I saw a photo of this falls somewhere online in early 2003, then looked in Kevin Adam's book to see if it was listed, and sure enough, there it was. Not sure how we overlooked it, but it got moved to the top of the 'gotta go to' list. And we did go on my trip up from Raleigh in early March '03.

To get to the trail head, head down FR 475 from Hwy 276, past the fish hatchery, for a total of about 6 miles. There's an intersection here, FR 471 heads to the left and FR 229 sharply back to the right. The Art Loeb Trail also crosses here. Head up 229 until it ends, about 2.5 miles. This road is quite a bit narrower than 475, but was in decent shape when we were there. Hike up the road past the gate, and in just a bit you'll have 2 choices. The Art Loeb Trail comes in from the left and you may notice a blue and a white blaze. We took it and the trail was nice, heading up and then steeply down a knob towards Farlow Gap. The other option is to keep following what was the road, which follows the ridge around the knob with no major change in elevation. We took it on the way back. Once around the ridge, the road meets back up with Art Loeb - pick up the blue and white blazes again to Farlow Gap. Both ways are about 1.5 miles.

There's a stake at Farlow Gap - take the blue blazed Farlow Gap Trail to the right (northeast). This trail heads steeply down a rocky wash for about 10 minutes to a camp site. Pick up the blazes again and the trail crosses and begins to follow a creek, still heading downhill. At just under a mile, the trail veers to the left away from the one creek, but comes to Shuck Ridge Creek which flows into it from the left. The falls is just ahead and it's a bit of a scramble down to the base.

The setting of the falls is quite beautiful. The pool appears almost perfectly round and the water is crystal clear. Below the pool are a series of small cascades and moss covered rocks seen in the next photos. If you're coming to photograph the falls, a wide angle lens will come in really handy.

I made a return trip in early June '03 for some greener shots, but was disappointed to see a huge chunk of tulip poplar had fallen right in the middle of the falls :( I did get a couple of shots from the creek above the falls, tho...