Log Hollow and Eastatoe Falls

Thursday morning, we woke up early, before sunrise, and broke camp. From Davidson River Campground, we went north on US-276 a ways, turning left on Forest Service Road 475B. We drove about 1.5 miles and parked at the gated FSR 5043 just as the sun was rising. After our failure to get High Falls yesterday, I was determined to get all of our target waterfalls today. We started off hiking down the Forest Road to the first bridge and turned right to follow a faint path upstream along the small tributary. It was less than a quarter-mile to the Waterfall on Northern Tributary of Log Hollow Branch.

The waterfall is about 50 feet, but the watershed is small so the waterfall wasn’t too impressive. I would like to visit again after a good rain as I believe that this one would be a lot better with higher water flow. After a couple of pictures, we backtracked to the forest road and continued hiking. Shortly, we reached another bridge and could see the next waterfall from the road - Waterfall on Log Hollow Branch.

This waterfall is smaller than the others - maybe 30 feet - but it had the best water flow. A leaning tree was right in front of the waterfall making photos challenging, but I found an angle to shoot with the tree framing the falls. Then we continued hiking up the forest road another half-mile to the last waterfall on this hike.

Waterfall on Southern Tributary of Log Hollow Branch is the highest of the waterfalls, but had the puniest water flow. It’s right along the forest road, but was barely noticeable in low flow.

We got some pictures and then hiked back to the cars. I imagine that the best time to see all these waterfalls is right after a good rain. Back at the car, we left the forest and got on US-64 West. In Rosman, we turned on US-178 and stopped by Eastatoe Falls. This beautiful waterfall is literally in someone’s backyard, but the people who live here are kind enough to allow public access. Along their driveway, they have signs directing to waterfall parking and a warning of a very friendly dog. As soon as we got out of the cars, we were greeted by this adorable dog. Very friendly, indeed, though he didn’t have a name tag so we weren't able to find out his name. We could see the waterfall from the parking area, but we let the dog lead us to the waterfall. It seems that he's used to showing visitors the way and seemed to be really enjoying the company.

Eastatoe Falls is a really beautiful waterfall, maybe 60 to 70 feet high in a most beautiful setting. We stayed here for a while taking pictures and playing around the waterfall. The friendly dog seemed to really be enjoying the attention and even posed for some pictures with us.

And he seemed quite disappointed when we were leaving. The landowners here should be commended for allowing the public to access this beautiful waterfall on their private property.