The Horsepasture River

You'd think people would leave a beautiful waterfall alone. At the very least, you'd expect people to build houses so they look at the fall, without harming the fall itself.

Take a look at a detailed map of the western North Carolina mountains, however, and you'll be able to detect places where rivers have been diverted through tunnels.

A few miles north of Cashiers is a listing for Onion Falls. This is a spectacular rock cliff below a lake. Back before the lake was created in 1941, Onion Falls was a magnificent 200-foot waterfall.

A similar fate very nearly befell the Horsepasture River in the early 1980s. A California-based hydroelectric concern, Carrasan Power Company, wanted to build a "run of the river" power plant on the Horsepasture. This type of plant diverts the river out of the natural river bed through turbines.

Fortunately, Bill Thomas organized the Friends of the Horsepasture, and in 1985 the river was designated a State Natural and Scenic River, and the next year a National Wild and Scenic River.

The Horsepasture has a nice trail along the river from the crossing at NC 281 almost all the way downstream to Windy Falls. It's alleged to be possible to reach the bottom of Windy Falls by hiking from a logging road crossing downstream up to the falls.

There's not much point in my trying to describe the Horsepasture River. It's pretty much one long line of river crashing over tremendous boulders and a variety of waterfalls. If you think of whale-sized rocks when you think of tremendous boulders, you'll have a good picture of some of the smaller rocks.

The first waterfall you'll encounter, headed downstream from NC 281, is Drift Falls. This waterfall is somewhere around 80 feet long. It doesn't drop straight down like a traditional waterfall, but instead slides at close to a 45-degree grade. This waterfall can be used as a waterslide by the brave and hard-headed.

In the Spring of 1998, the land around Drift Falls was acquired by the owner of the quarry across the street, who has posted "No Trespassing" signs in the area, in an attempt to ease traffic congesion on N.C. 281 at the quarry's entrance, for the benefit of the gravel trucks that use the area. It is uncertain how this conflict will be resolved.

A few hundred yards downstream you'll encounter Turtleback Falls, a brief plunge of not more than 20 feet. The river here is usually crowded on summer days with sightseers and swimmers, and again it is a popular waterslide.

The river takes a right-angle turn under Turtleback Falls and rushes toward Rainbow Falls, one of the three or four most nearly perfect waterfalls in North Carolina.

You can stand pretty close to the edge of the brink of 150-foot Rainbow Falls, but if you went over you'd be killed. Following the trail to the overlook, you're likely to get wet from the constant spray.

The trail below Rainbow Falls takes, for the most part, to the higher lines of the ridge. There are a couple of spur trails leading to overlooks of the river, including a few short falls, one of which is probably known as Hidden Falls.

During dry seasons it is possible to do a good bit of rock hopping along the Horsepasture.

The trail below Rainbow Falls bottoms out at a primitive camping area where a creek joins the river. If you stay on the river, you can hike downstream to Stairstep Falls. Beyond Stairstep Falls, the trail gets extremely thin, and the walls of the gorge get pretty steep. As yet, I've not been able to complete the hike all the way to Windy Falls along the river.

Horsepasture Gorge, Above and Atop Windy Falls

The portion of the Horsepasture above Stairstep Falls is part of the Nantahala National Forest. The portion below will be designated as North Carolina Gamelands as part of the compromise worked out for the distribution of the Duke Energey lands.

Alternatively, you can take a trail from the primitive camp site that leads away from the river, climbs the ridge, wraps around Chestnut Mountain, and finally leads to the top of Windy Falls.

These last two photos are Windy Falls from the top looking down and from the bottom looking up. The photo of the bottom was given to me by George Avakian. That he is a South Carolina native might explain why he approached Windy Falls from the south.

Additional photos added from 2004 visit (click thumbnail for larger view):

Rainbow Falls Stairstep Falls

Downstream in the Gorge

For a detailed description of hiking the Horsepasture, and some awesome shots of the Windy Falls area, see Mountain Wizard's Tour down the Horsepasture River.