Panther Falls
Blue Ridge Trip '24 #8
Buena Vista, VA - Mon, 2 Sep 2024. 5:30pm
Today's a two-fer of hiking and waterfalls. After a steep hike at Crabtree Falls that mostly tired us out we found we still had energy left for a short hike somewhere. And fortunately "somewhere" was close by and kind of on the way back to our hotel. We drove up the ridge to the Blue Ridge Parkway, headed south to the next crossing at US-460 above Buena Vista, then veered off on a dirt and gravel road for about 3 miles to the trailhead for Panther Falls.
As befits a two-fer trail the hike to Panther Falls was easy... -ish. The trail dropped steeply for the first minute or two then leveled off at Pedlar Creek. From there we followed the creek downstream for a bit until we climbed over rocks where it goes over a couple small falls.
Even though it was getting later in the afternoon there were still 2-3 small groups of hikers there with us. Unlike us, though, they were either there to swim in the swimming holes or smoke and drink on the rocks. We were content to stay dry and to have only nature's beauty as our natural intoxicant.
After a short while we'd had our fill of nature's beauty. It was time to get back to town and fill up on some much-welcomed dinner!
Buena Vista, VA - Mon, 2 Sep 2024. 5:30pm
Today's a two-fer of hiking and waterfalls. After a steep hike at Crabtree Falls that mostly tired us out we found we still had energy left for a short hike somewhere. And fortunately "somewhere" was close by and kind of on the way back to our hotel. We drove up the ridge to the Blue Ridge Parkway, headed south to the next crossing at US-460 above Buena Vista, then veered off on a dirt and gravel road for about 3 miles to the trailhead for Panther Falls.
As befits a two-fer trail the hike to Panther Falls was easy... -ish. The trail dropped steeply for the first minute or two then leveled off at Pedlar Creek. From there we followed the creek downstream for a bit until we climbed over rocks where it goes over a couple small falls.
Even though it was getting later in the afternoon there were still 2-3 small groups of hikers there with us. Unlike us, though, they were either there to swim in the swimming holes or smoke and drink on the rocks. We were content to stay dry and to have only nature's beauty as our natural intoxicant.
After a short while we'd had our fill of nature's beauty. It was time to get back to town and fill up on some much-welcomed dinner!