The Eastatoe Creek Heritage Preserve is located on the west side of US 178 south of Rosman, NC, just across the state line into South Carolina. Foothills Trail parking access A4 is the ideal parking area for this. A fraction of a mile further down the gravel road is a gated forest road which leads south into the preserve.
The trail is yellow-blazed. They aren’t frequent. There are a couple signs as you enter the preserve and then the trail follows Narrow Ridge for close to two miles before switchbacking suddenly down into the Eastatoe Gorge (which you’ve been able to hear almost the entire hike).
The switchbacks eventually even out near the river and you’ll reach a very small trail junction (completely surrounded by poison ivy). Right leads around the knob in front of you to a very small overlook of the Eastatoe Narrows. The overlook might have room for four people, and there’s a small landing below it with room for a couple more. Be wary of that landing though, it’s overhung and a considerable drop.
This is a fairly unusual rock-enclosed series of drops for the Carolinas but it’s a nice view. Back at the tiny trail junction you can go the other way (north / upstream) to a series of three primitive campsites and several nice places to hang out along the river.
There are also several more falls here as you might expect. The river has dropped almost 1000 feet in altitude from the parking lot to the narrows.
There are no other official trails in the preserve and the climb back up to the ridge is a bit of work. We saw a huge number of wildflowers on the hike, but the majority of them were after the descent begins.