Agile Trekker: Scotsman's Falls, Cashiers

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
2/18/2023	.5 miles	40 minutes	77'	1.2 mph	89

Parking:

Bull Pen Road, Cashiers

Map:

None.

Directions:

See North Carolina Waterfalls by Kevin Adams

Carolina Mountain Club Challenges:

100 Waterfalls Challenge, Scotsman's Falls

After visiting Secret Falls, we headed to Scotsman's Falls. It is just one road off of Horse Cove Road, so you would think it was close. Except the drive is all on gravel roads, mostly 1 lane. This time we did meet cars coming the other way. Ack.

There is no official trail to the falls. There is a herd path though, and I recommend you find it. Gaia doesn't show the path. We walked around the parking area searching for the herd path, and eventually found it at one end (to the right of the parking area if you are facing the parking area from the road). The book mentions that the herd path is no better than bushwhacking. And that if you can't find the herd path, just bushwhack down. We did find that the herd path was marked with pink ribbons. Navigation was not a problem - it was easy to follow the trail. Except, I agree, it was no better than bushwhacking. It is a very short ways down to the falls, but we had to navigate through the rhododendrons. Stepping over them, crawling on my hands and knees under them, crawling on my rear end under them. It was very challenging. We had to work for this one! We both really liked the waterfall though. The falls were split by a little "island". The sun also hit the falls just right, making rainbow colors. We hoped climbing back up to our car would be easier. Nope. Only 77' elevation gain, but we were panting going up. Even Krumm was challenged navigating over/under/through the rhododendrons, but he was so pleased with himself when he found a way through. I recommend leaving your backpack in the car for this one. It just gets in your way.

We had planned another waterfall after this one, but I decided 3.5 miles was plenty for my foot today, so we'll leave it for another day.