A hike through the middle of Panthertown Valley. You'll
visit two waterfalls and climb one mountain.
Difficulty (1-5):
Distance (round trip):
Elevation change:
Round trip time:
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Arriving at Meadow Ridge from the clubhouse, turn right before the pavilion and drive 1.1
miles on gravel to the left-hand turnoff into the Panthertown parking area. Park somewhere
along the road, which ends at a gate in front of a power-line tower.
Take the trail leading to the right of the parking area. Within five minutes, you will cross a
footbridge to arrive at an old logging road. Turn left on the road, and pass a signboard with
information about the forest. The road, which follows the route of railroad tracks used by
lumbermen in the early part of the century, will be visible on your left as it switchbacks down
the steep hillside. Instead of remaining on the road as it makes these curves, pick up the
footpath before the first bend. You’ll notice it near a rain-collection station with a solar
panel. Bear right immediately and soon enough you will rejoin the logging road farther down
the mountain.
Turn right, and as soon as you cross a rickety wood-plank bridge over Greenland Creek,
turn left onto a trail leading through the woods to the falls. When the falls are within view,
take note of the trail on your right leading to the summit of Little Green Mountain.
Stop at the falls for a snack or a swim. Then retrace your steps to the steep trail up the
mountain, which will take about 30 minutes. At the top the trail splits in several directions,
offering a number of different options to sit and enjoy the view over Panthertown. The valley
before you is defined by Blackrock Mountain on its right wall, Big Green Mountain on the
left, and, at the far end, a bare granite face called Salt Rock, near the trailhead closer to
Cashiers Valley. Little Green’s best sitting spots are at the end of a path leading off to the
right through a pine forest.
After enjoying the views at the top of Little Green Mountain, locate the white arrows spray
painted onto the rock (the arrows begin at the rock face to the left as you approach the
summit on the trail up from the waterfall). The trail down the east slope of the mountain is
easy to lose whenever it surfaces from between rhododendrons onto the wide-open rock, so
take time to locate the white arrows each time. The Cashiers rescue squad is used to
sending in stretchers to rescue hikers who slip on the rock, so be careful in wet or icy
weather.
About 20 minutes after you leave the top, you will connect to a logging road. Turn right. The
white-pine forest you enter is what remains of a Christmas-tree plantation from the 1960s.
The Forest Service has rerouted parts of the trail through here, so note the short detours
the new trails. When you emerge from the pine forest, listen for the sound of the falls and
turn toward them when a trail branches left at a wide, sandy spot in the double-track road. If
you reach a wood-plank bridge, you’ve gone too far.
The trail to Granny Burrell Falls is only a few hundred yards long. The falls are named after
an early settler who left the valley after her husband was killed, likely by poachers, in the
1930s.
Back at the logging road, continue in the direction you were heading. Within 10 minutes you’
ll arrive at the Three Trails Intersection, where the route you’ve been following meets the
main thoroughfare through the center of the valley. If you head left, you’ll arrive at Salt Rock
and the Cashiers entrance to Panthertown. To return to your car, turn right. The trail,
running parallel to Panthertown Creek, splits shortly after a sandbar. Just ahead of you,
Greenland and Panthertown creek join to become the Tuckasegee River.
When you recognize the trail to your right leading to Schoolhouse Falls, you’ve completed
your loop.
Now return the way you came. Continue over the bridge on the wide trail. When it goes
around a bend to the right, find the footpath leading back up the hill to the weather station.
Just before the road enters private property called Canaan Land, catch the trail at right to
reach your car.
Copyright 2008 by Tony Austin
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4
0.0 miles
0000 feet
3.5 hours