Rich Stevenson

Rich Stevenson

Board Member

My love affair with waterfalls began in 1998 when friends in Lake Toxaway invited me up from Raleigh to go hiking. They had a copy of Kevin Adams’ first waterfalls book and had been using it to visit waterfalls in the area. We first visited Rainbow, Turtleback, and Drift Falls and I was hooked! We explored more waterfalls during the long weekend and all I could think about on my return trip to Raleigh was when my next trip to the mountains would be. America Online was popular then and I was a member. I decided I would use the whopping 2MB of web space I had and start a website about North Carolina waterfalls. Every vacation from then on was planned around visiting waterfalls and I soon ran out of space on my website. In 2001, I purchased the domain ncwaterfalls.com. In 2003, I couldn’t stand not living in the mountains anymore. I quit both my jobs and moved my life to the Asheville area. It was probably the best decision I had made at that point in my life. I had not yet met Kevin Adams, but was still using the first edition of his waterfall book to visit waterfalls. I had also begun to find waterfalls on my own that weren’t in his book. Little did I know that Kevin was working on the second edition of his book and had found my website. He emailed me in 2005 saying we needed to get together, talk waterfalls, and compare notes. That was such a thrill for me and that’s when our friendship began. In 2010, I met a wonderful woman in Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains NP. We hit it off immediately. We bought a home together in Hendersonville and were married in 2012. Cindy and I are both retired now and spend a lot of time traveling the country. I have always had a passion for gardening, so we’ve spent the last few years converting our yard into a pollinator and wildlife habitat. If I’m not on the trail, I’m usually in the yard working or chasing bugs around with the camera. I am very humbled to be a part of Waterfall Keepers of North Carolina. I’m excited to work with this great group of people to help preserve the beauty of North Carolina’s waterfalls and to raise awareness of how waterfalls and nature in general can be therapeutic and ease the stress of everyday life.