning stage, trails are primitive, unnamed, and exciting. Maps are limited. The N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation will eventually develop other areas of the state park with more traditional park facilities and recreation. The beauty of Hickory Nut Gorge rivals anything else in western North Carolina with spectacular views, excellent rock climbing, a 404 foot waterfall, and scenic Lake Lure. The lake, created in the 1920’s by the damming of the Rocky Broad River, is one of the most picturesque in North Carolina. This hike occurred in two phases on Thursday, October 20, 2011 from 10:30am to about 2:30pm. Our plan was to climb to the base of Rumbling Bald from the Rumbling Bald Climbing Access area of Chimney Rock State Park. We knew trails to the cliffs were limited, so we were prepared for bushwhacking. The second phase of the hike would take us to the top of Rumbling Bald Mountain on a different trail, then back down.

View Rumbling Bald Trails, Hickory Nut Gorge in a larger map

First, let me warn you that I know next to nothing about this area. I have been to the famous Chimney Rock, back when it was still privately owned, but that is a tourist attraction. Information about Hickory Nut Gorge hiking is very limited at this time. Trail maps are pretty much non-existent… heck, for that matter, trails are pretty much non-existent. I’m sure many of the landmarks have names, but I don’t know what they are. This was my first time exploring the area, so the best I can do is share my observations. If any of the information turns out to be incorrect, or misleading, I will make every effort to correct it as I take future expeditions to Hickory Nut Gorge. The beauty is I’m only a half hour away, so future trips will be easy.

Right from the parking area for the access trail we could see our destination for the day. We were going to start by climbing to the base of the cliffs on Rumbling Bald, then drive a short way to another trail that would take us to the top of the mountain. It was a bright, sunny day with temps in the mid fifties, ideal hiking weather. I was surprised how green the forest still was this third week of October. We were below 1500 feet though. Hickory Nut Gorge is one of the lower areas in western NC as it is east of the Blue Ridge Escarpment. Ten days earlier I encountered brown forest above 5000 feet. Elevation really makes a difference in chlorophyll levels.

The last several hikes I’ve done in Pisgah National Forest the mast has been very scarce. There have been a number of bear warnings in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains because of this. Well, someone forgot to tell the oaks in Hickory Nut that this is a bad year. Acorns were everywhere, and they were huge, some as big as ping pong balls. I couldn’t resist the urge to put a few of the bigger ones in my pocket. I have no idea what I’ll do with them, but they’re now sitting with the buckeyes I collected a few weeks ago. Of course there were also lots of the hickory nuts that gave the gorge its name.

About 1/4 mile up the trail we encountered a gentleman walking his athletic doberman. We queried him for any local knowledge he had of the trail system here, and he told us there really weren’t any trails to the base of the cliffs. Just point yourself up and keep climbing until you see rock was his advice. So that’s what we did. The forest wasn’t especially thick, so bushwhacking wasn’t at all difficult. We managed to stay on what were either game trails, or rudimentary trails trampled by the brave and daring rock climbers who come to Rumbling Bald. Within half an hour we reached the cliffs. This is one massive wall of granite.

From a distance you can see the rock wall is a two pitch face, but from the bottom all we could see was the first edge hundreds of feet above. Looking real closely we noticed assorted climbing nuts, hexes, hooks and cams inserted in several areas along the face of the wall. These rocks are very popular with the winter climbers because of the southerly exposure. I’ll leave that to the young people though. I am a Meanderthal, but I’m definitely too old for that. I kinda like hanging out in the woods, not hanging from a rock wall.

We followed the base of the wall in an easterly direction, toward Lake Lure, hoping for a view. Because this really isn’t trail, it got quite dicey on occasion. We had to scramble up and over, around and between; hopping from boulder to boulder that had fallen from above thousands of years ago. We encountered many cave openings at the base that were only 1-2 feet high. This area is known for the millions of bats that live here. In fact, one of the towns in the west gorge is called Bat Cave. Unfortunately, there has been a recent blight that has killed nearly half the bat population.

Finally we reached a spot where we could see Lake Lure by climbing about 10 feet up the rocks. It must be an amazing view for the pros who scale hundreds of feet up. As I was climbing down from the rocks to firmer ground, I stepped on a pile of the ever-present acorns and suddenly hiking changed to skating. I was going down and there was nothing I could do but brace for the impact. Fortunately for me I landed on my butt and my pack. No harm done. I got up, and looked sheepishly at my buddies as I dusted myself off and made some lame excuse about walking on marbles.

We decided it was probably time to head back downhill and move on to our 2nd hike. As we scanned the area for the best way down we noticed there were grapes all over the place, muscat I assume. There were vines hanging 15-20 feet up in the trees and the fruit was perfectly ripe, and delicious. The next treat we discovered on our hike down the hill was a few walnut trees. Some of the nuts were green and still hanging from the trees in bunches 12 feet above our heads. There were others on the ground the size of billiard balls. This forest was definitely not short on winter food for the hibernating wildlife.

It was a short drive uphill, probably about a mile, to the next trail. This one is not marked in any way, and does not have a name that I can find anywhere on the Internet. The trailhead is at a water tower that stands on a hill above the undeveloped Blue Heron Point subdivision overlooking Lake Lure. We could tell immediately that we were higher because the forest had quite a bit more fall color. The photo at the top of this post was taken just a couple hundred yards up the trail. It continued throughout the hike — the higher we got the more colorful the forest became — and we got pretty high as it just kept going up, and up, and up… more than 1500 feet in a mile and a half.

After the first 1/4 mile, the trail makes a sharp left turn and continues up an old rutted road. This road may have been in use 50 or more years ago, but you couldn’t even get a Jeep up it these days. There is a three foot deep trench from drainage on much of the road. We found ourselves walking on both sides of the trench and hopping across it frequently. The higher we got, the rockier it got as well. Rain drainage running down the road has exposed large chunks of granite that would also be murder on any 4×4 vehicle trying to access this road.

We found the proof of that about 3/4 mile up the trail. There was a smashed and beat up pickup truck on the side of the road pinned between trees and rocks on the road’s edge. It looked like someone was coming down the road from the other side of the mountain in this truck, was going too fast, flipped and rolled several times until finally resting upright. There is no getting it out of there without carrying it out piece by piece.

I really got tired on the upper half of this climb. I’ve done steeper. I’ve done longer. There are some days when we just don’t have it. This was apparently one of those days for me. I had to stop frequently for a quick breather. My partners continued on ahead to scout the unknown, while I languished behind huffing and puffing and dragging one leg in front of the other. Around every curve in the trail there was another uphill push. This trail was relentless. Finally, after about and hour and 15 minutes of steady climbing I caught up with my friends at the top. I asked if they were tired at all and they answered very affirmatively. So I guess it wasn’t just me. There was a nice big log at the top that was ideal for a lunch break.

I have to admit after all that climbing I was quite disappointed there wasn’t a nice view at the top. Even though the mountain is named Rumbling Bald, it is definitely not bald at the summit. You really can’t see much through the forest. Perhaps in the winter when the leaves are off the trees there would be better views. The forest was quite colorful though. We probably hit it right at peak autumn leaf peeping. On the way back down we ran into a couple of hikers, who were familiar with the area, who told us we had missed the overlook trails that go to Party Rock and other view points on the cliff edge of Rumbling Bald. Darn it!

The way back is the same trail. It sure was a whole lot easier going down than coming up. I was able to enjoy it more and take quite a few more pictures. There were a few places where I could catch a glimpse of Lake Lure through the trees. Again, I suspect this trail may be more scenic in winter.

I definitely intend to explore more of the new Chimney Rock State Park, the Rumbling Bald area, and Hickory Nut Gorge. I have skipped it so far, even though I only live 12 miles away, because everything I’ve read says it simply isn’t ready yet. Well, that’s true, it isn’t. But if you’re willing to blaze your own trail, and hike on some less than groomed tracks, the topography and geology is quite compelling. This is some of the most dramatic scenery that western North Carolina has to offer.

UpdateNovember 3, 2011: Our curiosity got the best of us, so we went back two weeks later to look for the trail to the cliff’s edge on Rumbling Bald. We found it 45 minutes up on the left not far past the wrecked pickup truck, and by the way, the trail up Rumbling Bald was just as steep as the first time. It’s a tough hike. We popped out on a large outcropping called Party Rock that has a terrific view of Lake Lure, Shumont Mountain, and the rest of the Hickory Nut Gorge. I knew there had to be something more than just the trail to the summit of Rumbling Bald Mountain. I have added a few pictures to the end of the gallery below. Enjoy!

This post was created by Jeff Clark. Please feel free to use the sharing icons below, or add your thoughts to the comments. Pack it in, pack it out. Preserve the past. Respect other hikers. Let nature prevail. Leave no trace.