Apr 6 Mayo River State Park NC and VA

 

This stunning waterfall is not on the Mayo River. It is on a tributary, Fall Creek. At the NC Deshazo Mill access, you can reach this waterfall from the main parking area (check your parking brake before parking here) it is a short 0.2 mile down the trail. This can be a popular place so be prepared for some creative parking. The main attraction for me today is the Virginia version of Mayo River State Park. It is not actually a state park yet but it is getting there. NC established their state park in 2003. Virginia now owns some adjacent property across the border. In 2022 they opened a 5 mile trail system with parking area, kiosk and restroom. 

The trail system consists of a 2 mile trail straight to the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Mayo. That trail follows a long flat ridgetop. It is essentially a farm road through a long narrow field. There are two short loop trails off this main trail. The first, starting at the trailhead, is Redbud Trail. Nice that the Redbuds were fully in bloom today. That trail is mostly going through hayfields. There is some signage on posts and red blazes but I needed to use my navigation app several times to see where the trail was. 

Part of the trail is right along the park boundary which has a wildlife friendly fence. The trail circles back to the main trail at a Quonset hut. 

Here is the confluence, a sandy spit of land marks the spot. Although the hike started in Virginia, you cross over into North Carolina before reaching the river. Directly across the river are trails from the Deshazo access. Many more people were over there. 

It is in this area North Carolina is considering a pedestrian bridge across the North Fork of the Mayo. It is NC on both sides of the river here. 

From the trailhead

Now it is on to Mayo Beach and Boiling Hole access. This has been a popular canoeing and kayaking spot. I recall a number of trips here with my yellow Chattooga.  

It was a popular hangout in the 1980s and perhaps before that. However, in 1990 a survivalist identifying himself  as Wayne Grice, had been camping in a makeshift camp about a quarter mile north of Anglin Mill Rd, killed two men camping by the Boiling Hole. Police found the dead men at their camp. One had been shot in a lawn chair and the other nearby. Locals immediately suspected Grice who was also suspected of robbing a local grocery store and responsible for a number of vehicle break-ins at the Boiling Hole. Locals led police to Grice's campsite where he was apprehended. Many items located there belonged to the two dead men and from the other break-ins. It was later learned Wayne Grice was actually Clinton Ray Rose, an escaped convict serving a life sentence for murder in Alabama and kidnapping in Oregon. Mayo Beach and Boiling Hole attained a jaded reputation as a lawless area and folks stopped going. Even after it became a state park, its reputation continued to cast a shadow.