Debbie at base of Pearson's Falls, Saluda, NC
October 2, 2005
October 2, 2005
Photo © Jim Brown
Waterfalls. Nature's psychotherapy. Give us a leisurely hike along wooded paths that lead to a waterfall and my wife Debbie and I are in heaven. Heaven on earth. So relaxing to sit and listen to the sound—sometimes a murmur, sometimes a roar—the water makes as it falls and bounces off rocks and ledges and plunges into the pool at the base. This page records the waterfalls we've visited since we began dating in 2005. It describes our thoughts about each waterfall and provides links to trail maps and photographs of the same falls by others.
Most of the waterfalls on this page are in the northwestern area of South Carolina or western North Carolina. If you're interested in falls in this area, I recommend that you visit Rich Stevenson's web site, ncwaterfalls.com. Rich has a comprehensive list of all water falls in this area and some of the most beautiful photographs of waterfalls that you will find.
I hope you enjoy the page as much as we enjoyed the falls. If you want to comment, send e-mail to jcb37310@yahoo.com.
Debbie and I hiked to our first waterfall together on October 2, 2005. We were at Campobello, SC, for a concert at which Brandon's band was playing, so we decided to make a long weekend of it and do one of our favorite activities: riding in the mountains. We stayed at Pine Crest Inn in Tryon, NC. We recommend it as a wonderful, quiet get-away spot.
Searching the web for things to do along our planned route, we found Pearson's Falls and the Nature Center associated with them. The area is owned by the Tryon (NC) Garden Club. You can learn the history and get directions on the web site for the falls.
It's a short (quarter mile), easy hike to the falls, along a well-marked trail through the Nature Center. When I say easy, I mean easy. I hiked it in loafers and Deb in slip-on sandals. There is a small fee to help with costs of maintaining the Nature Center and trails, but it is well worth it.
As you see from the picture, Pearson's Falls is picturesque and interesting. I call this type of falls staircase falls. They have an almost regular progression of small steps at a shallow slope. Pearson's has one major cascade and then the water ripples down the stairs. The web site says the falls are 90 feet high. I believe that is measuring from the top to the stream below the small falls. I would estimate the actual main falls are 50 feet high, still beautiful and impressive.
Speaking of beautiful: if you like waterfalls, you should vist Rich Stevenson's web site. Rich has real talent for capturing a falls with just the right light to bring out the best features. I will usually link to his pictures. Here's one of his three pictures of Pearson's Falls.
We hiked to Hamilton Falls while on our honeymoon in Vermont. We spent a wonderful three nights at the Windham Hill Inn in West Townsend. On October 16, 2007, we hiked the West River Trail and Hamilton Falls Trail to the falls.
Parking is near the entrance to Jamaica State Park and the round-trip hike is about seven miles. You can download a trail map from the state park web site link. The first two miles are on a converted rail bed along the scenic West River and this part is an easy hike. The last mile or so is a moderate trail to the falls. The trail is wide and footing good, it just gets a little steep in some parts. The trail leads to both the bottom and top of the falls. There is a pool at the top that has tempted swimmers over the years. Getting to it is a precarious climb down that has led to a number of fatalities.
When we were at the falls, the water flow of Cobb Brook was low, so we saw only a trickle of water as shown in our photo. Here is a photo with the falls in full flow.
It was a crisp fall day when we made our hike. When we decided to go to Vermont for the first part of our honeymoon, we figured we'd get only the last vestiges of leaf color. Early fall, however, had been warm and we were delighted to find that color was still developing. Peak color would, in fact, occur while we were there. The mountains, of course, were the attraction for us, so we spent one day riding in the mountains, one day hiking to Hamilton Falls, and one day riding the Green Mountain Flyer. If you're interested you can view photos of the entire trip, which included three days in New York.
We visited my daughter in Cookeville, Tennessee, in August 2008. Knowing how much we loved to hike to waterfalls, her boyfriend Tony and she took us to Burgess Falls State Park.
The park has an easy trail to Little Falls, Middle Falls, and Burgess Falls. Middle and Burgess have nice platform overlooks. You can hike to the base of Burgess Falls, but the trail is steeper and is rated moderate.
The best time to visit waterfalls is after period of regualar rainfall, but you go when you can. As a result, you usually don't see the falls at the peak of their glory. This was a good example. Burgess Falls is a spectacular 130 foot drop over a rock shelf. The day we were there, the flow of the Falling Water River was average. Compare this picture that I took to the one on the state park web site linked above or to the one on Rich Stevenson's site. It seems that the flow has not recently been as high as shown in the state park site photo given the vegetation growth at the point of the rounded shelf shown in my picture.
In March 2009, Debbie and I stayed at Long Mountain Lodge on the return trip from my nephew Jason's wedding. The literature at the lodge told us about these falls, which are apparently unnamed.
The hike and falls are on the grounds at Camp Merrill, a training ground for the mountain phase of Army Ranger training. Getting to the base of the falls was difficult, so I was limited to pictures I could take from the trail, which is on the shoulder of the hillside above the falls. Here is a picture from another site that shows the falls from their base.
We really didn't think much about the setting we were hiking in. Well, not until the hike back to our car from the falls. About halfway back, we heard a BOOM in the distance, followed by excited but unintelligible shouts.
Then it happened again, seemingly closer this time. By now, we were walking slower and much more cautiously, trying to figure out what was going on. As we rounded a bend in the trail, we found out: a company (I don't know—it seemed to be that many) of Ranger trainees in full field gear was coming double-time up the trail at us. We stepped to the side of the trail and I asked the First Lieutenant if we were okay. He said, "Yeah, just stick to the trail." About that time, another flash-bang (the BOOMs) went off to our left, simulating incoming artillery. The whole company hit the dirt as one. Almost immediately the officers commanded them to get up and get moving. The whole line of young, fit soldiers, each with a pack that I would say weighed 80 to 90 pounds given the effort it took to get up from the ground, resumed their double-time without drawing a deep breath. The rest of our hike seemed downright tame.
A life-long dream of both Debbie and me came true in August 2009 when we bought our "place in the mountains" in Mountain Rest, SC. The house is in State Park Estates, just north of Oconee State Park. We're surrounded by state park or national forest property so there will not be any opportunities in the future for the area to be over developed (read: crowded). We have a wonderful view of mountains to the west.
The first hike to a waterfall that we took after we bought the dream was to Hidden Falls. The trail to the falls begins at the trail head of the Foothills Trail in Oconee State Park, which is just a half mile south of our place. The link above will give you directions from there. As you get near the falls, the trail has some rather steep sections and requires some minor climbing down. Tamassee Creek does not usually have a lot of flow, so the falls may be more a trickle than a roar. As you see from the picture, we went during low flow in Tamassee Creek, which is the normal state. Go after a major rainfall and you will be rewarded with more flow and a more spectacular falls. Debbie and I plan to return to Hidden Falls after a rain, so perhaps I can replace this photo with a prettier one. Unfortunately, Rick Stevenson does not have a picture of Hidden Falls on his site.
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