Waterfalls near Brevard

This past weekend, we headed out to the Brevard area for a couples' weekend of camping, hiking, and waterfalls! We drove up on Friday night and camped out in Pisgah National Forest in the Avery Creek roadside campgrounds near Davidson River campground. Saturday morning, we woke up and started our waterfall adventure with Looking Glass Falls, just up the road from our campground on US-276. This one is right along the side of the road with a few stairs leading down to a viewing area at the base of the falls.

As such, it is one of the most popular waterfalls in the area, but there wasn't a crowd when we arrived while it was still early (and quite cold) in the morning.

After a few photos, we continued on, heading down US-64 past Brevard towards Rosman and turned onto NC-215. Our next stop was the Living Waters Ministry, about 7.5 miles up NC-215 for three more waterfalls. These waterfalls are on private property, but the people at the ministry are kind enough to allow public access to the waterfalls. Heading down the short trail, we immediately came upon the first waterfall.

Here, Shoal Creek and the North Fork of the French Broad River meet up just behind an old mill, with a pretty waterfall on each.

From here, a short quarter-mile trail leads downstream to Bird Rock Falls, which is a smaller waterfall, but within a beautiful setting of a giant rock bluff over the falls. We walked out onto the rocks below the falls, looking up at the massive cliff above us.

Although Bird Rock Falls is not a very big waterfall, the scenery around the falls made it very beautiful.

After a few photos, we headed back. Along the way, I noticed several smaller cascades along the creek between the falls, but it was hard to get out and get a good picture through all trees.

Leaving this area, we drove back to US-64 and out next stop was at Toxaway Falls. We pulled over at the bridge on US-64 and stopped for a few pictures of the falls from above.

The river flows from Lake Toxaway under US-64 and down the bedrock as it continues into Gorges State Park. A major flood in the early 20th century swept past the dam and washed away much of the vegetation leaving exposed bedrock where the river flows downstream. Although it's not possible to get a good picture from the road above the falls, the colorful bedrock was very pretty. Another time, I'd like to try and hike down to get a better view of the falls. The west side of the river is private condos with no public access, but the east side is part of Gorges State Park and as such, its possible to bushwhack down and get a better view.