Carter Falls

September 26, 2020

It was time to see a new waterfall! We headed up I-77 for about an hour and 20 minutes to Elkin, NC. In order to make it more of a hike, we parked at Grassy Creek Vineyard. There is parking behind the tasting room and you have to follow a couple of orange flags through a bit of grass to get to the trail. You actually pick up the Mountains to Sea Trail here which seems like it has recently been added in this area because everything is very well marked.

First, we walked through several pine forest areas which were really pretty and even had a few enchanted forest features like fairy houses, birdhouses, painted rocks, and some realistic raccoon statues. There is a place where you have to cross a road, and here we saw a tobacco field. After another road crossing we were at Byrd's Branch Campground which was charming.

From here we took the path to the lower falls first then looped around to the bigger upper falls, which are called Carter Falls. This used to be on private property so my handy dandy waterfall book did not have any information on it. There were some steep areas getting to both falls but nothing we couldn't handle. The kids had a great time splashing in the lower falls. The water was cold but it was around 80 degrees out and a bit humid so it felt good. At Carter Falls a snake was spotted on a rock near us, and after he was sufficiently scared of us and slithered back in the water, nobody really wanted to splash around there anymore!

We had gotten a pretty late start after lunch so by the time we did all this and then hiked back to the winery it was after 5pm. We managed to peek inside and have a taste of their wine which was a nice way to end a hike. We may need to look for more trail/winery combinations! Our entire trip was 3.9 miles which is more than our usual 2-3 and we were definitely tired after. We found a place to eat in town and it was good but we probably should have taken the kids' suggestion to get fast food instead of having to sit and wait. Oh well, we had fun and would recommend this hike!

Lower falls on Elkin Creek