Thursday, August 7, 2008

Blue Sea Falls

This is the "mythical" and very hard to reach Blue Sea Falls at the headwaters of the Cane River in Yancey County, North Carolina, The old Mt. Mitchell Toll Road is used to get to the falls, which are on private property. For permission to enter this vast tract of wilderness, contact the "agent," Stuart Bagwell. As a kid I can remember coming up here and still seeing the remains of old railroad trestles which were used by small gauge trains to haul virgin timber out from the slopes of Mt. Mitchell. There was also the remains of an old saw mill up here. Today the area is a private preserve, primarily for bear hunting and trout fishing by a group of owners who built a log lodge deep in the woods. Mr. Bagwell told us that the bear population today is "plenty, almost too plenty."




The pictures below show the bridge that you cross right before heading up a treacherous trail through Rhododendron thickets that bar the final approach to the falls as well as some of the trout you see in the stream below the falls - this specimen must be 24" long.

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