Falls Creek Falls (2.7 miles; d=4.30)
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Falls Creek Falls Hike Route Map
My hike to Falls Creek Falls, along with Little Falls Creek Falls, as tracked by the Gaia GPS app and depicted a la Google Earth...
Falls Creek Falls Hike Route Map
My hike to Falls Creek Falls, along with Little Falls Creek Falls, as tracked by the Gaia GPS app...
The trailhead is just past the Palmetto Bible Camp and parking is quite limited, maybe 3-or-4 cars max. As you can see the trail starts climbing immediately...
It was immediately apparent that this was going to be one of those trails...one that doesn't concern itself with switchbacks but rather just heads straight uphill...
After the initial moderate climb from the parking area the path flattened out, which surprised me as I thought the hike would be a non-stop climb...
As the trail started following the side of the ridge numerous huge boulders began to litter the forest floor...
On the descent now, another surprising development...
More boulders scattered just uphill from the trail...
This mid-section of the trail was pleasantly easy to travel. I knew, however, that I still had around 600-vertical feet to climb so the longer the path waited to climb the steeper it was going to be...
Descending through the laurel with the sounds of Falls Creek now filling my ears...
The trail as it bottoms out just prior to its crossing of Little Falls Creek...
You can't tell in this shot but, just before crossing Little Falls Creek, I could see what looked to be a sizeable cascade just uphill to the right. I decided to do a bit of exploring...
With an open understory and the cascade I was headed for clearly visible this was about as easy as off-trail exploration ever gets...
Dropping down alongside the beautiful Little Falls Creek...
The base of the cascade I was looking for. The main cascade is hidden in a deep 'flume' behind the rock outcrop to the right...
Fallen rhododendron made a clear shot of the falls lower 'flume' section impossible...
To reach the upper portion of the falls I scrambled my way up the large rock outcrop alongside the lower section of the falls...
No nearly as photogenic as its big brother nearby, this unnamed cascade was still impressive. In my estimation, including the lower 'flume' section, this waterfall is likely over 100' in height...
A quick vid of the unnamed cascade on Little Falls Creek. I apologize for the poor sound quality...
The colorful base of the cascade...
Heading back to the main trail I was confronted with the crossing of Little Falls Creek itself...
The pretty cascade just above the rock-hop of Little Falls Creek...
Looking back at the relatively easy rock-hop crossing of Little Falls Creek...
Almost immediately after the crossing, the long awaited climb began in earnest. The trail makes a hard right and attacks the ridge head-on...
