Cumberland Gal: Milton Bradley Falls Hike -Final Waterfall Keepers Trip of 2021- Harmon Den Camp Crud

Above: a yellow mushroom grows on the hike to Milton Bradley Falls

Milton Bradley Falls Hike -Final Waterfall Keepers Trip of 2021

(perfunctory blog entry)

October 13, 2021

Dana Koogler

Wally Storey

Mike Webb

Little Fall Branch Falls and Camp Crud

My friend Wally Storey wanted to hike to several waterfalls in the Saluda area. He invited me to come stay with him and Kathy for the weekend. He had also invited a friend of his I'd heard a lot about, but up until then had not met. I readily agreed we should do this and set off. I figured I'd make this my final Waterfall Keepers visit to Little Fall Branch Falls for the year. I would get it done and have it out of the way. I did not anticipate it would have much litter as it typically does not. I dropped off the interstate at Harmon Den to run up there and headed to the waterfall to get my duties completed and back on the road.

I found the parking area, trail and falls to be immaculate. I didn't even see any trash around the picnic area or road out to the falls. I was happy about this of course. I had seen a few people camping on my way down Cold Springs Road, but that did not surprise me.

Above: the little stream of Falls Branch. I was pleased to see the dam and cairns in the stream were at last gone!

The trail was spotless

The rock that usually had an elaborate cairn built on it was finally free of this person's form of graffiti.

Above: and Below: a look at Little Fall Branch Falls. The photo below shows a nice couple who was visiting the falls the same time as me.

Since I did not find anything that needed doing I hiked back out and stowed my gear in the jeep. I wanted to get going so I started back out of Cold Springs Creek Road. I got past the intersection and was looking around on my drive out. I passed the first big campsite on my left. Something made me stop, back up and do a double take. It just didn't look right or feel right to me. I sat there in the road window rolled down gazing at it. No vehicle in sight. I pulled into the parking spot near the rather large camp. I got out and started using my version of the intercom system. I started hollering "Is anybody here? Hello?"

Nothing. A closer inspection of the camp showed leaves and dirt covering many of the tents and wide assortment of camping gear left lying about. My skin began to crawl. I have run upon drug camps in the past and just had this horrible feeling that one of the three tents might contain a dead body. I couldn't smell anything, but I was not leaving there without checking to see for certain.

I walked carefully through the camp. It was huge. They had food, hatchets, lawn chairs, tents, sleeping bags,tarps, clothing, trash, kerosene cans, water containers, cook stoves, stools, even a dart board. We had a lot of rain the past few days. Everything was saturated. I went round to the third tent and unzipped it to peer in. Thankfully no one was in there. I moved on to the second one unzipping it. Nothing in there but wet sleeping bags and clothing.

I got round to the final tent and unzipped it. Nobody in there, including no corpses, but the stench of mold and mildew nearly knocked me down. The entire tent was filled with fine cobwebbing of black mold .It was unlike anything I'd ever seen. It coated the tent's inner surface and strung from one side of to the other. I quickly zipped it back and stepped away. I was relieved. No one dead in there. I walked the woods to make sure I didn't see anyone dead in the forest around the tents.

Nothing. I was sure this was an abandoned camp that had been left long enough for black mold to grow all over stuff. It was way too much stuff for me to clean up on my own. I also would have needed a respirator to handle the gear coated with mold. I drove back to the interstate. A mattress lay along the road . I found a spot where I could pull over and get a phone signal. I called the rangers office, but I got the wrong one. I figured this probably wasn't going to be dealt with today anyhow. I would call them or email them once I got to Wally's house down near Greenville, SC.

Above: mattress discarded by the end of the exit ramp

Above: onions beginning to sprout

Above: These folks were pigs! That is nothing but household garbage

Above: abandoned cooler, bucket, dust pan, backpack, table, cleaning supplies, coleman lantern.

Above: an afghan and another sack of some type strung up in the trees maybe to dry out?

Above: you can see tent #3 and a couple wet sleeping bags

Above: dart board, toates, tarps tents,

Above: lawn chairs, axes, coolers, table, water containers, rakes, shovels

Above: More tables filled with food and camping gear

Above: another of the tents and trash

Above: another tent

fire ring strewn with trash

Above: two bed pillows stuffed in the crotch of a tree for what?

I got ready to go back onto Interstate 40 East when my phone rang.

It was the ranger station. They wanted to know what was up so I told them.

I felt so bad for them. They informed me that they had just cleared out two of the worst abandoned campsites in a different area. Smelly and nasty. They said they think the people were squatters. You know those folks who are homeless for whatever reason and trying to live on public land indefinitely. I hated to be the bearer of bad tidings that there was another one. I had actually put a GPS coordinate on the campsite for good measure. I emailed the ranger that from Wally's house.

I had a pretty drive down Interstate 26 toward Greenville. Once I got to Greenville that is when stuff started getting real. I had very little familiarity with the town. I think I have stayed there all of once. I had to go through or around it to get to Mauldin/Simpsonville. I pulled over one time and called Wally for some guidance and moral support. I wanted a reality check because I wasn't sure I trusted Google maps. Once I got to their home I could relax.

We visited and went out to hike the trails in his neighborhood for exercise.

We got a couple miles in on some extremely pretty trails in their area. I was jealous. We hiked a good loop. Kathy fixed a fine dinner. We had a lot of laughs and good conversation catching up on the happenings. I slept like a baby that night and was ready to whip a wildcat the next day.

Poinsett Bridge

We left early enough to go meet Mike Webb that we had a few minutes to swing by the Poinsett Bridge which I had been wanting to see for several years. It is a beautiful historic bridge site. I had not counted on getting to see this, but was thrilled to have the chance.

Above: Poinsett Bridge from the lower side.

Above: Upper side of the bridge is obstructed with tree limbs and shrubs.

Above: This is looking across the bridge

Above: historic marker explaining the significance of the Poinsett Bridge.

We did not linger at the bridge, but headed on to meet Mike Webb at his cabin in Saluda. It was great to meet him and the cabin was charming. He turned out to be one of the all around nicest people. I could easily see why Wally had been friends with him for so many years. He is a fine Christian man with a powerful testimony. I did not know it at the time, but due to the life events that were to unfold for me in the coming months I would need to think back on that.

It really helped me hang on to know that if God could help him through the ordeal he endured that I was going to survive this crisis and come out of it on the other side with stronger faith.

Milton Bradley Falls

The original plan was to hike to Milton Bradley Falls, Marilou Bradley Falls and Cathedral Falls in that order. We made it to the trailhead just fine to begin our hike. It was lovely and the weather was nice. The hike to Milton Bradley Falls was not bad at all. The real challenge would begin once we were trying to get to the other falls.

We had no problem hiking or navigating to Milton Bradley Falls. The trouble came in when we tried to figure how to get above it to continue to the other falls. I thought I had an understanding of the terms "river right" and "river left", but apparently I do not. The long story short... we tried a couple things to get above the falls none of which ended up working. It was slippery and we all began to have a very bad feeling about it. The goal is to survive to hike another day.

We finally bagged it and began our hike back out. It was discouraging, but

after getting home and Wally doing some checking round it seems we tried the wrong side to ascend. That just means we will have to try try again.

I really hope we can pull it off. I know he wants very badly to see them, and I want to see my friend have the satisfaction of achieving a goal.

It was still a fun day. I made a new friend and a very nice one at that.

I got to see a beautiful waterfall and some pretty scenery in the forest. Got some exercise. I call that a win in my book.

Above: Milton Bradley Falls was so pretty

Above: friend Wally Storey

Above: new friend Mike Webb

Above: rope of sketch to help climb that rock face. Nope.

A second look at the brink of the falls and that rotten looking rope. The rock climber in me says hell to the no to using other people's untrustworthy ropes.

Above: Bluebird day for our hike in Saluda NC

Above: a big odd looking tree on the way to the falls

Above: the stream we had to ford. Summer is the time to do this hike.

Above: the old log cabin or barn and the lean to.

Above: pretty purple Fall asters

Above: Mike ahead of me on the hike out.

above: slender gerardia bloomed along the trail

Below is a video of Milton Bradley Falls

Jacks Cove Falls

The final day of my visit I planned to do some hiking with Wally then head home.

We decided to do something fairly short. We hiked to Jack's Cove Falls in Pisgah Forest. It was a fun hike and the directions were excellent in Kevin's book.

It is a little visited waterfall and turned out to be prettier than we expected. It is a low volume stream, but was flowing pretty well today especially for Autumn.

The forest was quiet beautiful. It was just nice to spend time with my friend.

We found it without any trouble and enjoyed the falls. We sat down and had a snack and then began our hike out. I then drove on home. I did not have to worry about navigating back from Greenville since I followed Wally to Brevard!

The rest of the way was an easy cruise. I stopped in Mills River to fill my gas tank, empty my bladder, and get some lunch and some high test coffee at Starbucks. It perked me up for the two hour drive home. It was great to go and great to get home to Kenny.

Below is the best view I got of Jack's Cove Falls. It was an easy hike and worth the effort to see.