Green River Waterfalls

Sunday morning, after breaking camp, Sandy and I headed to High Falls.  Although Duke Energy was not opening the dam today, Sandy had never been and since we were so close to the trailhead, I figured we might as well stop by.  This was my first time coming in from the upper trailhead at the Pines Recreation Area.  After parking, we followed the old road down to the base of High Falls.  There are a lot of steps and it’s quite steep.

At the bottom, we stopped for a few pictures and started making our way back up.  It was very humid and so the uphill was slow going.  Above the top of High Falls, we could see First Falls upstream on the river.  We made the slow hike back to the car and then headed into Cashiers for breakfast at Bucks Coffee.  We met Badger and the others and had a relaxing breakfast and coffee, before we started making our way back home.  We got off I-26 near Saluda and followed US-176 down along the North Pacolet River.  We parked on this road in between the twin bridges over the river at the trailhead for Melrose Falls.  The trail and area around the waterfall are protected by the Pacolet Area Conservancy.  It’s a fairly easy hike to this waterfall, but the heat and humidity made it rough.  As we approached the waterfall, we climbed down to a rock outcrop overlooking the waterfall.

The view was partially obscured by trees, but the waterfall was still very scenic.  The water level was a little low, but this was definitely a nice waterfall.  After a few pictures, we made our way back.  We drove back through Saluda and followed Holbert Cove Road into Green River Game Lands.  Passing the very crowded trailhead for Bradley and Little Bradley Falls, we tried to turn right on a game land road.  But it was gated, so we parked along the road here.  It was about three-quarters of a mile to the end of the gated road.  At the end of the road, we crossed Ostin Creek and followed the remnants of an old road downstream.  The path was very overgrown and difficult to follow.  Eventually we went around a ridge and crossed a small tributary.  Past this crossing, we started bushwhacking down towards the creek to Fungi Falls.  The bushwhack was brutally steep and difficult, made that much worse by the high temperatures and humidity.  Eventually, I made it to the base of the waterfall for a picture, then started climbing back up.

It was too hot to linger.  We finished the hike back at the car and started making our way home.  We stopped in Kannapolis for Mexican at Los Arcos.