Accessibility – Hard
Height – 35′
Distance – 1.2 miles (out and back)
Beauty – 7
Photo rating – 6
Solitude – 9
GPS Info: LAT 35.61592 LONG -83.20315
Last Updated – 12-23-2024
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Note: Straight Fork Road can be closed at times. Before heading to the trailhead visit the park website for a current list of closed trails and roads at:
https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
Where to park: We parked on the side of Straight Fork Road at this point: 35.61859, -83.20923. It was not too far past the Round Bottom Horse Camp. There is a wide area on the right before the road makes a hard left. If you get to Beech Gap TH, you went to far. if you’re coming from the other direction, the pullout isn’t too far after the road becomes two ways.
The hike: You best really like getting dirty and scratched up if you plan to visit this one. From where you parked, walk back toward Cherokee on Straight Fork Road for 0.2 of a mile and look for a open area to head into the woods on your left. You will have to cross two small creeks and push through some soggy areas before you start to ascend. At this point, you don’t want to be too close to Right Prong Ledge Creek or you will be fighting through some thick growth. Stay on river left and above the creek until you get closer to the falls. The bushwhack isn’t pleasant. The first 0.2 are the worst, but as you get higher, it opens up some. Like other hikes of this nature, it’s hard to give you more than start here and end here and avoid the creek until the very end. Good luck. It’s actually a nice waterfall, unlike so many of them I bushwhack too.
