Drift Falls
waterfall on the Horsepasture River in North Carolina, United States
Drift Falls, also known as Bust-Yer-Butt Falls and Driftwood Falls, is a waterfall located on private property off of U.S. Route 64 in Transylvania County, North Carolina. It is on the Horsepasture River, upstream from Rainbow Falls and Turtleback Falls. It is accessible from the Rainbow Falls Trail, which passes through Gorges State Park and Nantahala National Forest on the way. The falls was once a popular place to swim and slide down; however, the property it is on has since changed hands and now, only a view from downstream is accessible.
History
Drift Falls flows on the Horsepasture River in the Jocassee Gorge. The falls is an 80-ft. slide over bedrock to a deep pool, and is a part of a series of waterfalls along a 1,200-ft drop along the course of the river over a 2.5 mile stretch. In the past, large numbers of visitors to the falls would cause traffic problems along North Carolina Highway 281 as they gathered at the falls to swim in the pool. Thrill seekers would use the falls as a natural waterslide, which is how the falls got its nickname of "Bust-Yer-Butt Falls.”
Nearby falls
Little Falls — located on private property upstream from Drift Falls
Narrows Falls — located in a gated community upstream from Drift Falls
Rock House Falls — 55-ft falls located on private property on Burlingame Creek, a tributary of the Horsepasture River
Turtleback Falls
Rainbow Falls
Hidden Falls — a 10-foot waterfall downstream from Rainbow Falls
Stairway Falls
Sidepocket Falls
Windy Falls
See also
List of waterfalls
List of waterfalls in North Carolina
References
External links
NCWaterfalls.com Horsepasture River Falls Page 1
"Carolina Clips: Drift Falls". NC Department of Public Instruction.
The public source identifies “Drift Falls” as waterfall on the Horsepasture River in North Carolina, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Drift, Falls and waterfall.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Drift Falls”, the useful work is to connect “waterfall on the Horsepasture River in North Carolina, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q38071. Authority coordinates are 35.093, -82.969. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Drift Falls” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.