Mystery Waterfall at Moss Lake

Being the last day of a February warming trend in the Carolinas, I stopped working early and went for a short paddle. Who knew I would encounter .... (bring up opening chords to Beethoven's 5th Symphony) ... the Mystery Waterfall at Moss Lake!!!

I donkey my Necky down to our access ramp and put in mid-late afternoon. Not much time, so not much planned. I head across the calm water for coves opposite us on this big open area. On my way through one, I notice a spider walking on water. I'm thinking this guy got itself in a pickle. How can he grab anything to eat if his legs are keeping him on instead of in the water? I remembered to bring the camera so I snapped some but, being a rather small spider, none came out very well. I keep puttering along and I realize that this cove ends, not in a dredged out section with houses and docks all around, but an actual natural area. There are grasses with frogs croaking to each other. They sounded like thick leather being twisted: uuurrrr-uh, uuurrrr-uh, uuurrrr-uh. Quite fun. From my running days, I know we have scads of smaller frogs that peep like crazy in the early hours of cool spring days. Here, I'm snuggled into the grasses looking back out the cove ...


Going further in, I start hearing running water over the frogs. The way is covered over by an evergreen hanging down to the water. Ah-ha! I know I've got a secret spot because Kathleen, being afraid of snakes in trees, wouldn't follow me through here ...


After I clear the evergreen (a laurel of some kind?), I go a little farther and catch sight of a magnificent waterfall! ...


And here's a closer look ...


Okay, well, maybe not so magnificent. But I was amazed to see anything like this at all on our lake. The little valley here must extend back aways and cover enough surface area to have a continually running creek. I'll have to poke around maps to confirm. In any case, I'm not putting any location here because I want to kick off my career as a tour guide and charge $5 apiece for a trip into this unexpected little delight in our neighborhood.

As I keep puttering around the perimeter, I come across a house I'd never noticed before. It sure likes like the seminary I spent a year doing pre-theology before deciding to get married instead - except it wasn't on a lake. (For non-Catholic readers, pre-theology for us is, now, two years of philosophy.)


On my return back, I'm a little surprised to see one of our many Great Blue Heron up on the roof of someone's dock. With terns flying above, I think it's a nice picture to round out the day ...