Panthertown Valley – Modified Base Camp with Day Hikes to Waterfalls

Please join us for a modified backpack / base camp and day hike to waterfall whirlwind in the lovely Panthertown Valley. This is an easy/moderate 1-night backpacking trip.

Saturday
From the Salt Rock Gap parking area, we’ll hike with our full packs on 2 miles to find a good camp site at coordinates: 35.16861, -83.01228, off Panthertown Valley Trail 474. If that site is taken, we will hike approximately 2 more miles to find a site or else hike back to Green Valley Trail and look there.

Once we’ve set up camp, we’ll start our day pack adventure. We’ll hike to Jawbone and Riding Ford Falls, Elbow Falls, hike back to School House Falls, hike up to Tranquility point on Little Green Mountain, and then hike back to base camp. With a possible hike to Warden Falls. Our route will be approximately 12+ miles 2300 ft elevation depending on what we decide to do.

Sunday
Pack up and then hike to Granny Burrell Falls, to the Great Wall, and then to Frolictown Falls, where we will probably will have to ford a creek.

Details
Meet at Salt Rock Gap parking area 9:00 AM https://goo.gl/maps/H6FjPmvapyjma58C6 Type into Google Maps - West End Parking Nantahala Forest. Parking is limited so arrive early, roughly 15-20 spaces with extra on the side of the road entrance to the parking area.

Out Sunday around 12:00 PM.

Bear resistant containers are required. https://panthertown.org/

Maps can be purchased here if you want one https://www.panthertownmap.com/

Tents are recommended as it can be difficult finding the right tree spacing for hammocks but hammocks are doable.

Note that we might have to ford a small creek or two.

On the first day we will hike 2-4 miles and set up base camp, after that we will spend the rest of the day exploring without packs. Please be prepared to carry your backpack for longer than 4 miles in case we have to try a few different areas to find a nice large group site. We want to go with the flow on this trip so the exact plans for what we will see and do over the two days could change depending on where we camp and how we feel.

Routes
This link has all the routes for the trip https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/folder/e6e3b973-303f-4047-ac96-b880bd19b861

We hope you'll want to join us!