Birthday Waterfalls

This is the last time for a few years that my birthday falls on Memorial Day Weekend, so Sandy and I headed out to the mountains for the long weekend to get some waterfalls. We left Friday night and drove out to the Brevard area. It turns out there was a festival in Brevard over the holiday weekend, so everything in the area was packed. We finally found a spot along Cathey’s Creek Road to spend the night. Saturday morning, we woke up and headed into Brevard for breakfast and then into the National Forest along US-276. In about 10 miles, we turned right on Yellow Gap Road (FSR 1206) and drove for about 3 miles, then turned right on Wolf Ford Road (FSR 476). Even here, all the campsites were occupied. At the end of the road, we parked and started hiking down South Mills River Trail (#133). In about a mile, the trail turned right to cross South Fork Mills River on a bridge. We got off the trail here and followed an unofficial trail across Billy Branch and continuing to follow the river downstream. The river and trail eventually curved to the left and the trail ended at a river crossing. A rope was strung across to assist wading the river. Once across, the trail continued for maybe another quarter-mile and then a short path led down to the base of the waterfall. Despite the name, High Falls is not particularly high.

It’s only about 15 feet, but rather named as the highest waterfall on this stretch of river. To get a decent shot of the falls, I had to wade into the middle of the river. The water was very cold, but some rocks provided a spot to get out of the water for taking photos.

When we finished here, we started making our way back, having to wade the river again. When we got back to Billy Branch, after crossing the creek, we turned right and followed a faint path upstream for a few minutes to Waterfall on Billy Branch.

This is a very scenic and relatively unknown 20-foot waterfall and definitely worth a quick detour from the route to High Falls. In fact, I think it was more scenic than High Falls. After a few minutes, we headed back and finished the hike back to the car. Back at the car, we returned to US-276 and turned right and headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We got on the parkway heading south and went a few miles to the Graveyard Fields Overlook.

Not surprisingly, the parking area was full and parked cars were spilling out onto the roadway. We found a parking spot and then hiked the Graveyard Fields Loop Trail (#358) in the clockwise direction. Along the way, we saw some beautiful painted trillium blooming along the trail.

Once across Yellowstone Prong, we turned left to get on Upper Falls Trail (#358A). In about three-quarters of a mile or so, we got to the end of the trail and climbed up and over the rocks to the base of Upper Falls. It’s a nice waterfall, but the direct sunlight on the water and rocks made for difficult pictures.

Throughout the weekend, we had the most beautiful weather with pleasant temperatures and blue skies. Unfortunately, this is not ideal weather for waterfall photography. Moreover, the area was extremely crowded and we had to wait in line to get pictures. This was the last waterfall I needed to complete the WC100 challenge, so of course I needed a few pictures. After some pictures at the waterfall, we headed back and then continued the Graveyard Fields Loop Trail. When we had almost finished the loop, we turned onto Mountains-to-Sea Access Trail (#358B) and took the stairs down to Second Falls. Like Upper Falls, this waterfall was extremely crowded and some people were even swimming at the base.

The water was way too cold for me, so I climbed out on the rocks and got a couple pictures and then we headed back to the car. We continued driving south on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and got off on NC-215 north. We drove about 4 miles and parked at a sharp left-hand turn. I was certain at least this area of the forest wouldn’t have people, but I was wrong! There were two cars already parked here. From the pull-off, we saw a couple coming back down to the road and then we headed up the steep path. At the top, the path leveled off and followed Sam Branch upstream. At the upper portion of Lower Waterfall on Sam Branch, we stopped for a bit to get some pictures and climb around on the rocks.

Then we crossed the creek and followed the path to Waterfall in Wash Hollow. Another couple was here enjoying the falls.

Waterfall in Wash Hollow is a pretty cool waterfall, with the water sliding down a steep rock face about 50 feet. There was an additional stream of water flowing down to the right of the main stream, but it was hard to get a good photo. After a couple pictures, we started heading back. Before crossing Sam Branch, we scrambled down to the lower part of the Waterfall on Sam Branch.

I think the view from down here is the best of this falls and a big old log here makes for cool pictures. We crossed back and climbed up to the path and followed it back to the car. Continuing just a short ways on NC-215, we wanted to stop at Waterfall on West Fork Pigeon River, also called Sunburst Falls. The small parking area on the side of the road was completely full, so we had to drive a little further to another pull-off and walk back up the road. We climbed down to river level below the falls and got some pictures of the waterfall flowing under the scenic High Arch Bridge.

It was crowded down here, though, so after a couple of pictures, we headed back. By this point, we had given up on finding a camping spot, so we headed to the Hampton Inn at Brevard to try and get a room. I wasn’t too surprised when they said they were full. So we sat in the parking lot and tried to call around to other hotels in the area. Finally, we found one with vacancy – Mountain Inn and Suites near the Asheville Airport. We checked into our room and then headed back to Pisgah Forest, where Sandy bought me birthday dinner at Hawg Wild. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed early.