Waterfall 100 Challenge Finale: Nellie's Falls & Cody Falls

Waterfall 100 Challenge Finale: Nellie’s Falls & Cody Falls – 7/26/23 – 6.2 Miles

Surprise – sometimes hiking challenge lists change!  Carolina Mountain Club’s Waterfall Challenge (WC100) updated during the decade(s) that I’ve been chipping away at it. A couple of hikes I’d done were removed from the list and a couple of new ones were added. In the category of “never say never” I found myself returning down remote western North Carolina forest roads that I’ve traveled before, looking for the last two waterfalls to make 100.

Nellie’s Falls – 1.7 miles roundtrip

Nellie’s Falls wasn’t on the list when my hiking buddy Jeff and I hiked past the turnoff for it when we explored Flat Creek Falls back in February 2020, but he’d given me a GAIA track for it so I had something easy to follow. Before I left home, I refreshed my memory about our adventure. (You can read all about it here.)

Driving on NC 281 north of Lake Toxaway (which I personally pronounce “Lake Alongway”), I turned onto gravel Rock Bridge Road, then a long forest road, heading deep into the backcountry of Nantahala National Forest known as Panthertown Valley. I parked at a remote parking area and campsite beside Flat Creek. Unlike our February exploration featuring ice and traces of snow on the road, today was warm, 70’s. (I love July in the mountains).

As I shouldered my daypack, a big ol’ SUV drove up and a man stepped out wearing full camo. We chatted as he gathered up his tackle box and fishing poles. “Looks like we picked a great day.” Super nice guy.

My first trick was crossing Flat Creek. When Jeff and I were here, I had to wade barefoot through the frigid flow, but today the water was low enough to rock hop. 

Not recommended

Today's unmaintained route started on an old logging road, mostly flat tread through
 deeply shaded mountain laurel tunnels

A few minor obstacles, easy to get around

A grandaddy tree had fallen across the creek at a short, broad cascade. Unless it just happened this morning, I knew there would be a workaround. I hunted around for a trail on the far side and, sure enough, someone had chopped their way through.

The trail continued to the base of Nellie’s Falls, a multi-tiered cascade flowing into a small pool, dazzling in the morning sun. I just love these precious gems in the backcountry and knowing that they are flowing night and day, not caring in the least whether anyone sees them or not. 

Someone flagged a route leading to the top of the falls, out of sight. I followed it for a few minutes but lost interest when it appeared to go on a while. I hadn’t planned to pursue that route and I was alone… so I turned around and backtracked out to my car. I was one happy hiker, met a nice person, completed my goal, and had a fun drive out on the now-familiar gravel roads. 

Cody Falls - 4.5 miles roundtrip

My last waterfall challenge was in Pisgah National Forest, off of Highway 215 near the little community of Balsam Grove. I was happy to see that Courthouse Creek Road was open (closed for several years). New gravel had been put down, but there were some bumpy stretches and one particular washout with flagging tape for a very skinny passageway.

Surprisingly, the road was gated about .6 miles before the main trailhead. There was a much bigger parking area here and the road beyond the gate was in very good shape. Speculating about the changes: improving the road but limiting access to forest service and rescue vehicles makes sense for this popular area. The gate added 1.2 miles roundtrip to my hike today. I was glad I hadn’t spent time going to the top of Nellie’s Falls.

I've been here before, hiking to Courthouse Falls in August 2018 as part of the WC 100 challenge. Contrary to information I had at that time, Summey Cove Trail is alive and open (depends on who you ask?) so my plan today included hiking it out-and-back as I visited Cody Falls. 

And since it’s right there, I stopped at Courthouse Falls, still looking awesome
pouring into its deep, clear pool

Like Nellie’s Falls, there is no official trail to Cody Falls, but after reading a couple of blog descriptions of how to find it, I thought it would be a quick scramble spur trail off of Summey Cove Trail near Courthouse Falls. Maybe I was too literal (which tree? which big rock?) After searching with no luck, I decided to get on with hiking Summey Cove Trail. 

A wonky bridge

Wire cable, a remnant from logging days

Remember to stop and enjoy the rhododendrons

Did I mention that Summey Cove Trail plunges down to Highway 215? And what goes down…must come up. The tread was quite nice, though, and I thought I could just gut out the steep parts, but at the halfway point I turned around. The hour was getting late and I still had not found Cody Falls. Maybe someday I’ll get back to Summey Cove Trail and hike that pesky 1.4 miles out-and-back from 215. 

Here's what happened: I took one last try at the side trail to Courthouse Falls and saw what I had missed earlier: a side trail off of the side trail, not Summey Cove Trail at all (smacks forehead). Maybe this was it? And it was.

It took all my brain power to work out that although they are close together, Cody Falls is not on the same creek as Courthouse Falls. Cody Creek is along Mill Station Creek, which flows into Courthouse Creek.

You’re welcome.

The trail was very steep but easy to follow down to Mill Station Creek, not as hard as some crazy ropes-and-cables things Jim and I have done. At the water’s edge I walked upstream for a few yards, around a curve, and there was Cody Falls. I got my feet wet crossing the creek to get an unobstructed view, but it was near day’s end and I was thrilled to have solved the puzzle.

Cody Falls

This beauty looks like a slinky white wedding dress as it slides into a deep pool. The rock wall has been smoothed by the water, appearing like slickrock canyon walls in the deserts of the American Southwest. Alone once again, I soaked in the green moss, the water, spray, the leaves rustling in the breeze, the power of nature.

I thought about my dad and the 15th anniversary of his death coming up in a couple of days. Did he ever hike to a waterfall in his life? I never asked. Part of the reason I write about these hikes is for my children and grandchildren to know about my adventures, big and small, and my love of the outdoors.

Feeling elated, I hiked back to my car (don’t forget the extra .6 miles) and drove down the bumpy gravel road to civilization at the junction of Hwy 215 & Hwy 64. By civilization, I mean the Forks Of The River Taproom at Headwaters Outfitters. I sat on the porch with a Bold Rock blackberry cider and French fries to celebrate finishing the Waterfall 100 challenge. What’s next?

“I don't want to get to the end of my life and
 find that I lived just the length of it.  I want to have lived the width of it as well.” 

~Diane Ackerman

Waterfall 100 Challenge: Steels Creek Falls & Bard Falls

Waterfall 100 Challenge: Steels Creek Falls & Bard Falls
 Pisgah National Forest, Grandfather District – 5.5 miles - 6/2/23

Bard Falls

SOOOO CLOSE…to completing the Carolina Mountain Club Waterfall 100 Challenge! Just two in the Linville Gorge area and two in Pisgah National Forest’s Ranger District and then I will…probably start another hiking challenge. [The CMC Waterfall Challenge list is here, newly revised in February 2024.]

What’s up with these challenge lists? I’m a fan because I learn about places I would likely not find out about on my own. The completion thing motivates me, but true satisfaction comes with every single hike to a beautiful place in nature.

Waterfall hiking in the Linville Gorge Wilderness on a summer day. Jim and I set our sights on Steels Creek Falls first, then we’ll pick up my long-time hiking friend Cathy and head to Bard Falls.

For those of you who like maps, on Highway 181 north of Morganton, NC there’s a forest road (well, there are many forest roads) leading deep into the Grandfather Ranger District of Pisgah National Forest. FR 228 is the road to God’s Country, they say. Long, winding and narrow, 4 miles at 5mph took longer than we expected. No cell service so unable to let Cathy know that our time estimate was way off…

Sometimes Jim photobombs his own self

At the end of the road, a trail leads up the creek for a quarter mile to this sweet swimming hole

Looked innocent enough until we saw the crossing above this spot, deep water in between big rocks. Seeing the bottom wasn’t easy, and no chance of rock hopping, so we chose carefully before moving our feet. Of course, we had to return the same way.

On the far side, the side trail soon connects to my old friend the Mountains-To-Sea Trail (MST), where we turned right to follow Steels Creek upstream. [When I hiked this section of the MST in 2011, we passed right by Steels Creek Falls but didn’t take the side trail to see it.]

The rugged trail goes steeply up, then down, then up, then level, then…well, you get the picture. A lot happens in about .6 miles, always within sound and/or sight of the creek, sometimes with one foot IN the creek.

Looking downstream

Red Trillium (aka wakerobin) ready to burst

In wilderness areas, you have to look closely for an unmarked side trail to a waterfall, and it’s often a slippery scramble. This one was typical, with handy ropes set to ease the way (if you trust ropes set by someone else, that is). 

Jim and I agreed not to risk life and limb to walk out on a rock ledge to get up close to the falls. This viewpoint was just fine to see the huge potholes made by the powerful cascading water. 

Steels Creek Falls

My favorite hike blogger’s report of Steels Falls with great photos is here.

Fast forward: drive back up FR 228 at 5mph, pick up Cathy, switch to FR 464 aka Pineola Road (still in Grandfather District of Pisgah NF) to the Harper Creek Falls area. Bard Falls is also on the Mountains-To-Sea Trail and I also passed it by in 2011.

Cathy and I are ready to go!

The shortest route to Bard Falls begins at North Harper Shortcut Trail (266A), a 1.1-mile descent through a fern forest on a well-graded trail that doubles as the MST. 

Turning left at the junction with North Harper Creek Trail (266, still designated as the MST), it’s about .7 miles downstream to Bard Falls. Know before you go: one wide wet crossing of North Harper Creek cannot be avoided. A couple of years ago, Cathy and I attempted to reach Bard Falls with her dog Ellie, but the water was too high and we turned back. Today the creek was calm and ankle deep.

North Harper Creek – Cathy walking on water

Continuing downstream, we followed the creek as it grew bigger and louder, tumbling through boulders. We glimpsed the top of Bard Falls and found the rugged trail down to the base – no ropes this time, but slippery rock ledges similar to those at Steels Falls. A couple of broad pools below the falls are inviting to wade, but we were not tempted to walk upstream into the flow of the waterfall. 

Bard Falls – check out the heart-shaped pothole on the left

Pool below Bard Falls

My favorite hike blogger’s report of Bard Falls with great photos is here.

The Harper Creek area is fairly easy to get around with intersecting trails to create loop routes, and lots of creek crossings and waterfalls to enjoy. Remember, safety in numbers when hiking around water features. Be ready to get your feet wet (and more)!

And don’t forget to wet your whistle in Morganton at Sidetracked Brewery!

"A river cuts through rock, not because of its power but because of its persistence."
 ~Jim Watkins

Waterfall 100 Challenge: Big Falls & High Falls On Thompson River

Waterfall 100 Challenge: Big Falls & High Falls On Thompson River
9/29/22 – 8.3 Miles

Today’s WC100 adventures were in a familiar neck of the woods (pun intended). On the eastern side of NC 281 passing through Nantahala National Forest, dozens of creeks make their way through watersheds to join the big rivers, including Whitewater, Horsepasture and Thompson Rivers.

Headed south on US 281 from its intersection with US 64 west of Lake Toxaway, Jim and I drove to Brewer Road. Referencing information from Kevin Adams’ book North Carolina Waterfalls (3rd Ed.), we parked on the side of Brewer Road and looked for our trailhead at an old gated logging road. I used my GAIA app to record our hike. [The GAIA topo map has this trail marked; the National Geographic map does not.]

At least 8 waterfalls are accessible from the route we hiked. Our must-see goals were Big Falls at the far end and High Falls on a side forest road near the beginning. In between we passed spur trails to Reid Branch Falls, Simon Falls, Rich Falls, Standing Rock Falls, and Unmentionable Falls.

On an out-and-back hike, it’s tempting to follow every side trail to waterfalls on the way to the far end of the route, but here is some advice: go all the way to the furthest point of interest first and then work your way back looking for the side trails. It is much easier to manage your time and you won’t be caught at twilight still miles from your car.

The old forest road was littered with occasional blowdowns, to be expected, otherwise easy to follow. About a mile along the gradual descent we reached the right turn to High Falls – we’ll come back to that. We stayed left and continued downhill, soon reaching a crossing of the Thompson River. We took the time to remove shoes and socks and wade across.

Gentian – the only flower I noticed all day

Through the trees we glimpsed a cascade that the GAIA app labels as Unmentionable Falls. I guess with the plethora of waterfalls nearby, the waterfall namers ran out of names. Past this cascade, Thompson River curves to the right as lesser creeks join it, increasing in size as it flows down and across the NC/SC state line and into Lake Jocassee.

The next 3 miles on trail were unremarkable save for one more unmarked fork where again we stayed left, high above the river. Along the way, reminders of logging days.

We slowed our pace, relying on the GPS to find the side trail to Big Falls. The descent started out reasonably but, as we’ve experienced with remote waterfalls, it became a slippery slope and rock scramble combo where hiking poles are useless and sturdy rhododendron branches are vital.

Getting a little tricky amongst the boulders

Trusting that this set of ropes is safe

We took turns edging out on a sloped rock to get a view of some of the cascades that make up the falls. 

Tipping the camera angle up to capture the cascades

Tipping the angle down to include the nearest chute

Whoever goes down the rope must go back up, no photos, it wasn’t pretty. I breathed a sigh of relief when we got back on the main trail. We backtracked up the logging road, agreeing that we didn’t have time to investigate the smaller waterfalls along the way to High Falls. Since there was no trail signage or blazes, we relied again on the GPS to get to the correct turn, then walked about half a mile to the drop to the river’s edge.

We certainly could hear the waterfall, but it was partially obscured around a bend. Nothing to do but wade in the water around a few big boulders…and there she was, in dappled shadow, a rooster tail spurting midway down the slide.

My feet were already wet, so I might as well wade further into the pool and stand in the water that was on its way downstream to become Big Falls. Everything is connected.

"Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop,
 a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole."
 ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Waterfall 100 Challenge: Wintergreen Falls

Waterfall 100 Challenge: Wintergreen Falls – 9/28/22 - 10.7 Miles

My husband is a very agreeable guy. How many exploratory hiking trips has he said “yes” to? Here we go on another waterfall escapade…or two…on my list.

We made a rare mid-week excursion to get ahead of Hurricane Ian passing through western North Carolina, and booked an Airbnb in Brevard, a great home base to access hundreds (yes, hundreds) of waterfalls in western North Carolina.

First up: Wintergreen Falls, deep in Gorges State Park (not the one in DuPont State Forest!)

I can only surmise that this waterfall has been on Carolina Mountain Club's WC100 Challenge list for years prior to the closing of Auger Hole Road. What used to be a 4-mile round trip hike is now 10+ miles, and my guess is that visitation has dropped dramatically over the years. [Note: Jim was not feeling well, endured this hike with a grimace, but he did it! My hero.]

The hike reports I’ve read about Wintergreen Falls are intimidating, some successful, some not. What begins as an easy hike on an old forest road becomes a very difficult bushwhack. My favorite trip report person writes here about his hike some years ago.

“Auger Hole Trail was once a road, so maybe we could speed this whole thing up by biking it,” said the naïve person (me) with a vested interest in completing the hike. You can't determine the condition of an old forest road until you get on it, but the elevation change didn’t look too bad - just 3 miles on Auger Hole to connect to the Wintergreen Trail! We parked at the trailhead, saddled up and hit the trail.

Almost immediately we hit our first obstacle

Fortunately, this was the only bridge. The condition of the road wasn’t bad, no serious blowdowns or potholes, but who was I kidding? Jim is a cycling machine and can power through any terrain, but the elevation changes were more than I could manage consistently. (In my defense, we were loaded down with daypacks and hiking poles.) After about 1.5 miles of me walking my bike up the steeper hills, we decided to continue on foot. 

We chained the bikes to a tree (pretty sure nobody else would be coming along)
 and walked the next 2 miles on Auger Hole Trail. 

Now that we're on foot, let's look at some fall flowers.

Where Auger Hole Trail continues straight to cross the Toxaway River, we took a right turn onto Wintergreen Trail, a narrower old forest road. The name is misleading, as the trail doesn’t go to the waterfall, but stops at the Wintergreen campsite. It’s a nice destination, two spaces w/ picnic tables and fire rings. A few steps beyond is the Toxaway River again.

Bear box for food storage

Artifact or trash?

Toxaway River at the campsite

Knowing that we would be doing some bushwhacking, we should have left our hiking poles at the campsite but it's hard to break that habit. From this point I had no GPS track, only some notes to help us. [I was creating a GAIA track.]

We found the beginnings of a trail following the Toxaway River upstream

For the most part, I could not see the trail but could sense it – until I couldn’t even do that. The vegetation was beginning to die back, but so much of the foliage was rhododendron and mountain laurel (which doesn’t die back) that we were feeling our way intuitively most of the time. I knew enough to keep the river on our left side and walk upstream, but I was not willing to walk in the water like some have done.

The trail

Would you follow me here?

At one point a huge boulder outcropping came close to a sheer edge and we had to scramble up and over and around it. I’d read about this in others’ writings so was not surprised and actually felt some assurance at being on track.

An unnamed waterfall, not ours, but it sure is pretty

We reached Panther Branch (yay!), easy enough to rock hop across. We followed a brief series of faded pink flagging tape that abruptly ended. The faint trail seemed to continue rising until we reached a point where we were stumped. Had we wandered toward some dead end that others had also followed? We retraced our steps, but the only way forward was incredibly steep down in the direction of the river, nothing to hold onto. Once I slid so far down that I stopped only by putting my feet out to hit the trunk of a tree.

Jim and I sat there for some time, debating our options. I thought I could hear big water, maybe Wintergreen Falls, but we were probably about a quarter of a mile away. Looking at the GAIA track later, it appeared that we progressed about a quarter of a mile from the Panther Branch crossing in 1.5 hours.

Ultimately we decided that neither of us had the skills to go forward, and we turned around. The return to the campsite seemed short (20 minutes?) From there it was 3.5 miles back to the bikes, and 1.5 miles getting the bikes back to the car. Jim was able to ride his, while I rode some and pushed some. This was my physical low point, tired from the bushwhacking.

I was extremely disappointed not to reach Wintergreen Falls, but we had made our very best effort and safety is the most important thing.

We drove back to Brevard, had no energy for eating dinner out, so we hit up Ingles for provisions and found our little Airbnb. Somehow I had missed the detail that it only had portable heaters, but the chilly night was great for sleeping after a long adventure in the woods. Tomorrow is another day!

“A river doesn’t just carry water, it carries life.” ~Amit Kalantri