One of the things that I like very much about living in the Tennessee - North Carolina - South Carolina area is the proximity to a lot of forests and the waterfalls therein. I am a big waterfall fan and the first thing I look up when I hike is whether there is a waterfall along the hike. That is the reward that I look forward to as a hiker and as an amateur photographer too. So when I moved to Tennessee, nearby waterfalls was the first thing I searched for and I was amazed at the various beautiful waterfalls in the area around a 2-3 hours driving radius. Anyways, to cut the long story short, since we were planning to meet a friend in South Carolina, we decided to take a stab at one of the waterfalls on my bucket list "Rainbow Falls" and then explore the area around if we had time.
Rainbow falls is situated in Gorges State Park in North Carolina. It took us around 2.5 hours to reach Gorges state park via Asheville, Brevard and some beautiful communities around Lake Toxaway. We talked about how this is a good place for even an extended weekend where we could stay around the lake, go for a walk and explore the wilderness around. When we reached Gorges State park I was very impressed with the visitor center. This is one of the best visitor centers I have seen, at least for a state park. It has a nice indoor seating area with a fireplace, a modern art in the form of a waterfall (complete with the recorded thundering waterfall sound), and an auditorium playing an informational movie about NC state parks on demand. The outdoor seating and deck has some beautiful views of the mountains and a nice wooden walkway to stroll around absorbing the views if you like. When we reached, the mountains were covered by clouds and the fog had almost engulfed the visitor center too. The whole setting was so relaxing that we were almost enticed to drop the idea of hiking in favor of relaxing at the visitor center.
With great difficulty we left the visitor center behind us and drove to the Rainbow falls trailhead which is about another 1 mile to the south. The trail is very well marked and fairly easy. There are several spurs along the trail to access the creek if you want to play in the water or just get your feet wet. It took us about 40 min to reach the overlook to rainbow falls. There is a flight of steps just before the overlook. It is not that you don’t know that you are getting close to the waterfall as the thundering sound of the fall keeps getting closer, but once you climb the steps the fall suddenly reveals itself and just blows your mind. The fall is spectacular and was worth resisting the temptation to just enjoy at the visitor center. It has great force and a significant volume of water gushing through it into the swimming hole below. There are several overlooks to look at the falls from the front, below and top. The one I liked best was the overlook about midway on the spur trail that leads to the bottom of the falls from the main trail. I will advise to be watchful while descending though since we accidently disturbed a swarm of bees on our way down and got stung pretty badly.The swimming hole itself is a perfect spot for swimmers of all kinds. There is a nice swimming area as well as several places to dive including some not-so-safe but really exciting places if you like. It is possible to continue on the main trail further to get a top view of the falls and then reach turtle back falls. We decided to pass on turtle back falls since we had decided to see some other falls in the area. I would rate the hike easy to moderate and pretty much doable for anyone who can walk.
After having a nice lunch at the visitor center enjoying the mountain views as the sky had cleared up, we left for Whitewater falls. Whitewater falls is 8 miles south of Gorges state park in the Nantahala national forest. The trail to the overlook is a short ¼ mile accessible wooden walkway. There is also an option to go down via a flight of steps to have a closer look at the falls. From the overlook at the end of the stairs the upper as well as lower falls are visible, so I would certainly recommend the descent. There are no fall views past this point although one can continue on the trail to access the foothills trail. We enjoyed the view at the lower overlook and trekked back to our cars. I can imagine this being a very nice place to view fall colours.
Our next plan was to visit some falls along Highway 64 / Highlands Rd near Highlands NC. The first fall we saw was Bridal Veil Falls which is a small stream of water falling from the cliff hanging over the road. One can drive behind the falls using the small pullout. After a brief stop for pictures we proceeded to Dry Falls which is just 5 mins away from Bridal Falls on westbound Highway 64. Dry falls can be seen from an accessible wooden pathway leading to an overlook. Alternatively the falls can be reached via a wooden walkway and a few stairs. This is a fantastic place for taking some nice waterfall pictures. The waterfall has a significant drop and here you can walk behind the falls through a small recess in the bluff secured by a wooden fencing. Our visit to the fall was abruptly cut short by the sudden showers that showed up and drenched us in the approximately 5 mins that it took for us to reach our car. This is a must visit place and if you are anywhere in the area I would certainly recommend taking a detour to visit Dry Falls.
On our way back we decided to take a different northbound route so that we ended up driving the complete loop around Southern Section of Pisgah National forest to reach Asheville. This also allowed us to make a brief stop at Cullasaja Falls on Highway 64 which is a nice fall nestled in the Cullasaja river gorge. This one is easy to miss though since there is only one overlook and it is not marked at all. You really have to keep looking to find the overlook. This completed 5 waterfalls for us for the day. After a long day we were in the mood for some comfort food and the consensus in the car was for Italian. So we decided to stop by an Italian place called Favilla’s New York Pizza as recommended by Yelp. Although the reviews for the place were good we were a little circumspect as the place itself looked pretty run down and the neighborhood looked a little sketchy. Regardless in the interest of time and hunger we decided to try it out. I must say I was impressed by the food which justified all the good reviews. We got garlic bread and a customized New York style pizza. The Garlic bread was good and the pizza was delicious although a little too greasy for those health Nazis out there. I am not complaining though because it is my opinion that what good is a pizza if it is not greasy. This was a fitting conclusion to a day well spent exploring a few of the several beautiful waterfalls in the area. 5 down, many to go.
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