Courthouse Falls   8-3-16

Update 5-7-25  FR140 (Courthouse Creek Rd) was damaged during Hurricane Helene and is closed once again. It's been closed since the storm, but I only found out about it a couple of weeks ago and am now just updating the info here. I have no idea if or when it will reopen. You can still get to the waterfalls up this road by walking the road. I know some folks have and they were able to get around the landslide that damaged the road. It's a 3 mile hike up the road to the trailhead, however. Someone else emailed me and said the old Summey Cove Trail to the waterfall is still in decent shape after the storm, so that's a possibility also. I discuss that route below. I'll keep the info I had here before Helene just in case the road does reopen. Before Hurricane Helene, another storm damaged the last bridge you cross on FR140 before getting to the trailhead. Instead of closing the road completely, the forest service installed a new gate 2.4 miles up the road and you walked the last 0.6 miles to the trailhead.

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Courthouse Falls is one of my favorite waterfalls and I never get tired of going back. It is set in a beautiful small cove and is fairly easy to get to once you make it up the gravel road to the trail head. The waterfall can be very popular on a warm summer day, so go early if you want good photos without people. The pool at the base of the falls is deep and the water is clear and very cold. If you like primitive camping, there are a few dispersed campsites along FR140, and other primitive back country sites scattered about, but no camping right at the waterfall.

Directions: From the intersection of the Blue Ridge Parkway and NC215, head south down NC215 for 6.5 miles. Look for the 2nd sign indicting 'narrow bridge ahead', and turn left on FR140 just after the bridge. Or, from the intersection US64 and NC215 west of Brevard, turn right on NC215 at Headwaters Outfitters. Drive 10.2 miles up 215 (passing the waterfalls at Living Waters) and turn right on FR140 just before the bridge. (If the road is gated and you want to walk the 3 miles up to the trailhead, park across 215 from the gate in the wide gravel area.) Drive up the gravel road for 2.4 miles and park without blocking the gate. If they ever fix the bridge and the gate is gone, drive a total of 3.0 miles and park in the wider area just after the bridge across Courthouse Creek.

If you parked at the new gate 2.4 miles up the road, begin the hike by walking up FR140 past the gate. At 0.2 miles into the hike, a gated forest road FR5031 will be on the right. This is the road that will take you to Chestnut Falls. Continue on FR140 and at 0.6 miles into the hike, cross the bridge and the Courthouse Falls trail will be on the left. The hike to the 40 ft falls is easy to moderate for the most part and follows Courthouse Creek down to the waterfall. A few minutes into the hike, the trail crosses a wet area over some rock that might be slippery if wet. There used to be a foot bridge here, but I guess it got washed away in the flood. In another short distance you'll notice a steep trail down to the creek, that people use to access the top of the waterfall. There's nothing to see down there, so keep going until you see glimpses of the falls down through the trees. At 0.3 miles from the trail head, look for a trail that cuts hard to the left down towards the waterfall. There was a brown carsonite sign here indicating Courthouse Falls on my 2024 visit. You'll also notice a trail continuing past this point. This is the old blue blazed Summey Cove Trail that I discuss below.

Once you make the left turn, you'll begin to get glimpses of the beautiful Courthouse Falls through the trees as shown in the next photo. Be careful farther down this trail as there are some slippery areas from seepage. The trail ends at a set of steep wooden steps that take you down to the base of the falls. In late July 2016, a huge dead hemlock fell down towards the pool at the base of the falls and damaged the stairs. They've been patched up and seem sturdy, but they are quite steep. For a while, the dead hemlock was in front of the falls and it was difficult to get a clean shot, but another flood has washed it to the side and out of the way.

Courthouse Falls from the trail 

If FR140 happens to be closed, another option for hiking to the falls is to take the Summey Cove Trail from NC215. The Summey Cove Trail is on the latest NatGeo Pisgah Forest trail map - trail #129 - and is 2 miles one way. The trail was decommissioned for some reason and is no longer maintained, but enough people hike it that it remains in decent shape. The trail head is on the right behind the guard rail at a bridge a little over a mile past the bridge at FR140 if you are heading north on NC215. Park on the wide grassy shoulder on the left. If you are coming from the Parkway, the bridge is the 1st one you come to - about 5.25 miles down. Look for a yellow sign indicating 'narrow bridge ahead'. Cross the bridge and park on the right. The trail is on the left side of 215 if you are coming from the Parkway. The trail head isn't marked, but you should notice it from the road behind the guard rail. I use Gaia GPS for tracking and the trail shows on their map. It's also on AllTrails if that's your preferred tracking software. The trail forks almost immediately from the start - stay to the right - and begins by heading slightly up hill. It then crosses a wet weather area, which can be confusing, but becomes more obvious after this point. It then starts heading more up hill with an elevation gain of 500'+ in less than 1/2 mile from the trail head. The trail then descends some 400' in the next 1/4 mile towards Summey Cove Creek. Before the creek, there are a few wooden 4x4 steps that end at an overgrown logging road. The trail crosses the road and continues down towards the creek. At another point past the steps, the trail comes to a fork. Take the blue blazed trail to the right - the one to the left is fainter.

From the creek, the trail is more or less level as far as mountain trails go. It follows a ridge line with Courthouse Creek 200' somewhere down below to the right. The trail then crosses Mill Station Creek on a foot bridge and comes out to a nice campsite. Keep heading up the trail and you'll soon come to a side trail to the right and will spot a small cascade on Mill Station Creek. Pass this and in a short distance will be the side trail to the right that takes you down to Courthouse Falls. If you continue on Summey Cove Trail for another 1/4 mile, you'll come out at FR140 at the point where you would have parked if the road were open. Below are 2 more photos of Courthouse Falls, then a video of Courthouse, Cody and Chestnut Falls.

If you are adventurous and like creek walking and/or bushwhacking, there's another small waterfall very near Courthouse Falls on Mill Station Creek. Cody Harris emailed me about it in 2004. I tried once to find it, but apparently didn't give it a very good effort. Didn't find it, but on my July '05 trip to Courthouse I gave it another shot and I did find it - right where Cody said it was. It's a nice little 25' falls! I made a return trip in early August 2016 to update pictures and add better directions. Check your map and find where Mill Station Creek flows into Courthouse Creek not too far down from Courthouse Falls. If you were to keep straight on the Summey Cove Trail past Courthouse Falls, the creek on the left is Mill Station Creek. There are 2 ways to get to Cody Falls. The first is to creek walk down from Courthouse Falls to where Mill Station Creek comes in, then head up Mill Station Creek a hundred yards or so to the waterfall. When I did this in August 2016, there was a lot of forest debris that had fallen or been washed down not too far below Courthouse Falls. Experienced creek walkers shouldn't have a problem, but expect slippery rocks, some knee high wading, and the usual hazards one would encounter creek walking. The other option is to descend the steep bank down from the Courthouse Falls Trail to Mill Station Creek below the waterfall. If you are standing on the trail at the point where the Courthouse Falls Trail cuts to the left, face the creek and begin the descent at about a 45° to the right towards the sound of the waterfall. About 1/2 way down - which isn't far - bear to the left and look for a big rock. Walk to the left in front of it, then continue descending towards the creek. As you can see in the picture below, you don't want to come out at the rock wall that surrounds the waterfall. It's still steep behind and to the right of where I'm standing for that photo, but flattens out enough below that to where you can safely get down. Avoid the steep areas or you risk serious injury!

Cody Falls

There's also an Upper Courthouse Falls. To get here, keep going on FR140 past the parking area for Courthouse Falls for 0.2 miles. There's a gated road straight ahead which is the one to the waterfall. There's also a gated road to the left that will take you to Mill Station Creek if you like exploring. The road (trail) to Upper Courthouse Falls follows the creek passing a couple of primitive camp sites (if they haven't been closed by the FS)  and ends at 0.7 miles. Cross the creek to the right to get to the base of the falls. Courthouse Creek here takes a hard left here up a long length of sloping bedrock which is beautifully colored when wet. To get to the top of the falls, don't cross the creek, but look for the steep trail up, then look for a side path in a short distance that leads out to the rock at the top of the falls. Just up creek is a really nice small waterfall with a deep swimming hole.  

If you are really adventurous and have some experience creek walking and following faint trails, you can continue up this old trail that follows Courthouse Creek to Red Rock Falls. This section of Courthouse Creek is really spectacular.

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