I love waterfalls. I love mountains. For me there is no place better than the Southern Appalachians. The high peaks and ridges of this region recieve some of the highest annual rainfall totals in the continental U.S. Areas in the southern mountains of North Carolina recieve upwards of 100-inches per year! All this water has to go somewhere. In numerous creeks and streams it cascades its way down the mountainsides. In the Southern Appalachains you are seldom more than a dozen miles from a waterfall of some sort.

One of my growing hobbies is waterfall photography. I am always torn between using a day off to climb a mountian or visiting a waterfall. I enjoy waterfalls because of their simple beauty and their solitude. Many require surprisingly difficult hikes to reach which means you can often have them all to yourself. The number of waterfalls in this region is staggering. There are something like 87 named waterfalls in Transylvania County, NC alone!! I've barely scratched the surface when it comes ot exploring the regions' waterfalls and I love it!

I created this album to share the beauty I've found exploring the waters of the Southern Appalachians. I hope you enjoy them and I would welcome any pictures you may have from this area. I'm always looking for new falls to visit! Enjoy!!

Get A Guide...

Many of the waterfalls in the Southern Appalachains are quite diffucult to find. Just getting to the trailhead down narrow, winding dirt roads can be an adventure in intself. From there its often a steep climb or descent to a rocky gorge where you may find you have a tough bushwhack along the creekside to get a decent view. For me this just adds to the enjoyment when I get there. Needless to say you will need a good guidebook, an accurate map, and a compass for good measure.

I rely primarily on these three guidebooks:

North Carolina Waterfalls, by Ken Adams

Waterfalls of Virginia and West Virginia, by Ken Adams

Tennessee Waterfalls, by Gregory Plumb

Along with these you are going to need some good maps. The DeLorme Atlas' for North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, & West Virginia will help you find your way down those mountain backroads and I've found the Trails Illustrated maps by National Geographic quite reliable once on the trail.

Along with the guidebooks he has written above Ken Adams has a great supplemental website you can visit HERE that gives great info on road and trail closings as well as new waterfalls that are not listed in his books.

Also, you won't want to miss NCWaterfalls.com. It is probably the most extensive website on waterfalls I've found. Despite its name he has good info and pics of waterfalls all over the Southern Appalachians. He also gives some great tips on how to shoot waterfalls that I have found very helpful.

That should get ya going!

Rainy Days are a Good Thing...

Another thing I like about waterfalls is that they give me a good excuse to get out in the woods even on a dreary day. In fact, the drearier the better. The slow shutter speeds required for that silky look in many waterfall shots require an absence of bright, glaring light. You have no idea how frustrated I get after hiking 2 miles down a ravine, get set up, and have the sun break through the clouds. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

So, if you're wanting to go out and shoot that perfect waterfall pic, pray for rain (or at least a good, thick cloud cover:)!

Images

Waterfall on Log Hollow Branch, NC

Runoff

Waterfall Park, NC

Courthouse Falls NC

Lower part of Amicalola Falls

Fallingwater Cascades

Whiteoak Falls #6

Upper Doyles River Falls

High Shoals Falls

Falls of Naked Creek

[ View Gallery - 125 More Images ]

Comments

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Viewing: 1-10 of 10

Bob Sihler

Waterfalls

Voted 10/10

This album is a great idea. I share your sentiments about the region, especially the falls in Shenandoah National Park. I added several shots myself, and I also attached your album to my new Blue Ridge Mountains page. If you want it detached, just let me know.

Bob

Posted Nov 1, 2006 10:29 pm


	dwhike	Thanks...
	Hasn't voted	I appreciate the nice comments. Thank you also for all the great shots you contributed. I havn't been up to the Shenandoah in search of falls yet but you've certainly whetted my appetite! -Dan
		Posted Nov 1, 2006 10:42 pm

Peter Larkins

Voted 10/10

very nice collection of waterfalls.

Posted Nov 3, 2006 2:48 pm


	dwhike	Thank you...
	Hasn't voted	so much for the comment. I'm glad you enjoy it. -Dan
		Posted Nov 3, 2006 4:59 pm

SteveinFXBG

Nice

Hasn't voted

I'm glad to see this album get created. Some great images and looking forward to seeing more. I'd post some that I have but I don't want to lower the standards of this nice album!

Posted Nov 3, 2006 10:53 pm


	dwhike	Re: Nice
	Hasn't voted	I appreciate the comments. I went ahead and attached your image of Elakala Falls, its a beautiful shot. I havn't been to any falls in WV yet. Don't worry about quality, if you have some go ahead and post them! -Dan
		Posted Nov 3, 2006 11:22 pm

e-doc

location

Hasn't voted

Good page. What it be better placed elsewhere? People will not enjoy unless they go to Smokies page. But I'm not sure where to put it.

Posted Nov 7, 2006 9:57 pm


	dwhike	Re: location
	Hasn't voted	I had the same thoughts, I've attached it to a couple range pages but aside from attaching to every single mountain page (which I won't do)I don't know. Some of the falls are in the vicinity of some more popular mountains (i.e Mt. Rogers) so maybe I'll just attch it to a select few with owners permission. If you (or anyone else) has more thoughts on this I'd be very open to ideas. -Dan
		Posted Nov 8, 2006 2:44 am

WoundedKnee

Excellent idea

Voted 10/10

I have some pics of waterfalls near the South Mountains State Park that I'll post. Another great spot for falls.

Posted Dec 4, 2006 11:48 am


	dwhike	Re: Excellent idea
	Hasn't voted	Thanks, I visited South Mountains myself a month or so ago and was amazed to find such large falls in an area so far from the higher mountains of NC. I'd love to see some of the pics you have, the darn sun came out the day I drove there so I wasn't real happy with many of my shots.
		Posted Dec 6, 2006 4:13 am

Viewing: 1-10 of 10