Kuykendall Falls

12/11/04 - Kevin Adams was nice enough to clue me in on this waterfall a few weeks before I attempted to find it. It's one of the new ones that will be in his updated book that's coming out later this year. He hadn't been here either, but is more observant than I am and had spotted the word 'falls' on Kuykendall Creek on the USGS map for this area. Just for reference, it's very close to Catheys Creek Falls. To get here, head west out of Brevard on Hwy 64 for about 3 miles and look for Catheys Creek Rd on the right. There's a small brown and white sign for the Kuykendall Camp here also. The road quickly splits - head to the left. After a mile, a water treatment plant will be on the left, then the road turns to gravel (FR471) and enters the Pisgah Forest. Travel 2 more miles and pass the small parking area for Catheys Creek Falls. Drive about 0.6 miles farther and park at the gated road on the right. Don't block the gate. This road is marked 5361 on the Pisgah Trail Map, but I don't remember if it's marked at the gate.

If you look at the map, follow the trail (road) up past Kagle Branch, then past Rich Cove and up to north of Kagle Mountain. The waterfall is between Hickory Mtn Br and where Kuykendall Creek splits to the NW. Before Harry and I decided to try to find the falls, I called Bernie to see if he wanted to join us. He had spotted the falls on the map also and was more than happy to join us. The trail to the falls is 4 miles one way, but the road is in good shape and the hike was fairly easy. The tricky part was finding the spot to start heading down the steep bank towards Kuykendall Creek. It was a good thing Bernie was along. I would have gone down too soon and may or may not have found the waterfall. His waterfall finding experience (and GPS) told him to keep on the trail for a little longer. When we headed down, we were up creek from the waterfall, but not by much. Here's the best I can do for directions. You'll need at least a compass and map reading skills and have a good idea how long it will take you to hike 4 miles. We kept a nice but relaxed pace and made it in about 2 hours. Some of this next info will depend on how wet it is at the time. There are small wet weather creeks that were running that might not be in drier times. When we were getting close to the 4 mile mark, we crossed a very small creek. About 5 minutes later, a creek became visible down the bank to the right. We did this when the leaves were off, so it may or may not be visible when the leaves are on. I thought this was Kukendall Creek, so I thought we were at the point on the map where the trail gets closest to the creek. Wrong - this is a creek not shown on the map. Keep going and this creek comes up to cross the trail. Go past that and begin heading down the bank at the point on the map where the trail bends to the left (NW). The bank isn't as steep here - keep heading down and to the left and you should end up close to the waterfall. It gets steeper the closer you get to the creek.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting the waterfall to be this nice. It's maybe 30' high and is nicely shaped. The only problem is there isn't very much room to enjoy the falls. I had to cross the creek to get these shots. All in all, it was a very good day with good friends. The next shot is Bernie getting some closer shots. It was hunting season and he was smart enough to wear orange.

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