Hiking Woodfin Falls
Sep. 18th, 2026 08:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerNorth Carolina Travelog #28
On the Blue Ridge Parkway · Tue, 25 Aug 2026. 5:45pm.
After hiking Mingo Falls this afternoon we had one more waterfall on our dance card. Would we get there in time to appreciate it? Although it was only 5:30pm as we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway it was already the Blue Hour. Sunset isn't officially until after 7pm, but here in the mountains the sun was often hidden behind a ridge above us as long shadows cast across valleys and canyons.
Normally a waterfall trail would be marked with a brown sign. It's the signage standard in the US for parks and for points of interest, like waterfalls and trailheads, within parks. But here there's just one of the Blue Ridge Parkway's countless overlook pulloffs. The only indication that it might be for Woodfin Falls is that it has almost the same name.
But if this is the overlook, where are you supposed to look? Beyond that sign you can see a line of trees, and beyond those trees is... a deeply forested hillside dropping away. The falls aren't there. They're actually on the opposite side of the road.
Oh, and not only are the falls on the opposite side of the road, unsigned, there's a blank trailhead signpost... for a trail that does not lead to Woodfin Falls. I could see from reading the landscape where a creek would cross under the road, so I looked there and... lo and behold, the falls are, like, just 50' off the road!
A short scramble down a faint foot path pays enormous dividends. I had to be careful with my footing— and Hawk chose not to risk it as her back was already saying "I'm cooked" for the day— but I made it down, no problem. Then I relaxed here atop a rock while the falls fell into the gathering twilight.
On the Blue Ridge Parkway · Tue, 25 Aug 2026. 5:45pm.
After hiking Mingo Falls this afternoon we had one more waterfall on our dance card. Would we get there in time to appreciate it? Although it was only 5:30pm as we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway it was already the Blue Hour. Sunset isn't officially until after 7pm, but here in the mountains the sun was often hidden behind a ridge above us as long shadows cast across valleys and canyons.
Normally a waterfall trail would be marked with a brown sign. It's the signage standard in the US for parks and for points of interest, like waterfalls and trailheads, within parks. But here there's just one of the Blue Ridge Parkway's countless overlook pulloffs. The only indication that it might be for Woodfin Falls is that it has almost the same name.
But if this is the overlook, where are you supposed to look? Beyond that sign you can see a line of trees, and beyond those trees is... a deeply forested hillside dropping away. The falls aren't there. They're actually on the opposite side of the road.
Oh, and not only are the falls on the opposite side of the road, unsigned, there's a blank trailhead signpost... for a trail that does not lead to Woodfin Falls. I could see from reading the landscape where a creek would cross under the road, so I looked there and... lo and behold, the falls are, like, just 50' off the road!
A short scramble down a faint foot path pays enormous dividends. I had to be careful with my footing— and Hawk chose not to risk it as her back was already saying "I'm cooked" for the day— but I made it down, no problem. Then I relaxed here atop a rock while the falls fell into the gathering twilight.
