We saw a faint path heading down past the wooden overlook, so we followed it to try to find a better view. It was quite steep and we had to hold on to rhododendron branches to get down. We came out at a spot at the base of a 15-foot or so cascade over several rock ledges.
This part of the waterfall is just below the part we could see from the overlook, but we couldn’t see anything above it. We decided to give up and try again another time. So we headed back to the car and drove to the Rainbow Falls trailhead parking area. We hiked down the trail and of course had to stop at the beautiful Rainbow Falls. A small rainbow was visible right at the base, but it was too late in the day for a better rainbow.
We then continued on to our main destination for the day – Turtleback Falls. The water level seemed a little higher than normal, but not too high. I was a little concerned, however, as no one else was sliding off. It seemed like everyone was waiting for someone else to go first. Finally, a teenager defiantly walked over to the rope, climbed up and slid off the waterfall. He ended up getting in trouble and wasn’t allowed to swim anymore, but I was glad someone went first. Seeing that it was safe to walk over to the rope, I waded over and climbed up the waterfall and then slid off. It had been several years since I had the chance and it was a lot of fun.
The water was quite cold, but the rush of sliding off a waterfall kept me from noticing at first. After a couple runs, I was starting to really get cold so I got out of the water. Sandy ended up not sliding – she claimed it was too cold for her. So once I was done, we headed back to the car and started making our way home. We stopped at Las Salsas in Morganton for dinner and had a huge portion of fajitas, a fitting end for another epic Big Brevard trip.
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