Hike Description

If you plan to do any hiking in the area other than following these directions to the letter, I recommend you get the Southern Nantahala Wilderness and Standing Indian Basin map published by the Forest Service. It is an excellent topo map showing hiking and horse trails. Many of these trails are not shown on the Rainbow Springs topo map. Regardless of what map you use, I should caution you about the many discrepancies regarding forest road and trail numbers. If you plan to follow a route different from what I describe here, you should carry a GPS unit and know how to read a topo map.

Begin by hiking to Sassafras Ridge Falls by following these directions: The trail follows the old forest road beyond the gate and ascends moderately to reach a trail marked 36B turning right at about 0.5 mile. I have no idea where this trail leads, but I suspect it goes to Hurricane Creek Horse and Primitive Campground. Continue on the road for about 35 yards to where another road turns left. Continue straight ahead and in a quarter-mile you’ll cross a small branch. The branch runs through a pipe under the road, so it might not be obvious. Before you reach the crossing, you might spot Horse Trail Falls on the branch through the trees. It’s not worth climbing down the bank unless the water is very high.

Immediately past the crossing, an old overgrown logging road veers right. Follow it along the contour for a little less than 0.4 mile. The road passes very close by Sassafras Ridge Falls. You’ll hear it easily and see it well in winter. You can’t view the entire waterfall from any one point, so you’ll have to climb around to see it all.

To reach Hurricane Branch Falls, you’ll need to follow the contour south into the Hurricane Creek drainage. As long as you start from the base of Sassafras Creek Falls and don’t ascend, you’ll remain in a mostly open forest that is relatively easy to bushwhack through. It’s about a quarter-mile to Hurricane Creek. You should come to it below the falls. You may find an old logging road you could use to help you get up to the falls, but the forest is easy enough to walk through.

You can see only a small portion of the falls from any single point, so you’ll have to do some difficult scrambling and rhodo-crawling to see all of it. If it’s still covered in trees as it was on my visit, you probably won’t think it’s worth it.

There may be an easier way to reach the falls, but I haven’t field checked it. Not too far downstream from the waterfall is Hurricane Creek Horse and Primitive Campground by FR 67. I didn’t see any trails near the falls, but I suspect there may be paths leading from the campground upstream along Hurricane Creek. Even if they go for only a short distance, the forest here is open and not very steep. It may be just as easy to hike upstream from FR 67 to the falls as it would be to come from Sassafras Ridge Falls, and the total hike distance would be much shorter that way. Of course, by doing the latter, you’ll see two falls on the hike.