Just off of Route 60, above the small town of Buena Vista, Virginia, you'll find a unique, yet easy hike to Panther Falls. With limited cell service on the drive up the mountain (at least with Verizon) and as I was having some technical difficulties with Google Maps (it showed me driving "over the river and through the woods"...but not on a road) I'll try and make it easy for you in case you decide to make the trip.
If you are headed west on Route 60 from Amherst headed towards Lexington and you make it to the top of the mountain, turn left on to Panther Falls rd. If you've driven under the Blue Ridge Parkway bridge, you've gone about 50 yards to far. Of course, if you're coming from the Buena Vista side, you want to go just past the Blue Ridge Parkway crossing and turn right onto Panther Falls rd. It's gravel, it's rough and it's not recommended for motorcycles. When you get on the road, reset your odometer and go 3.5 miles until you see a George Washington National Forest sign and you've made it to Panther Falls (well, almost).
If you're lucky enough to snag a parking spot (limited parking area spaces but plenty of roadside parking) you should see the trail to the left of the National Parks sign. Walk down the path for about 100 yards until it brings you to the river and turns right alongside headed down stream and just keep on walking until the trail brings you to the falls (it's only a 5-10 minute hike from the parking area).
Now, hopefully you brought your swimming trunks and a towel (I forgot to bring both, but I still went swimming). Both of the big rocks on either side are great for jumping into the deep waters at the bottom of the falls and if you can find it, there's a hole above the falls you can jump into that will bring you out underneath the falls. This picture was taken at the right time when nobody was in, it was VERY crowded that day so I went night swimming instead (not safe, but super fun).
After hiking it was time to setup camp. The trail to the falls is scattered with spots big and small, as I was with a group of 5 people we needed somewhere a little bigger. We found a spot closer to the parking area but rather than downstream towards the falls we followed another trail upstream.
I opted to sleep in a hammock rather than pack my tent so I could use the extra space in my bag for cast iron skillets. I used Lodge skillets because they are cheap and durable. I had marinated 2 t-bones for 4 days prior to my trip to ensure flavor infusion and tenderness. But first things first, if you need to cook, you need a fire.
Excuse the Busch can, it was there when we got there but was properly disposed of after. As you can see, my flint and steel use is a little out of practice, if you'd like an instructional video on how to use this technique check out The Outsider's tutorial . Once the fire was started it was time to start cooking.
As I said, I marinated the steaks. First, I rubbed in about a teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt to each, followed with an equal amount of black pepper. Then, I put the steaks into separate gallon Ziploc bags and poured one 12 oz. can of Heineken into both and half of a bottle of Catalina dressing into one bag and the rest into the other. Finally, I cut up two fresh, home-grown jalapenos and put them in the bags as well, leaving the seeds with them because a little extra spice is always good.
Now, it was time to start cooking. You can use butter, olive oil or whatever grease you have, in my case I used bacon, because who doesn't love bacon? But, of course when cooking you need some music, my choice of tunes was Tenacious D.
Once the skillet was good and greased and the bacon was cooked, the steaks went in, but had to cook separately because of their size.
With the skillet good and hot I let the steak cook for three minutes on each side then pull it off the heat and let it rest. If you let it rest after being on the flame it will finish cooking itself with the heat built up in the juices of the meat. Now, I prefer my steak rare, so if you want yours a little more cooked add a minute or two more to each side.
After both steaks were done I used the flavors in the skillet to cook onions, jalapenos, red, orange and yellow sweet peppers to top off the finished product. And to pair with my meal I chose a nice bottle of Michie Ultra.
I would 10 out of 10 recommend making a trip to Panther Falls and what better meal after a day of swimming and hiking than steak? If you make the visit, you won't regret, but please, don't be like those before me, cleanup your trash.
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