900 – West Campbell Creek Falls

Accessibility – Hard+

Height – 35′

Distance – 5.5 (out and back)

Beauty – 8

Photo rating – 8

Solitude – 10

GPS Info: LAT 35.47489 LONG -83.12722

Last Updated – 01-10-2023

Last Visited – 04-23-2022

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West Campbell Creek Falls is a 35 foo rhigh waterfall on West Campbell Creek, which is a tributary of Campbell Creek. The waterfall is one of several along this section of creek. With the water low, we didn’t eventure to any of the ones above West Campbell, and one of the ones close to it on a side stream was dry. The falls is tucked in a narrow area that is mossy and dark.

Just like Campbell Creek, I can provide a starting point and the locations of the waterfalls on this hike, but otherside I can’t really give any other details. It was a bushwhack down a mountain. When we started, the only direction I got from Beth was telling me it was down there. The hike started at the Hornbuckle Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway with is here: 35.47998, -83.14008. It was purely coincedental that when we walked across the parkway to find the best place to climb up to the top of the ridge, we ended up finding an MST maintennace trail that zig zagged up the mountain to the MST. We crossed the MST and kept heading up until we topped out on the rigde. The ridge line is 0.4 from the overlook and for now, there is no more up!

We had heard some fellow adventurers went down on left right, but I wasn’t crazy about the looks of that side so we stayed to the right for most of the hike. I got no landmarks for you other than stay close to the tributary that feeds into West Campbell Creek. The terrain is steep and slick with lots of rocky areas and small cliffs to negotiate. Here and there we found pieces of trail, but they were few and far between. It is 1.2 miles from the top of the ridge to West Campbell Creek, and almost 1600 feet of descent. You will feel ever inch of it climbing out. Getting from the trib to the falls is the east part. There is a trail on river left for part of the way, and there are two nice small waterfalls on the way to West Campbell Creek Falls. The first one is Doghobble Falls and the second is Jootum Falls. Neither are gigantic but both are worth a look. West Campbell Creek Falls is a mile upstream of the tributary. To get out, reverse course. It may look like there is a way to shuttle this and hike out the bottom but you would run into provate propety. The only way out is back up.