THE OTHER BRADLEYS

Johnny deserves some of the credit for our latest waterfall discovery. Last week he suggested checking out Rexhall Creek, which is a tributary of Cove Creek in the Green River Game Lands near Saluda, NC. I downloaded the topo map, and while I didn’t think Rexhall looked particularly promising for waterfalls, something else on the map caught my eye.

Little Cove Creek starts just east of Cove Creek and follows a similar course to the Green River. Cove Creek has two major waterfalls along the way – Big Bradley Falls and Little Bradley Falls. Considering that Little Cove Creek drops over the same cliff, it seemed likely that it would have waterfalls, too. And the topo map confirmed my suspicion. A mile or so upstream from the Green River, Little Cove Creek drops through a gorge featuring the topography necessary for waterfalls.

I checked www.ncwaterfalls.com and Kevin Adams’ guidebook, but neither mentions Little Cove Creek. A simple Google search turned up nothing. If there were waterfalls there, Jack and I would have first dibs on documenting them.

Johnny was supposed to join us, but a pulled back muscle kept him from meeting us Sunday morning. He wasn’t the only one that was struggling. Jack was fighting a cold, I was nursing a hangover, and my dog Boone had a raunchy case of the farts. All things considered, we weren’t in any condition to be attempting an off-trail hike. Despite this, the thrill of potential discovery lured us on.

We started our hike at an official access to the Game Lands in Green River Cove. The trailhead is near the tube rental operation that is adjacent to the western-most bridge over the Green River. We drove down a dirt road beyond the tubing outfit to a gate and a small parking area. We started our hike there, under surprisingly sunny skies. The forecast had called for overcast conditions and possibly some rain. After driving through thick fog for 2 hours that morning, the brilliant sunshine was startling.

We followed the gravel road beyond the gate. Easy walking brought us to a pair of old buildings, including one that is covered in kudzu. The road forks here, with the right hand fork heading upstream along Cove Creek. The base of Big Bradley Falls is accessible by that route. Today though, we turned left, bound for new territory.

Easy walking brought us to a ford of Cove Creek. The water was up, and rock hopping was not an option. Luckily it was an unusually warm day for early February. We waded the creek without any difficulty and resumed the hike. Before long we passed through a cornfield and the road disappeared. At the edge of the cornfield we entered the woods, bushwhacking towards Little Cove Creek. The stream was a short distance away, and the bushwhacking was fairly easy despite a lot of deadfall. We reached Little Cove Creek a few minutes later. At that point we had a decision to make.

The boundary of the game lands follows Little Cove Creek. We could’ve stayed on public land by bushwhacking upstream. However, the terrain on the far side of the creek looked more hospitable. Since that side of the creek wasn’t posted or developed, we decided to cross. We rock hopped on slippery rocks and quickly stumbled on an old road. We followed it upstream, enjoying the easy walking. A few minutes later we crossed a minor tributary and re-entered the Game Lands. The old road faded away, but the off-trail hiking was fairly easy through open woods. We continued upstream, knowing that we were getting close to where the waterfalls should be.

Jack saw the waterfall first. It’s an impressive drop of 40 or 50’, and a short, easy scramble down the bank brought us to the base. The lighting was awful – the sun was directly above the falls – so I decided to save my camera for the hike out. Despite those circumstances, we were thrilled with our discovery. Most of the waterfalls we’ve discovered in the past were found thanks to rumors or tips received from other adventurers. This one we’d found all on our own, the old fashioned way.

Since Big Bradley Falls and Little Bradley Falls are on Cove Creek, I thought that the waterfalls we found on Little Cove Creek should be named after Bradleys, too. I suggested “Milton Bradley Falls” for this one. We’ll see if that name sticks!

I was confident that there was more to see upstream. Unfortunately, the easy walking was behind us. First, we had to find a way around “Milton Bradley Falls”. The entire area was extremely steep, and simply following the creek upstream wasn’t an option. Instead we climbed up and away from the creek until we were high above the falls. At that point we stumbled upon a faint scramble path. Obviously we weren’t the first human beings to set foot here, but that would’ve been a wildly unrealistic expectation.

We continued up the gorge from there, sidehilling across steep, slippery, rugged terrain. It was rough going, though certainly not the worst we’d encountered. Luckily the bushwhack was fairly short. Eventually we crossed the ridge that forms “Milton Bradley Falls”. After that we began angling back down towards the creek. We reached the stream without much difficulty and pressed on, eager to see what was ahead.

A few minutes later we reached a confluence with a significant tributary. Immediately upstream was our second major waterfall of the day. While “Milton Bradley Falls” had been nice, this one was a true beauty. It’s an elegant drop of 30 or 40’ with some particularly attractive cascades immediately downstream. I suggest calling it “Bradley Cooper Falls”. This is appropriate because Bradley Cooper starred in “The Hangover”, and I had a hangover when we found it.

The lighting for photography was terrible here, too, but luckily the conditions improved later that afternoon.

After a break we decided to explore. Judging from the map, it looked like there could be additional waterfalls on both Little Cove Creek and the tributary. I suggested checking out the tributary first, mainly because it looked like it might be in the shade. At this point I was itching to take some photos!

I started up the hill between the two streams. I reached the base of a steep climb and was startled to find a fixed rope in place. To that point we’d seen virtually no signs of civilization. The (very) faint scramble path we’d followed had been the only indication that anyone else had preceded us. The rope ruined the illusion, though it did make scrambling up the hill a little easier.

From the top of the rope we veered left towards the tributary. We swung around an impressive cliff and dropped down into a lovely grotto featuring a gorgeous 30’ waterfall. For me this waterfall was the real highlight of the day. It’s a hidden gem among a handful of rarely seen jewels. We decided to name it “Marilou Bradley Falls”, for my friend Eric Bradley's mother.

The grotto was dark and cool, and Jack and I spent some time taking photos. We had lunch there too, before resuming the adventure. From that point, continuing upstream along the tributary looked difficult and dangerous, if not completely impossible. We decided to follow the path of least resistance and continue up Little Cove Creek.

Heading that way, we found more fixed ropes, which helped us negotiate the steeper climbs and the slippery rocks. For the most part the route stayed in the creek, and the hiking was downright treacherous. At one point I slipped on a rock and fell hard on my left hip. Later, on the way down, Jack wiped out in nearly the same spot. He almost went ass over teakettle, and did manage to bash his elbow when he landed. That required getting my first aid kit out for the first time in recent memory.

We didn’t find much upstream along Little Cove Creek except slippery rocks and giant boulders. There were a lot more cascades and small drops, but no more major waterfalls. Eventually the terrain flattened out and we reached private property. Although it wasn’t posted, we saw no reason to continue on. The route we’d followed had turned into a proper trail by this point, so apparently there is an upper access to the area (though it does cross private property).

It’s probably good that we didn’t find any additional waterfalls, since I’m now completely out of Bradleys.

We returned to the confluence and took photos of “Bradley Cooper Falls”. Then we bushwhacked downstream and stopped for photos of “Milton Bradley Falls”. The hike out from there was fast and easy.

After we returned to the car I flipped through Kevin Adams’ guidebook one more time. As thorough as he is, it puzzled me that hadn’t covered these waterfalls. Then I remembered something he’d written at the end of the book’s introduction. There he mentions a waterfall – actually a pair of waterfalls – that he’d intentionally left out. He describes them as being in an area without any sign that anyone else had ever been there before. That doesn’t seem to apply to the waterfalls we found – after all, there are fixed ropes in place along Little Cove Creek. Aside from the ropes though, there’s very little to indicate that the area has been visited. Those ropes looked fairly new, too – newer than the second edition of the Adam’s guide. Could this be the place that Kevin was referring to?

Jack and I will definitely be back. I’d still like to explore upstream along the tributary, as there could be something of interest up there. At the very least there are several friends of ours that are going to want to see these new waterfalls!

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