Land of Waterfalls

2/1/19

Lisa and I

10 miles

We are still chasing the first 100 waterfalls in NC in Kevin Adams Waterfall book while sprinkling in some on the next 100. I’m now at 60 (of the first 100) and I think Lisa has a bit more. I had to be back early so we left just after 6am and headed to the Balsam Grove area west of Brevard NC. when we see a waterfall we are like a kid at Christmas!

Most of these are just less than a mile from the trailhead. We didn’t even carry a backpack. The first one was White Owl Falls. This one we missed on a previous hike and Lisa has tried to find again unsuccessfully. This is one of those park , walk a little, go over the guardrail and climb down to the falls.

We were surprised to find that none were frozen this weekend. It was about 30 degrees when we started out.

The next one we were going to is John Jump Falls. Another non descriptive parking area. Near the guardrail follow a steep path down to the falls. You can hear it from the parking area.

Back to the car we go. We drive just a short distance to a road with a locked gate where we park to go to Dew Falls. As usual we turned this short 0.1 mile hike into a difficult hike. Or I did. Just past a campsite we can hear water. There are semi paths here. I went through but it’s not there. Lisa retraced our steps and decided we needed to climb up to the right to find the path to the left and yep that was it!

It was really pretty. We are trying to get 10 today! Next we head to a place right off the road owned by Living Waters Christian retreat. Right behind their building is a double sided waterfall called Mill Schoals.

They have a nice path with little bridges along this river.

The Path ends at Bird Rock Falls. It’s a beauty just feet from the road. There were two houses near there which would put this in their back yard view! It had a great rainbow. It was a real beauty!

So that’s 5 waterfalls in less than a mile! Our record is 7 in one day and we are on our way to 10! Back we go to the car and head to a road called FR140 which has 5 waterfalls on it!

Big kink in our plan – Turns out this one has a gate that is locked for the winter! It’s 3 miles down to the falls. We decide to walk it. We got our backpacks and set out for a long slow incline road. Yuck road walking! But if we can get all 5 great!

As we are walking down the road there is a giant waterfall on the left. It’s barely visible through the trees. We can’t find it in the book but I actually messaged him to ask which one it was. It’s in the book but doesn’t have a picture. Probably because it’s impossible to Photograph. It’s Beetree Fork Falls and at least 100 feet tall.

We kept walking till we came across another road with a locked gate? This through us off because it wasn’t on the map! We reread the book and kept going. Just over the 3rd bridge there was the trail head to Courthouse Falls. It was a nice trail along the river. Pretty easy trail.

We are just walking along and this falls is not visible from the direction we are going. I heard it and turned around and yelled “we are missing it!” We would have seen it on the way back anyway. We climbed the path down to the falls. It’s a beauty. It fell into a blue green pool of water that looked like an awesome swimming hole. We spent a little extra time here because it was so pretty.

We start down the trail towards the next falls. The book says a scramble path to the left. We look at what appears to be a trail and keep going. We went probably less than a mile, reread the book (of course) and turn around. This is a nice trail though and it must go somewhere?

I decide to go down the path Lisa saw. It’s steep. I said if I’m wrong again I’m not making another decision! It was the correct trail and we ended up at Cody Falls. It was a nice one.

To get the best picture it’s best to get to the other side. It’s was a short wet crossing I wasn’t gonna do but Lisa jumped across no problem!

When we came back up to the trail there were a bunch of bikes there. We didn’t see anyone but I seriously considered taking one so I didn’t have to road walk back! 🤣 We could see those people down at courthouse falls.

We are pretty proud right now! 8 waterfalls! We’re getting so much better at following directions. 😊 We are mindlessly walking back down to the road to where we think the other 3 falls are. Of course we didn’t read the book! Turns out we were supposed to turn up that other locked road. 🤦‍♀️ I look at the map and were a mile away! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

We decided because of time we would come back when the road was open. We walked back towards the car. It’s kinda late so we are going to head back but hit one more falls on the way back. Eastatoe Falls is interesting. It’s right off the road in someone’s back yard. There are signs saying no visitors after 6:30 pm. Basically we pulled in their driveway and parked around the back of the house. From the car it was just a couple hundred yards to a massive waterfall.

Back to the car and I really have to be home by 5 so off we go. From here we actually go back through Pickens SC down 176 to 11 to 85. We are making good time but after Table Rock I get a bright idea to go see Pretty Place. It in Camp Greenville which is above Cesar’s Head State park. I turned off and it said 14 miles. I’d forgotten how far it was on this winding road but we decide to go anyway. I’m seriously making Lisa carsick. When we finally get to the turn off I did not realize it was another 5 miles down that winding road! Oh I’m gonna be late for sure! We can’t turn around down! It was worth it! It’s so beautiful.

Even with the car sickness Lisa is Glad we came. She drove back though. 😁 That worked for me, even though I drive fast she was gonna get us back even quicker!

9 waterfalls is our new record! Fun day!