Green River Waterfalls

For the last week of March, Sandy and I headed to the mountains of North Georgia for a “spring break” trip to hunt waterfalls in a new state. We had gotten Waterfall Hikes of North Georgia by Jim Parham as a guide and our goal was a total of 50 waterfalls! Saturday morning, we left early to get a start on our waterfall hunting. We were camping the night at Jones Gap State Park in South Carolina and stopped in Saluda, NC on the way to get a start on our waterfalls. From I-26/US-74 west of Charlotte, we took exit 59 and turned right on Holbert Cove Road. From the exit, it was about 3.2 miles to a pull-off on the side of the road, just before the road crosses Cove Creek. When we arrived, there was only one other car at the pull-off. We would hit two waterfalls from here, both in the Green River Game Land. Our first waterfall was Bradley Falls. From the parking area, we followed the blue-blazed trail through an open field and then into the woods. Shortly, we had our first stream crossing, with Creekside Falls flowing down the side of the cliff face into Cove Creek.

Not really a waterfall, but rather pretty nonetheless. Something to distract us from the cold water. The water level at the creek was high enough that there was no way to cross dry. So we took our boots and socks off and waded across the creek. This would be the first of many times getting our feet wet on this trip. Once across the creek, we put our shoes and socks back on and continued along the trail. At first, the trail was pretty easy to follow with blue blazes on the trees to mark the way. As we got closer to the falls, however, the blazes disappeared and the trail became a bit harder to follow. I followed one side trail down to the top of the falls, but there was no good view here, so I headed back up. There were several splits in the trail, so it was a bit tricky to follow. After a couple of wrong turns, we followed the correct trail past several downed trees to a rock outcrop on the cliff overlooking the waterfall. From here, we had a decent view across the gorge to the waterfall, but trees were partially obscuring the view.

The waterfall has two plunges on the left and right sides. From the cliff overlook, the smaller left stream is visible, but the larger right is partially blocked by trees. It is possible to get down to the base for better views, but that requires rappelling down a steep cliff. We saw a couple of people in full climbing gear making the trip down, but considering that we’re not experienced climbers and didn’t have gear, we had to be content with views from the cliff overlook. There was another spot along the cliff back just a bit where we could see the right side better, but it was still partially blocked by trees.

After a few pictures, we started heading back. Some more people were heading to the area as we were leaving, including several at the creek crossing. They were desperately trying to find a way across without getting wet, but were having no luck. We waded across and headed back to the car. The start of our hike to the next waterfall was conveniently right across the road. The trail to Little Bradley Falls starts on the opposite site of the road, just across the bridge over Cove Creek. This trail is blazed red and runs about a mile to the falls.

About half-way through, there was another stream crossing. There was an extended family here, with the men about half-way across the creek, rearranging the rocks to try and provide an easy crossing for the women and children in the group. The crossing they made, however, looked a little treacherous. We saw a couple coming back who crossed at some downed trees; this looked like a much easier route, so we went the way they had come. Shortly after the stream crossing, we passed the ruins of some old structure with a couple of mostly-collapsed chimneys and then soon made it to the waterfall. Little Bradley Falls is a very scenic 35-foot tiered waterfall.

We had beat the family here, so had the falls to ourselves for a few minutes to get some pictures and videos. Soon, more and more people were arriving, so we started making our way back. By the time we got back to our car, there were at least a dozen cars parked along both sides of the road - clearly this was a popular destination in the area and we were glad that we arrived early. From here, we headed toward Saluda and took US-176 east for about 3 miles to Pearsons Falls Road. Pearson’s Falls was our next waterfall for the day. Although located on private property owned by the Tryon Garden Club, the falls are open to the public for a fee of $5 per person. We paid at the gate and then made the short stroll up the trail to the waterfall.

It was a beautiful walk along Colt Creek to this spectacular waterfall.

We got a few pictures and videos and then made our way back, stopping a few times to view the first signs of spring wildflowers along trail on the way back.

By the time we were done, it was getting into the afternoon and we were getting hungry. There was a Subway near I-26 and we stopped here to get lunch. We both got foot-long subs, eating half and saving the other half for dinner at camp. In hindsight, we should have gotten lunch first and had a picnic at Pearson’s Falls.