Introducing Turtle Rock Falls
Green River Gamelands
Polk County, NC
Saturday, February 23rd, 2019
Introducing our latest waterfall "discovery"
Me, Jennifer, and Andy at Turtle Rock Falls
Andy had identified a few spots with good waterfall potential along an un-named tributary in the Green River Gamelands of North Carolina. Since the area has been receiving record amounts of rain, we thought it would be the perfect day to explore this normally much lower volume stream!
So Jennifer, Andy, Boone, and I ventured out into the unknown of a cold and rainy Saturday in search of new waterfalls!
Turtle Rock Falls
We started from Green River Cove Road (35.3025, -82.2629) with plans of bushwhacking upstream following the path of least resistance! The rain was coming down mcuh harder than what was predicted, but the bushwhacking was way easier then we were anticipating!
In fact, it was so easy that I would classify the hike to Turtle Rock Falls as "Amy Approved".
There is pretty much a "trail" the entire way!
We had come up with the name Turtle Rock Falls before we even got there! A short distance downstream there was a huge boulder that we all thought looked like a giant turtle. Since all our cameras were safely packed inside dry bags, all three of us managed not to take a photo of the Turtle Rock that we named this waterfall after!
Andy at Turtle Rock Falls
The Main drop of Turtle Rock Falls is only about a half mile from the road and it far exceeded my expectations!
Turtle Rock Falls
Boone at Turtle Rock Falls
Turtle Rock Falls
There is also a really cool cave along river right. It made for the perfect spot to safely hang out and wait for the heaviest of the rain to pass!
Jennifer, Me, and Andy hanging out in the cool cave by Turtle Rock Falls
Jennifer taking a photo of Turtle Rock Falls
After a nice break, we decided to continue upstream! Climbing up from Turtle Rock Falls was one of the few difficult sections of this adventure. This can be avoided by backtracking a bit before heading upstream! Once we got up the old roadbed, it was easy going from there!
This route takes you high above the creek, but with the open forest we were able to see the creek most of the way to make sure we didn't miss anything significant.
The next waterfall is about another half mile upstream. This one is also very nice, but much more difficult to get down to and to photograph. There is really only enough room for one Tri-Pod at a time, so keep your group size small if you plan on visiting this one!
Rainy Falls
Since Andy was the one to pick out these spots on the topo map and plan this little adventure, we gave him full control over the naming rights! My suggestion of Green Dragon Falls was rejected in favor of Rainy Falls!
Green Dragon Rock (near Rainy Falls)
The total hike was only about two miles, leaving plenty of time for another adventure! However we were all soaking wet! So instead of more waterfalls, we decided to go with dry clothes and a few beers at The Purple Onion in Saluda, NC! The perfect way to end an awesome day!
Here is the GPS Track from our Adventure!
My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157707141756244
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