A Fall at Pot Branch Falls

We continued driving east and hit a lot of holiday traffic.  We were going to stop at Hickory Branch Falls in the Curtis Creek area, but ran out of time.  So we continued on towards Morganton for one last waterfall of the weekend.  We exited the interstate on NC-226 and went about 18 miles and headed into the South Mountains Game Lands.  It was about 3 miles on the gravel Old CC Road to a parking area at a gated road.  We hiked down this road about a half-mile to Pot Branch Falls.  It’s a small, but scenic waterfall that flows through a narrow chasm in the rock with several big pools at the top and the base.

Although it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, the area is a popular spot.  There were two couples hiking out as we were heading in and a group of about a dozen teenagers swimming at the waterfall.  I got a couple pictures here and then we got ready to hike back.  I noticed one of the girls was near the top of the waterfall and told Sandy that she better be careful up there.  Not thirty seconds later, she slipped and fell.  She survived, but it looked like she broke her foot badly and was in a lot of pain.  While several of her friends helped her out of the water, Sandy and I headed back to the car with two of her friends to check our first aid kit.  We found some bandages and gauze to give to the girls and try to help their injured friend.  We offered to call 911 once we got back to cell signal, but she was almost back to the car by this time and her friends would take her to the hospital.  What a way to the end the weekend.  A good reminder that waterfalls can be extremely dangerous and that no good comes from going to the top of a waterfall.

We headed into Morganton for dinner at Las Salsas before heading home.