BOONE’S FALLS

(or, Worst Shortcut Ever)

“WHAT!?!”

Darrin was shouting something at me, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying because of the roar of the waterfall immediately to my left. It was a waterfall I wasn’t expecting to find here – I was confident when we’d reached the creek a few minutes earlier that any waterfalls would be upstream. Boy was I wrong. Unfortunately, we had to get to the bottom of the falls to get back to the trail – and daylight was fading.

I caught up to Darrin, and he repeated himself for the third or fourth time.

“Boone fell.”

“What? What do you mean, he fell?”, I replied, while frantically looking around for him.

“He went over the waterfall. He got too close to the edge and slipped and was swept away. Man, I don’t know….”

I was strangely calm at first. He would be ok. He HAD to be ok. But we had to go get him.

***********

It had been a pleasant hike up to that point. I’d met Darrin and Brenda at the Fall Creek Falls trailhead in Jones Gap State Park at 9:15. We left a couple of cars there, and rode with Darrin over to the main parking lot at the Jones Gap Trailhead. The park recently raised the day use fee from $2 to $5 per person. Luckily for us, Darrin does a lot of volunteer trail work in the park. He has free access, and since we were with him, so did we.

Our goal for the day was to check a portion of Little Fall Creek for undocumented waterfalls. We planned to incorporate that adventure into a loop hike combining the Hospital Rock and Fall Creek Falls Trails. Our adventure was successful, as we ended up finding three new (to us) waterfalls. Although it might be more accurate to say that one of the waterfalls found us.

The morning was foggy and drizzly, but unusually warm for January. I ended up doing the whole hike in shorts and a t-shirt. We even found violets blooming in a couple of places.

We started the hike on a paved path that led to a bridge over the Middle Saluda River. After a stop at the restrooms, we headed up the Hospital Rock Trail, passing a few campsites along the way. The park recently rerouted two long sections of this trail. Darrin participated in some of the trail construction. I’m pleased to report that their efforts were worthwhile. The new sections of trail are a huge improvement. The footing is much better, the route is a little less steep, and most of the PUDS (pointless ups and downs) have been eliminated.

Another benefit of the rerouted trail is that one of the new sections passes directly below a recently discovered waterfall on Rocky Branch. Apparently this waterfall was unknown prior to construction of the new trail. The park is planning to name it Buckeye Falls. When we reached Rocky Branch we made the short, steep climb along the stream to the base of the falls. We took a few photos before resuming the hike.

We reached Hospital Rock a little after 11am. Hospital Rock is a cave under a huge overhanging boulder. Allegedly it was used by deserters during the Civil War. We took a few photos there and had an early lunch. Then we resumed the hike with a more grueling climb on switchbacks up the Cleveland Cliffs.

After the last of the switchbacks we passed close to Buck Hollow Creek. Judging from the topo map, it looked like there could be a waterfall below us. The woods were fairly open, so we decided to drop our packs and take a look. We descended through open forest initially, but rhododendron thickets eventually slowed our progress. Before long we reached a steep drop off above the creek. We followed a ridge parallel to the creek, heading downstream. After a short distance we began to descend steeply. A short distance later, we spied a significant waterfall immediately below us. There was a dense tangle of vegetation in the way though. Beyond it was a sheer cliff.

We didn’t see a safe route down for a better look. It may have been possible to veer back to the right, away from the creek, to find a descent route. However, that area was horribly overgrown. We weren’t up for crawling down a cliff face, so we decided to save exploring Buck Hollow Creek for a future visit. When we return, we’ll approach it farther downstream, below the cliffs.

We returned to the trail and continued up the mountain. We passed the junction with the Cleveland Connector and began following an old road. The next stretch of trail was quite pleasant after the grueling climb up the mountain. Before long we descended to a rock hop crossing of Headforemost Creek, an unusually pretty mountain stream surrounded by rhododendron.

A final climb led to an unnamed summit. From there it was all downhill, mostly on switchbacks, to Fall Creek. This part of the Hospital Rock Trail was rerouted a few years ago. It now follows a pretty section of Fall Creek upstream from its namesake falls. Before long we reached an overlook near the top of the falls. From there we had a modest view of the valley below, including a small lake and a few houses. One of the houses is huge but ugly, as it sits on top of a cleared hill. Ugly or not, I’ll bet there is a great view of Fall Creek Falls from there.

A steep, rugged descent brought us to the base of Fall Creek Falls. We took a few photos here, but didn’t linger long, as the area was overrun with people. It was a little disorienting seeing so many people after encountering only one other hiker all day. The highlight of Fall Creek Falls was making a brief climb to the base of the upper drop. For some reason I had never hiked up there before. I actually found that vantage point to be more photogenic than from the base.

From there we started out on the Fall Creek Falls Trail. We made a steep, annoying climb to the ridge separating Fall Creek from Little Fall Creek. From there, we had a good view through the trees of the Little Fall Creek valley.

Originally I had planned to follow the trail down to the crossing of Little Fall Creek. From there, we’d hike upstream along Little Fall Creek in search of waterfalls.

The hike took longer than expected, and it was getting late. When we reached the view of the Little Fall Creek valley, I had the brilliant idea to head directly there. I figured we could save time and possibly energy taking the short cut, rather than descending on the trail and then climbing back up along the creek.

This was not a good idea. In fact, it may have been the worst shortcut ever.

Brenda decided that she’d had enough bushwhacking for the day. She elected to hike out to the trailhead and wait for us at the cars. Another possible title for this report is “Women Are Smarter”.

We started out with a gentle descent through open forest. Before long though, we realized that heading directly towards the creek wasn’t realistic due to a sheer drop off. Instead we followed a ridge down to the right, parallel to the creek. We descended quite a ways along the ridge before we found a place where we could drop down to the creek. We worked our way down to a small tributary in a narrow, slippery ravine. We crossed it and bushwhacked through rhododendrons and briars to Little Fall Creek.

We had descended quite a ways from the trail. At this point, I was quite confident that any waterfalls on Little Fall Creek would be upstream. This was my second major mistake. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

It was getting late, and simply getting to the creek had been more difficult and time consuming than expected. We decided to abandon the waterfall search. We could always come back another time. Of course, returning to the trail by the route we had descended was unappealing. That would require a long, difficult climb. We knew we could simply follow the creek downstream to the trail, which was probably no more than ¼ of a mile away. We started downstream, ready to call it a day.

This, of course, was my third mistake.

We bushwhacked downstream, following the path of least resistance about 15’ away from Little Fall Creek. The creek was rolling and tumbling off to our left, loud enough to make conversation difficult. The terrain grew steeper unexpectedly, and Darrin and Boone got a bit ahead of me. At one point I slipped and fell, and my trusty hiking stick broke when I landed. To add injury to insult, I landed on my right hip – the same hip that I injured falling down a flight of steps on New Years Eve. That injury had almost healed, but the fall brought the pain and swelling back with a vengeance.

My sore hip and the lack of a hiking stick slowed me down further. Then I caught sight of Darrin ahead of me. He was shouting something at me, but the creek was so loud, I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Then I got a good look at the creek below us. The cascading stream was now a steep, sliding waterfall. It tumbled out of sight, its roar deafening.

When I finally understood what Darrin was saying it didn’t fully register. Slowly the message sank in. Apparently Boone had gotten onto some wet leaves a few feet from the stream. The leaves were on a slippery rock face, and his weight caused everything to slide into the creek. Once the current caught him, he was swept away. Darrin had witnessed the whole thing. I’m really glad I didn’t. My reaction probably would’ve been worse if I had.

We continued downstream, trying not to panic. We were moving as fast as we could without jeopardizing ourselves. I scanned the creek below, both hopeful and fearful that I would spot Boone. I also kept an eye on Kona, who had stayed right behind me the whole time.

The next few minutes seemed like an eternity. Our progress was slow, as the terrain was steep, slick, and overgrown. Then I heard him. Wailing cries came from below. They were part whine, part howl, and part bark. It was definitely Boone, but he sounded distraught. He was alive, but was he injured? Trapped?

I spotted him a minute later. I was simultaneously relieved and horrified. He was standing at the base of the long sliding waterfall we were descending. Unfortunately, he was at the very brink of a 30’ vertical plunge. To his right, above, and below him was a nearly vertical, wet rock face. If he tried to move in any of those directions, he would fall for certain. The raging creek was immediately to his left. How would we get him down from there?

We were above him, at the top of the same steep, wet rock face. He was in a bad place, but so were we. The footing was extremely slippery, and there was no vegetation below us, except for wet algae and moss. Going directly down was completely out of the question. Heading back up would be the smart move, but I wasn’t certain that we’d be able to climb back up some of the places we had descended. Instead we carefully worked our way to the right, away from the waterfall.

Unfortunately, we had forgotten about the little tributary in the ravine we had crossed shortly before reaching Fall Creek. It was blocking our escape route to the right, and it presented a serious obstacle. It was a small stream, but it drops over its own waterfall. All of the terrain in between was extremely steep and slippery.

We climbed higher, grabbing onto weeds, moss, and briars to maximize our friction with the slope. I slipped a couple of times, but was able to grab onto something to keep from sliding down the cliff. Eventually we reached a spot where we could scoot over to the tributary. We were able to hop across it right at the brink of its waterfall. Once on the far side, we descended along the base of cliff, mostly sliding on our butts. Boone continued crying as we went. A new horror crossed my mind. Boone has a terrible case of separation anxiety. What would happen if he saw us descending past him? Would he think we were leaving him? If so, he might panic and try to descend the cliff.

We had no choice. Our only hope was to get down to the creek below the falls. I was pretty sure I could climb up the far side of the falls, which looked a little more hospitable. There was a giant boulder directly opposite from Boone’s location. I thought that if I could get up beyond the boulder, I could drop down to the creek directly across from him. From there, hopefully I could help him across the creek.

I leased Kona and asked Darrin to hold onto her. I raced down to the creek and splashed across, completely unconcerned about getting my boots wet. In fact, I didn’t even really notice the cold water. I charged up the hill on the far side, barely aware of the effort necessary to make the climb. I reached the boulder and worked my way around the back. The muddy bank was nearly vertical, but only 10’ high. I slid down to the creek, right at the base of the waterfall Boone had fallen down. Just ahead was the brink of the final plunge. Luckily the terrain flattens out for a few feet there, making it possible to move around in relative safety. Boone was still standing in the same spot on the far side of the creek, too terrified to move.

Boone appeared to be uninjured. I couldn’t fathom how that was possible. The waterfall he’d gone over is probably 70’ high. It’s not vertical though, so it’s possible that he was able to stay on his feet or his side the whole way down. He must have landed well. Also, the leaves he was on may have cushioned his fall.

I scrambled over boulders and logs until I was directly across from him. The stream is only a few feet wide here, as the creek runs through a narrow chute before the final drop. I actually could’ve jumped across to him, but the far side was steep and so slippery it was actually shiny. That maneuver would cause me to fall for certain.

At first I tried to coax Boone to jump across. I was pretty confident he could make it, but he wasn’t having it. He was too scared. I reached across and grabbed his collar, but he wasn’t about to let me pull him. After a few minutes of coaxing, I was running out of ideas. Finally I scrambled down to a position directly below him. I was just above the brink of the falls. I stood with my left leg in the creek. The water was knee-deep and powerful. I wedged my right foot between two rocks to anchor myself. Now I was in a position where I could shove Boone across the creek – but I had to get him started.

Boone was terrified, but he must’ve realized that he had no other choice. Suddenly he made the leap. I gave him a good shove, but it wasn’t really necessary. He could’ve made it himself. He cleared the creek easily, and I gave him a huge hug before remembering that might be injured. I checked him over, but he appeared to be fine.

I climbed back up the bank with some difficulty. I’d been running on adrenaline, but now I was nearly out of gas. I reached the giant boulder just before Brenda, Darrin, and Kona joined us. Brenda had heard Boone’s cries from the trail as she hiked out. She’d found the remains of an old road on the far side of Little Fall Creek, which she followed up to the falls. I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or annoyed about the presence of that road. On the one hand, it promised an easy escape out to the trail. On the other hand, it was a brutal reminder of the stupid decisions I’d made getting us into this situation. If we had simply followed the original plan, we would’ve followed the trail to the creek and then stumbled upon the old road. A short, easy walk from there would’ve brought us to the falls.

We rested for a couple of minutes and took a few photos before hiking out. Since this waterfall was previously unnamed and undocumented, we decided to take the liberty of naming it “Boone’s Falls” – for obvious reasons.

Luckily, we came out relatively unscathed. Boone was completely uninjured. I learned some lessons from this experience though. The biggest was simply a reminder of my own mortality. We do a lot of crazy things when we’re out looking for waterfalls. Those experiences can easily lead you to believe that you can go anywhere and do anything. This adventure was a reminder that actually, sometimes you can’t. Luckily I was able to learn this lesson without paying a price for it.

Back to South Carolina

Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports

Home

Please remember to Leave No Trace!