Accessibility – Hard+
Height – 70-80′
Distance – 1.2 miles (out and back)
Beauty – 5
Photo rating – 4
Solitude – 7
GPS Info: LAT 35.04219 LONG -83.02631
Last Updated – 01-21-2023
Last Visited – 06-19-2019
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Waddle Branch Falls and Lower Waddle Branch Falls are on a tributary of the Whitewater River. Waddle Branch enters the river on river left. The hike distance isn’t much, but it isn’t easy. It’s extremely thick and overgrown if you’re climbing from the lower falls to the upper. It also gets extremely steep. I like both of these, but I have not been back since my first visit in 2019. It took me about an hour and forty-five minutes to cover the 1.2 miles.
The trailhead for Waddle Branch is at the NC281 over the Whitewater River. The GPS for this location is 35.03824, -83.02225,
The hike. There is an obvious route that leaves from the Northbound side of the bridge heading upstream. It is a small gravel area that hints at a road once having been here. If there was, it’s no longer recognizable. The trail will descend toward the river and turn upstream. There is some downfall to contend with along the way, but this part of the trail is pretty easy to hike, and as of December 2025, it has been cut open. At 0.3 of a mile, you will cross Waddle Branch. Once across the creek, the trail you have been following continues to follow the Whitewater River upstream. A steeper trail climbs up the bank. Climb up, and you will end up on an old roadbed that heads into the Waddle Branch drainage. The one-way hike is 0.6 miles. When you get to the old road, you are 0.4 into the hike, and the upper waterfall is 0.2 of a mile away.
I stayed on river right until I heard the lower falls, and getting to the base wasn’t very challenging. On my 12/2025 trip, very little has changed when it comes to the lower falls, but my way to the base was different, following a dry drainage down to the creek. You can see a pic of Lower Waddle Branch Falls here. From the lower falls, I climbed around it on river left and followed the creek upstream a short distance before angling up the steep hillside on river left. The going was painfully slow, and the rhodo was thick. Getting up the steep hillside was time-consuming, and the only route that made sense was to swing wide of the falls until I was close, then make my way toward the creek.
It is definitely important to pick the correct line. Coming out was easier to see where you want to go, but heading in, it’s easy to end up coming to the creek too far up the falls, forcing a difficult descent to the bottom. There was some trial and error on my visit, and my hike out was much easier. It is a lot of work to get to this one, but I think it’s worth it, especially when you add in the lower falls. I do have another route I plan to explore for this hike, but I haven’t had a chance to get back that way. On 12/2025, I headed back into the Waddle drainage, but my plan didn’t work out. Eventually, I’ll scope out the other route.
