April 18, 2005 - Big Creek Gulf Loop
|
On March 18, 2005, I went on a 8.6 mile hiking trip into Big Creek Gulf. The trip would start and end at Stone Door Ranger Station. |
|
| Trail map below | |
 |
|
 |
|
| I snapped the photo above when I reached the overlooks at Stone Door. I will be hiking up this gulf. The photo represents about half of the trip in the gulf. Ranger Falls is in the small gulf about as far you can see. | |
 |
 |
| While
standing on the bluff and looking up the gulf, I noticed that I wasn't
alone.
Dropping in elevation about 700 feet, I reached Big Creek in only 1.2 miles. At this point, Big Creek reappears after going underground for about 2 miles. From here the trail goes upstream, following the dry Big Creekbed. |
|
 |
 |
| Here is a photo (right) of the dry creek bed about a mile upstream. Not even a drop of water. A trail crosses the creek here to go over to Ranger Falls |  |
 |
 |
| Ranger Falls | |
 |
|
| Ranger Falls is a unique falls in that the pool of water disappears into a sink behind the falls. | |
 |
 |
| From Ranger Falls, the trail continues to follow the dry Big Creekbed. After another mile, I came to the spot where Big Creek goes underground. It reappears about two mile down the creekbed, then goes underground again not far from that. | |
 |
 |
| The
small waterfall above is just to the left of the Big Creek sink. It also
goes underground.
|
The
photo above shows Big Creek disappearing under an unstable limestone
bluff.
|
 |
 |
| Another
photo (above left) of the Big Creek sink. From here the trail rapidly
ascends over 600 feet to Alum Gap Camp site. On the way up I snapped a
photo of a beautiful stream (above right). From the camp site, it is a 3
mile hike through the woods on Laurel Trail to reach the parking lot at
Stone Door Ranger Station.
It was a five and a half hour trip covering 8.6 miles. |
|