Auger Hole Falls
11-9-09 North Carolina's most western state park was officially dedicated over the 1999 Labor Day week end. Gorges State Park is the only NC state park west of Asheville and boasts more waterfalls than any of the other state parks. However, very few of the waterfalls have official trails to them at the present time. The park is also home to nearly 125 rare plant and animal species with 12 of those being endangered or threatened. You can click here for the official park web site - remember that their info, rules & regulations are what you should follow - not what you may see here or any other non-official source. If you have any questions about where you can or can't go, call the park office to confirm. Most of the park is very rugged terrain. People have been lost and died in this area over the years, so don't go wandering around on your own if you are an inexperienced hiker. Very few people visit the remote areas of the park on a daily basis and it is unlikely anyone would find you before night fall if you got hurt. Check the park web site if you want to see the exact park boundaries, but basically it lies in an area south of Hwy 64, east of Hwy 281 south, and west of Frozen Creek Rd. It doesn't include any of the Horsepasture River, but borders just east of Stairway Falls on the river.
The park is still in the very early stages of development. A temporary parking lot was added early on off of Hwy 281 with a trail to Beawallow Falls and valley overlook. Another trail led to a primitive camping area. But most people parked here to access the waterfalls on the nearby Horsepasture River. Another parking lot was added on Frozen Creek Rd for access to that section of the park and is still there. The park closed the temporary lot on 281 a couple of years ago to begin Phase 1 of park construction and development. This included repair and paving of some existing gravel roads, adding parking lots, running utilities to future buildings, and some trail development. This entrance to the park was reopened in May 2009. Future park plans include structures like the visitor's center and ranger residences, camping areas, and more trail development. The 2 entrances and what can be accessed are listed below.
Grassy Ridge entrance - The main entrance to Gorges State Park is the Grassy Ridge entrance on Hwy 281 south of Hwy 64 in Sapphire, NC. From the intersection of Hwys 64 and 281 South, drive 0.8 miles south on Hwy 281 and turn into the gated entrance. There's a construction entrance just before the main entrance, so don't turn in there. Continue to the left turn lane that was added when this entrance reopened in May 2009. The Bearwallow Falls and Bearwallow Valley trails are accessed from this entrance. To get to the trail heads, drive almost a mile into the park from the main entrance and turn left. There are signs pointing the way. Drive another mile to the parking lot for both trails. The Bearwallow Valley Overlook Trail is a 1 mile round trip rated as moderate. Half way is an overlook with a view of the valley, Chestnut Mountain, and Lake Jocassee. I haven't taken this trail yet. The Bearwallow Falls Trail is also 1 mile round trip, but is rated as strenuous. I haven't done the trail since this entrance was reopened, so I'm not sure if or how the trail was rerouted from the old temporary parking lot. I hiked that one a few years back and don't remember it being that difficult, except there was a steep part near the waterfall. Here's a shot from the viewing platform.
Bearwallow
Falls
It's an excellent view, but it's only a portion of the series of waterfalls on the upper part of Bearwallow Creek. The other waterfalls are not accessible at this time. There's a trail that runs down Bearwallow Creek on the opposite side, but it's on private property at the present time. Maybe one day it won't be :)
The main attraction to the Grassy Ridge entrance is the Rainbow Falls Trail. Turn into the main entrance on Hwy 281 and drive 1.6 miles to the parking lot on the right. The hike is a 3 mile round trip and rated as strenuous. Rainbow Falls is on the Horsepasture River which is not in the Gorges State Park boundaries - it's in the Pisgah National Forest. But this is the only legal access for Rainbow Falls and the other falls on the Horsepasture. The trail from the Gorges parking area leads into the Pisgah, then a Pisgah trail picks up from there. I give a detailed description of the Rainbow Falls Trail on this page of my site. Some good news is you are now allowed to park in this same lot for overnight camping on the Horsepasture River, but you MUST fill out the registration form and put it in your windshield. The road continues past the Rainbow Falls parking and becomes one way. It passes a wheelchair accessible parking area with a nice view, then continues looping around to the parking area for Bearwallow Falls and Bearwallow Valley trails.
Some more good news is there is now access to Augerhole Rd from the Grassy Creek entrance, but you are required to have high clearance 4WD to drive into this area. No Rav4's or other such 4x4 wannabe's. You must have 8" of clearance or you will be paying a hefty tow bill to drag your stupid self and what's left of your vehicle out of there. The road in is called Chestnut Mountain Rd. Drive in the main entrance and continue to the Rainbow Falls parking area. Park for a moment, then walk back out to the road. Just to the right is the gravel Chestnut Mountain Rd. Read the rules and regulations on the sign closely and don't be an idiot. Chestnut Mountain Rd continues for 2-3 miles before ending on the dirt/gravel Augerhole Rd. The last mile is very steep and straight down. You can only turn right at Augerhole Rd - left back towards Bearwallow Creek, the Toxaway River, and up to Frozen Creek is off limits to vehicle traffic, but open to foot and mountain bike traffic. Right will take you back towards the Horsepasture River below Windy Falls and on into South Carolina. If you know where you are going you will end up on Musterground Rd which comes out at Bad Creek power station in SC. I know Musterground Rd is gated and only open during hunting season from Bad Creek, so I'm guessing it's gated from Augerhole Rd also. Call the park office for more accurate information.
Frozen Creek entrance - The other access to the park is on Frozen Creek Rd which is a left turn off of Hwy 64 just west of Rosman. If you are coming from Brevard, take Hwy 64 west. Once you pass the right turn for Hwy 215 north, continue on 64 for 0.9 miles and turn left on Frozen Creek Rd. You will see a blue building on the left which was M&M Grading at the time of this writing. There will also be a sign pointing left to The Wilds Christian Camp. Drive 3 miles down Frozen Creek Rd and turn right into the gravel parking lot. It's easy to pass. This entrance serves as the access for the Foothills Trail and the Cane Brake and Auger Hole Trails. This lot is open 24 hours and also has parking for horse trailers, picnic tables, and a port-o-john. The Auger Hole Trail is open to horse, mountain bike and foot traffic and is Augerhole Rd. This section of the road is no longer open to vehicle traffic. It continues way down into the guts of the park. There are numerous old roads and trails off of the main trail (road), but none are official trails. They were there before the park was established. At 3 miles down the trail (road), you have to cross through the Toxaway River. There is no bridge. During high river flow you won't be able to cross - you'll be swept away by the river never to be seen again. If you make it across, in another 1/2 mile you'll have to cross through Bearwallow Creek - there's no bridge here either. If you make it across the Toxaway, you'll be able to cross Bearwallow. The trail continues on to Turkeypen Gap at the point where Chestnut Mountain Rd comes down from Grassy Ridge. The trail turns to the left at this point and continues to meet up with the Foothills Trail. Horse and bike traffic is not allowed past Turkeypen Gap, but I'm assuming they can continue on Augerhole Rd which is now in the Pisgah National Forest gamelands. Total trail length from parking to the Foothills Trail is 7.25 miles - and a lot of it is downhill. A lot of the park's interior waterfalls can be accessed from the Auger Hole Trail, but none of them are listed officially at the present time.
The strenuous Cane Brake Trail branches to the left off the Auger Hole Trail less than a mile down. It's also a road, but is open to foot traffic only. It's 5 miles down to the Foothills Trail at the Toxaway River finger of Lake Jocassee. There's primitive camping at this point. A small section of the 76 mile Foothills Trail runs through Gorges State Park. You can click here for more information on the entire trail.
I've been exploring in Gorges State Park many times now, both before and after the park was established and have seen some truly awesome scenery. The only problem for the average or novice hiker is that most of the good stuff requires a long and difficult hike. The official map and guide brochure currently just lists just 6 trails with 5 of them being strenuous and the other one moderate. More will be developed in the future. You can download the map as a PDF here. There's also a detailed map of the area that includes Gorges State Park in Bill Thomas' Sierra Club Guide to the Jocassee Gorges if you can still find a copy. It includes the park land, but the guide was written before the park was established, so some rules of where you can and can't go have changed. This guide does show and describe trails and waterfalls that aren't officially listed by the park. Kevin Adams' NC waterfalls book has more specific directions to some of these waterfalls also, so pick it up as an extra source of information.
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I'm in the process of rewriting this section of my site and will try to finish it soon, with more information and updated photos of some of the waterfalls in the park that aren't listed. For now, I'm just going to leave up these links below that I previously had. Sorry it took me so long to update the above information :(
Click here to see the beautiful scenery along Bearwallow Creek.
Click here to see lots of sites along the Toxaway River.
Falls on Maple Spring
Branch