Agile Trekker: Riding Ford Falls and Jawbone Falls, Panthertown, Lake Toxaway, NC

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
2/8/2024	4 miles	2 hours 15 minutes	536'	2.0 mph	80 miles

Parking:

Cold Mountain Gap Trailhead.

Map:

Gaia GPS app
Panthertown Map Association

Directions:

Variation of description in Kev Adam's North Carolina Waterfalls book.

Carolina Mountain Club Challenges:

100 Waterfall Challenge, Jawbone Falls

Our original plan was to visit Greenland Creek Falls in Panthertown as part of the CMC waterfall challenge. I did a quick check of it in Gaia in our car before we left our house and noticed that I've already hiked it twice with the CMC. Oops! New plan - visiting Jawbone Falls, which we've hiked very close to, but haven't visited as far as we can tell.

Our car had problems navigating us to the trailhead. It kept trying to take us through private communities. There are a LOT of no trespassing signs, surveillance camera signs, etc. in this area. Yes, we drove into one and got the stink eye from a security officer checking out some workers on a street they were working on. We needed to stay on Cold Mountain Road, where our car was trying to take a route off of it.

This is an easy hike, mostly on wide trails. We did take one alternate single-track trail, but otherwise I think followed the route in the book. It's helpful to have both Gaia and the Panthertown map and the waterfall book. There were a few religious signs along the beginning of the trail :( Not what I want to see in the woods. The trail borders private property of a religious retreat - so maybe they consider the trail their property? We had one stream crossing - we managed to rock hop it, but it could have used one more rock. We saw the top of Riding Ford Falls, but there was no trail that went to the bottom. Next to Jawbone Falls, where there is a small sandy beach, perfect for taking a snack break. There is a large shallow pool away from the falls, perfect for Krumm to wade in. He was shivering, but that didn't stop him from hanging out in the water.