Accessibility – Moderate+
Height – 20-25′
Distance – 1.9 miles (out and back)
Beauty – 7
Photo rating – 8
Solitude – 8
GPS Info: LAT 35.29813 LONG -82.25293
Last Updated – 01-21-2023
Last Visited – 12-05-2020
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Rainy Falls is a nice twenty-foot high drop on an unnamed tributary of the Green River. It is the second waterfall you come to this hike. This first is Turtle Falls. While there is no official trail to these falls, the hike is mostly on overgrown roads that are easy enough to follow.
The trailhead parking is roadside on Green River Cove Road. There is a large pull out on the river side of the road very close to there the tributary passes under the road. The parking is here: 35.30285, -82.26291.
The hike: From where you parked, wlk upstream along Green River Cove Road for a very short distance to where the creek meets the road. Enter the woods before crossing the creek, and very quickly you will end up on an overgrown road that parallels the creek. It never gets very far from the creek until it passes around Turtle Falls. Turtle Falls is 0.3 of a mile into the hike, and you can see it from the trail, but the better view is from the base. It’s not hard to get down there, and the effort is worth it, at least to me. Once you’re back in the road, continue upstream. The road will head closer to the creek when it gets closer Rainy Falls. When you’re getting close to the falls, you can see it from the trail and geting to the base isn’t difficult, but the rocks are slick.
This tributary is low flow, and in the summer, I wouldn’t expect much. I made the hike in the rain when the pictures of these two were taken. It’s been over two years since my last visit, so a lot can change in the forest in that time.
HIKINGWNC 