#Waterfall hikes asheville nc Patch#

The rocks are slick and there are no lifeguards on duty. Lower Falls Summer Cool-Down On hot summer days, Lower Falls is a popular swimming hole for splashing around in the cool mountain water. Expect overflow crowds on summer and fall weekends. Signs are very minimal, so this trail map will help! It's a local's favorite stop for wild blueberries in August. Continue on this trail to the exit at the upper end of the parking area. On the return from the upper falls in about 3/4 mile, turn right off the trail to cross the river on a wooden bridge. If you go to the left, climb up the rock face for the best view of the waterfall. Keep right to reach the main drop of the falls. The trail splits just before the Upper Falls. The next waterfall is just over a mile ahead. To continue on the loop to Upper Falls, do not re-cross river on the way back to the car. Get a closer look from the boulders at the base of the falls.įrom Lower Falls, you can also continue on the 4-mile Graveyard Fields Loop. Cross the bridge, turn right along the trail until you come to the first trail intersection to the right, and descend a long flight of steps to viewing platform for Lower Falls.

#Waterfall hikes asheville nc Patch#

This descends down a paved path through a thick patch of rhododendron, down some steps and to a bridge. Take the trail at the lower end (right side looking away from Parkway) of the parking area. There is a map on the sign at the parking area.

Start from the overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. While it's a short hike, you'll have quite a few steps and uphill sections on your way back. Lower (or Second) Falls in photo above is just 1/3 of a mile hike from the parking area. It's one of the few hiking places along the Parkway with restrooms! Take a short hike to a beautiful waterfall or a much-longer 3.5-mile loop through the meadow to a second waterfall. Then in 1925, an intense fire burned the recently logged area, and the forest has been slow in recovering since. The trees were toppled by a huge wind several hundred years ago. The area got its name years ago from the tree stumps that looked like grave stones in a graveyard setting.

The Yellowstone Prong is the water source for two waterfalls in a mile-high valley filled with wildflowers and surrounded by the 6,000-ft. Graveyard Fields is a very popular hiking trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway (Milepost 418.8) south of Asheville.