Warden's Falls

The easiest access to the waterfalls on the Tuckasegee River is from the Cold Mountain Road (east) parking. Go to the end of the parking area and begin the hike to the right of the kiosk with the trail map on it. This is the same way you would go to Schoolhouse Falls. This short section of trail heads downhill through the woods for 5-10 minutes, crosses a small footbridge, and ends up on a road which is the Panthertown Valley Trail #474. Turn left here and continue down the road. The Panthertown Valley Trail connects the east and west entrances of Panthertown and is 3.25 miles in length. Continue down the trail for a few minutes passing a metal bar gate. When the trail (road) makes a sharp bend to the left, you'll see what appears to be a remote weather station. You may notice a smaller trail continuing straight through the briars, This trail is on the Kornegay map, but not on the Forest Service map. You can take it to a fork, then go right and continue a few more minutes downhill to connect back on to the Panthertown Valley Trail. Or, just continue down the Panthertown Valley Trail. In about 1/2 a mile, take the Devil's Elbow Trail #448 that forks off to the right. It looks more like a grassy old road than a trail. If you go too far you'll come to the bridge that crosses Greenland Creek.

If you look at either map you'll see that Greenland and Panthertown Creeks meet at the beginning of the Tuckasegee River. The Devil's Elbow Trail parallels the river and there are side trails to the left that lead to Warden's, Jawbone, and Riding Ford Falls. In less than 10 minutes down the Devil's Elbow Trail, you may notice a fork in the trail - especially if one of the power line service vehicles has been through. Stay left on the more traveled trail. Bearing right up through the briars will only get you to the power lines. Soon after this the trail crosses under the power lines shown on the Kornegay map. Very soon after the power lines, the trail comes to a small clearing. Look for and take the obvious side trail to the left that leads a short distance to the river at the top of Warden's Falls. I was previously calling this Upper Warden's Falls. Don't go out to the top of the falls, but take the small trail to the right that leads through the rhododendron and towards the base of the falls. You'll come out to the left of the above photo and will have to wade across to get to where my buds are in the above photo. The next shot is from a little closer in, and the 2nd is looking down river from the falls.

Jawbone Falls (previously called Middle Warden's Falls here) is less than 1/4 mile down river. You can go back up to the main trail, take a left and head down to the next side trail to the left shown on the Kornegay map. The trail comes out at the large pool at the base of Jawbone Falls. There's another way to Jawbone Falls that I like better, but you will have to get your feet wet. Rock hop and wade the river below Warden's Falls as the person in the above photo is about to do. The Kornegay map shows a trail to the left that follows the river and you can pick that up a short distance down river. Follow it down to the top of Jawbone Falls.

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.

Jawbone Falls 

Jawbone Falls

Riding Ford Falls is less than 1/4 mile below Jawbone Falls. You may notice a trail leading down the right side of the river from Jawbone and you can take it the short distance to the top of Riding Ford Falls. Or, you can go back out to the Devil's Elbow Trail and turn left and follow it until it crosses Little Green Creek. Keep going for less than 1/4 mile to a fork. Take the left fork to the top of Riding Ford Falls. The right and upper fork continues to Devil's Elbow.  The falls is more of a slide area, but is pretty cool and worth a look if you have time.

Riding Ford Falls

Riding Ford Falls

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