I hiked this trail on Saturday, July 3rd, 2021 with several friends.

To start this hike, find the parking area along NC 215 (Parkway Rd) located between the town of Balsam Grove and the Pinhook Valley Campground and RV Park. If you're approaching from the west (Tuckasegee), it's 12.8 miles past the turn off of NC 281; coming from the south and east (Rosman), it's 11.7 miles past the turn off of US 64; and coming from the north, it's 5.4 miles after turning off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The parking area itself is pretty unremarkable aside from being a bit worn out and having a gravel trail head, so keep a close look out for it, or you may miss it.

As for the hike, suffice it to say there's a reason most people reach the falls via FR 140 rather than Summey Cove Trail. Aside from being officially closed and unmaintained by park services, the trail is fairly steep and not particularly attractive looking. I did not take many pictures of it at all; my first picture comes from a water crossing just over three quarters of a mile in.

I went the remainder of the trail without taking any pictures of the scenery aside from this nice-looking illegal campsite towards the end.

After 1.8 miles of hiking, you meet up with the same trail that you take to the falls from FR 140; you can get a good view of the waterfall on the way in.

While we were there, we saw some crazy people jumping from the top of the falls into the pool below. You can see the guy hyping himself into it in this video.

When I did this hike, I mistakenly thought the trailhead was closer to the regular entrance of the Courthouse Falls hike and suggested hiking back to our cars that way rather than the steep and unscenic Summey Cove route; this was a huge mistake. The trailheads were actually about a mile and a quarter apart, in addition to the longer (if gentler) hike back to Parkway Road.

For a map of the trail, click here. This map has both possible routes; this one uses the route marked in red.

For additional pictures from the hike, click here.