Accessibility – Easy+
Height – 15′
Distance – 1.4
Beauty – 3
Photo rating – 3
Solitude – 4
GPS Info: LAT 35.60281 LONG -81.63742
Last Updated – 12-24-2024
Home Alphabetical Listing Numerical Listing Location Listing South Mountains
Parking: The trailhead is in South Mountains State Park. The trailhead is the same as High Shoals. It is located at: 35.60238, -81.62932.
The hike: The hike to Big Bear Falls isn’t much, but the waterfall isn’t much either. Start on the High Shoals Falls Loop Trail. Follow this for 0.3 of a mile and look for the Big Bear Falls Trail on the right. This short trail will lead you upstream to an unimpressive view of a small waterfall hidden in a sea of boulders. Upper Big Bear Falls is a short distance upstream. You can get a trailside overhead view if you hike back to the High Shoals Falls Loop Trail and make a right. Make another right onto the Headquarters Trail and after passing above Big Bear Falls, you can see the upper waterfall, which isn’t much bigger then the lower one. The hike up the Headquarters Trail to see the upper falls is less than 0.25 of a mile. I was in the middle of a longer hike and didn’t have time to climb down to the upper waterfall, and I haven’t been back to SoMo since that day.
