After getting my camera sensor cleaned in Charlottesville, Virginia we then stayed in Waynesboro, Virginia to explore the more southern sections of the Skyline Drive with a side trip to Crabtree Falls.
While fall is not the ideal time to be viewing waterfalls, Crabtree runs all year. It is also called the highest in the east combining all the cascades together but their is little in the way of free falls. Starting at the bottom this is the first major drop viewed from the bottom and then from the above.
Overall the trail is about a mile and a quarter each way with a rise of about 1200 feet. Length and elevation are about the same as the trip to Timpanogos Cave but the path is definitely not paved. Lori was starting to have knee and balance issues so we turned back when it got too rough. They do have some actual stairways but the rock climb is more typical.
Trying to divide waterfalls and rapids, I normally think of waterfall as free drops which these definitely are not. Add more water in the spring and it is ideal for what the more adventurous kayakers call steep creaken'.
Sights along the trail include more shelf fungus, some color, and an emerald caterpillar.
More waterfalls along the trail and then we got to this rock passage which if you are really small and agile you can wiggle through or just go around. From this point the trail seemed to get a lot rougher and we gave up the fight for another day maybe.
From another overlook the area was mostly green with a few fall colors starting. I managed to capture Lori along the trail with one of the more engineered stairways in the background and also persuaded her to get a photograph of me by a waterfall after several tries. I'm sure she could be real good with a camera but pretending she is not means I photograph and she gets to knit most of the time.
Catching a few more of the waterfalls or more properly water slides and a big rock wall along the trail we arrived safely back at the bridge crossing Crabtree Creek back to the parking area. While the trail is a little too rugged for Lori I think it would be great to come back again in the Spring when there is a lot more water running.