Case Falls, Briefcase Falls, Emily Falls,
the Hungry River, and the Vegan Pizza!
Henderson and Polk County, NC
Sunday, August 19th, 2018
Brenda and Me at Briefcase Falls
Last week our Team Waterfall buddy John posted about a new waterfall he found on Case Creek in the Green River Gamelands of North Carolina. I suggested to Brenda that we follow in his footsteps and check it out. Our schedules aligned for some Sunday Morning Waterfall Wandering.
Page 142 of Kevin Adam's "North Carolina Waterfalls - 3rd Edition" has a listing for Case Falls which would be the first destination on our agenda!
There are also a few nice cascades upstream from Case Falls which we stopped to check along the way.
Cascades upstream from Case Falls
Cascades upstream from Case Falls
Case Falls turned out to be not overly photogenic. The main drop is covered with deadfall making it difficult to get a nice capture. It could really use some waterfall maintenance!
Case Falls
From here it is a total bushwhack downstream to John's new discovery which he named Briefcase Falls. This one is well worth the short hike and bushwhack!
Briefcase Falls
Brenda at Briefcase Falls
Briefcase Falls
Briefcase Falls Selfie
There is also another sliding type waterfall immediately downstream, but it was covered with deadfall and definitely not photo worthy in it's current state!
We bushwhacked back up to the main trail and continued on to the old Mill site on the Hungry River. There is a nice waterfall right next to the old Mill which Kevin Adam's calls, "Lower Waterfall on Hungry River"
Lower Waterfall on the Hungry River
Ruins of an old Mill along the Hungry River
This spot has potential for some very interesting photos! The lighting wasn't very good, so I had to get creative with my compositions to come up with any post worthy photos! I definitely hope to return here someday and capture the scene with some early morning fog!
Lower Waterfall on the Hungry River
Lower Waterfall on the Hungry River
Downstream from the old Mill on the Hungry River
View from above of the Lower Waterfall on the Hungry River
We returned back to my truck and continued on down Big Hungry Road to check out Emily Falls (Pages 142-143 of Kevin's book).
We immediately took a wrong turn out of the parking area which added a little distance and an unnecessary bushwhack. However, our wrong turn also allowed us to turn this into a little loop hike instead of an out and back.
Emily Falls is only about 12 feet tall, but a very scenic spot. It looked vaguely familiar to me, so I went through some of my old photos and trip reports and confirmed that I had been there way back in 2003, long before I knew it was called Emily Falls!
Emily Falls
Emily Falls
Emily Falls
Emily Falls
Brenda at Emily Falls
After Emily Falls, I wanted to make one more stop to check out the Hungry River Dam. Rumor has it that they will be tearing down the Dam and returning this section of River back to it's natural state. I wanted to get a "before" photo for my archives before that happens!
Hungry River Dam
Brenda is passionate about her 100% Vegan lifestyle, so after our hike, I decided to join Brenda for lunch in Hendersonville, NC at "The Jazzy Vegetarian Vegan Cafe!" I am not a Vegan, but I always like to try new things. The fact that restaurant shares it's seating space with the Sanctuary Brewing Company was an added bonus!
I went with the Vegan Pepperoni Pizza!
My first ever Vegan Pizza
The crust was good, the sauce was great, and I loved the fresh basil that topped it all off! The Vegan "pepperoni" was a bit strange, but not bad. My only real issue was the cheese! I still prefer that my cheese comes from a cow! Of course, that didn't stop me from eating the entire pizza! And there were definitely some other items on the menu that I would be eager to try!
It was great to get together with Brenda again for a hike!
My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157697260812682
