The fastest access to the Tuckasegee River and Wardens Falls are from the Cold Mountain Road (east) access. I'm not sure where I picked up the upper, middle and lower Wardens Falls. The map just indicates the upper as Wardens Falls and Kevin Adams' new book does the same. Take the main trail from the parking area to the "T' intersection where the left trail heads towards Schoolhouse Falls. Take the right trail instead that heads generally north and under the power lines indicated on the map. About 10 minutes up the trail, a side trail to the left leads to the river at the top of Upper Warden's Falls. Another small trail to the right leads towards the base of the falls. Once at the base, you will have to wade across to get to where my buds are in the above photo. The next one is from a little closer in, and the 2nd is looking down river from the falls.

To get to Middle Wardens Falls you can go back up to the main trail, take a left and head down to the next side trail to the left. The trail comes out at the large pool below the falls. If you don't mind getting a little wet, you can head up the rocks on the left in the above photo and pick up a narrower trail that follows the river. It'll come out at the top of the falls and has a nice view of the large pool below.

The rock slopes gently enough down the left side to get down to the base - ONLY IF ITS DRY. But from here, you have to cross the river just below the pool to the island, then again to the big log to pick up the main trail. There are a couple of nice primitive camping spots in this beautiful setting. The falls is a 30' slide and is shown in the photo below, taken from the island.

To get to the lower falls, we have both followed the river down and gone via the main trail. Kevin Adams calls this Riding Ford Falls. The side trail to the falls comes out at the top and the falls is a long slide area over some nicely colored rock. We were able to walk down the bedrock next to the river and climb atop a big boulder for a good view. The 2nd photo is the falls and shows the clear but tannin stained water of the streams in this area.

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