Frozen waterfalls in Hanging Rock State Park, NC

A bomb cyclone brought frigid Arctic temperatures across much of the U.S. during the first week of January 2018. Waterfalls, creeks, and rivers froze all over North Carolina, an extremely rare occurrence. I wasn't able to get out during the week due to work and remaining snow/ice, making many roads treacherous. But finally, on Sunday, I was able to take a full day to see some frozen waterfalls. I chose Hanging Rock State Park which is relatively close to home, has access roads I knew would be fine, and has many waterfalls that are accessible by easy trails. Although I didn't get out further into the "real" mountains, my trip did not disappoint. The serene beauty of frozen waterfalls is truly a unique experience for a native North Carolinian.

The weather was still quite frigid all day, ranging between 10-25F. I started with Lower Cascade Falls, which I knew would be the most crowded waterfall in the park later that afternoon. (I was right, when I passed by the parking area mid-afternoon there were 80+ cars with many along the road.) At 8:45 AM I had it to myself for 20 minutes before a few people trickled in. The pool was completely frozen and it was easy to walk up to the falls. Next I drove to the visitors center and hiked down the Indian Creek Trail to Hidden Falls and Window Falls. The frozen column of Window Falls was awesome. I got to sit on 6-inch sheets of ice at the base of the column and saw blue hues that I could not fully capture on film.

Back at the visitors center I went down to Upper Cascade Falls, which was disappointing because the sun was directly overhead. I took a "quick detour" to hike Moores Knob, which will be my next video. Then I drove down to Torys Den. This is probably the best Torys Falls will look, or at flood stage which I've also seen. Lastly I drove down to the Dan River boat access to hike the Riverbluffs Loop Trail. The Dan River was completely frozen over in sections. It was a nice end to a full day of ice exploration. In total I did 6 separate hikes over 9 hours. Although my hands were angry with me, the experience was worth it.

Hike locations
https://goo.gl/maps/hbskjDzqt1fn35Bz9
https://goo.gl/maps/4u24NDye8AdbC8kv5
https://goo.gl/maps/tmawa8MGCHMJuvWS7

Hike reports
https://www.hikingupward.com/NCSP/Low...
https://www.hikingupward.com/NCSP/Ind...
https://www.hikingupward.com/NCSP/Riv...