Great Smoky Mountains Waterfalls

For Labor Day Weekend, Sandy and I headed out to Robbinsville in the far west of North Carolina for hiking and waterfalls.  We left early Friday morning and drove out west, arriving in Cherokee around 11.  Our first waterfalls of the weekend were Mingo and Upper Mingo Falls.  We had been to Mingo Falls before, but not the upper waterfall.  After getting our stuff together, we climbed up the wooden steps and at the top, made a sharp left on a steep, overgrown path.  The path went a ways and then sharply cut to the right in a steep switchback.  Past here, the trail opened up a bit and soon we were near the top of Mingo Falls.  An old fence blocked the edge, presumably to keep people from falling over.  Past the fence, we scrambled up some rocks and then it was just a short ways further to Upper Mingo Falls.

The water level was low, but I thought it still a nice waterfall.  Countless thin streams of water were flowing over the mossy rocks and made for a nice sight.

It's much smaller, but similar to the larger waterfall just downstream.  After a couple shots of the main waterfall, we scrambled down to see the lower drop.  It was tough to get a good photo as there was downfall all over the base.

Then we followed the path back to the main Mingo Falls Trail and made a quick detour to see this waterfall.  Again, the water was low, but this is a gorgeous and huge waterfall.  Like the upper falls, thin streams of water were trickling down all around the main flow.

After a couple pictures, we headed back and drove towards Bryson City.  We turned on Cooper Creek Road and followed it to the end at Cooper Creek Trout Farm.  Although private property, the owners are nice enough to allow public access to Great Smoky Mountains National Park through their land.  After checking in, we parked and started hiking up Cooper Creek Trail, entering the park in a few hundred feet.  From here, it was just over half a mile to the intersection with Deeplow Gap Trail.  We turned left and followed the trail as it heads upstream along Little Creek.  It was moderately steep, but with switchbacks, not too bad.  We made an easy rock hop across Little Creek and saw a little salamander on a rock here.  It was just a short ways further to a footbridge over the creek at the base of Little Creek Falls.  The water level was a little low, but it’s a nice waterfall even with a big log fallen in the middle.

We got a couple pictures then started making our way back.  On the way, Sandy found a large feather on the trail.  And there was a bigger salamander along Cooper Creek Trail shortly before returning to the car.

Once back at the car, we headed back towards Bryson City and into the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park for one more hike – the three waterfall loop.  We started on Deep Creek Trail and it was only about a quarter-mile to Tom Branch Falls.

The water level was low, but it’s still a scenic waterfall.  And we saw a lot of tubers boating past the waterfall on Deep Creek.  Continuing up the trail, we turned on Indian Creek Trail and scrambled down to see this waterfall.  Indian Creek Falls is a small waterfall, but still looked very nice even in low water.

Just past Indian Creek, we turned on Deep Creek Horse Trail to finish out the loop.  Along the way, we saw some lovely cardinal flowers blooming.

We made one last quick stop to see Juney Whank Falls before heading back to the car.

There was a nice coral fungus blooming along the trail.

And there were more beautiful wildflowers blooming near the parking lot.

Back at the car, we headed into Bryson City and had dinner at the BBQ Wagon.  We made a quick stop at Ingles to get wine and beer before heading into dry Graham County.  In Robbinsville, we headed to River’s Edge Treehouse Resort and checked into Yellow Poplar.  As we were unpacking, Leila met us and gave us some information about the property.  After getting settled in, we headed down to the river and made a bonfire before retiring for the evening.