Bad Fork Trail (#323)
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Bad Fork Trailhead @ Wash Creek Road -- 2,460'
To give even more help finding the trailhead, watch for this campsite on the left side of Wash Creek Road. The trailhead is directly across from it...
Bad Fork Trailhead @ Wash Creek Road -- 2,460'
The trailhead can be seen on the left here and, at the time I visited, was unsigned. It's at a spot where Wash Creek Road makes a sharp left bend about 2.5-miles up from the beginning of Forest Road 5000 at the North Mills River Recreation Area...
Bad Fork Trailhead @ Wash Creek Road -- 2,460'
The Bad Fork Trail as it leaves Wash Creek Road and enters the rhododendron...
The first bit of the trail is almost perfectly flat and cuts a deep trench through the thick surrounding rhododendron...
Within a couple minutes the trail pulls right up alongside its namesake stream, Bad Fork. This could be a troublesome spot to pass I'm sure if ever the stream floods...
Beginning to climb a bit under the cover of yet more rhodo...
The minor climb doesn't last long and soon things flatten out again...
Passing above an unusually large area of flats to the right...
Passing above an unusually large area of flats to the right...
Gaining elevation ever so slightly again...
At about the half mile mark the trail once again presses in alongside the creek...
One of those rare places where the man-made actually compliments the natural...
Ascending the east side of the fork now, just beyond the first bridge...
Soon after the trail does cross Bad Fork again, this time on stepping stones...
Huge downfallen trees bridge Bad Fork and an incoming tributary. Luckily, the trail doesn't cross here...
...and immediately back across again...
Some large pines now populate the forest...
...and again...
The crossings certainly helping to keep things interesting...and it is cool to see the stream gradually shrinking the higher one climbs...this is actually the last crossing of Bad Fork proper as you ascend...
On the left side of the valley now, the trail pulls up and away from Bad Fork for a time...
You can now make out the ridge ahead that the trail will soon be climbing...
Crossing one of a few small tributaries feeding into Bad Fork from the east...
You can still hear Bad Fork below but the rhodo's were do a good job of keeping you from seeing it...
The valley narrows as the trail nears the final climb to the ridge, seen ahead through the trees...