Easy North Carolina Waterfalls: Highland/Cashiers

Looking for easy waterfall hikes in North Carolina? Well, you’ve come to the right place! We’ll be including easy, roadside and wheelchair accessible trails and even break them down into areas to make finding waterfalls in your area a piece of cake.

There are many beautiful waterfalls in North Carolina, but the best areas are the Blue Ridge Parkway and surrounding areas, Brevard (also known as the land of waterfalls) and Highland. This post will focus on the Highland and Cashiers areas. Be sure to check out other easy waterfalls in Brevard and the Blue Ridge Parkway in other posts.

Please note: Each waterfall has a link to a separate page detailing directions, trail description and additional information.

Highland/Cashiers

Cullasaja Falls

Cullasaja Falls is located in southwestern North Carolina in the Nantahala National Forest. Cullasaja Falls is on the Cullasaja River and is part of the Mountain Waters Scenic Byway.

You can view Cullasaja Falls from the roadside at a distance from US 64 while driving by. The waterfall is located beside of a series of blind curves, with sheer rock cliffs above and below the road.

The height for this impressive waterfall has been disputed with ranges from 137 feet to 250 feet. If you include the cascade height with the waterfall height you get a combined height of 250 feet.

Quarry Falls (also known as Upper Cullasaja Falls and Bust Your Butt Falls)

Quarry Falls (also known as Upper Cullasaja Falls and Bust Your Butt Falls) is a 20-foot, multi-tiered cascade in the Cullasaja River Gorge.

Quarry Falls is best known for its large, deep pool at the bottom and is a popular swimming hole during warm weather. Locals also use Quarry Falls as a sliding rock. Be sure to check the water depth before trying this since water levels can vary based upon rainfall.

Quarry Falls is also located on US 64 through the Cullasaja River Gorge in the Nantahala National Forest on the Mountain Waters Scenic Byway.

Dry Falls

Dry Falls is my favorite waterfall that you can walk behind. Dry Falls is 75 feet in height and is located on the Cullasaja River flowing through the beautiful Nantahala National Forest. This waterfall is located in Highlands, North Carolina and has road access from US 64 with a good sized parking area.

You can either view the waterfall from the observation deck or you can descend the stairs as part of the 0.2 mile hike to the waterfall. The trail to Dry Falls is paved and goes right up to, behind, and around the waterfall to the other side. This gives photographers multiple angles to get great shots.

Bridal Veil Falls

Although Bridal Veil Falls, is 60 feet tall, it doesn’t have much water flow unless it has rained a lot. After a heavy rain, the water flow increases which is the best time to view Bridal Veil Falls without being greeted by a trickle. Like all the previous waterfalls, Bridal Veil Falls is also located on US 64, just 2.5 miles west of
Highlands.

For many generations Bridal Veil Falls has been famous for being the only waterfall in North Carolina you can drive behind. However, this is no longer possible. You can still walk up to it and behind it.

Silver Run Falls

Silver Run Falls is a pretty 25 foot waterfall located in Nantahala National Forest located about 10 minutes from Cashiers, North Carolina. There’s a short well-worn trail through a scenic wooded area, about 0.25 feet in length to the base of the waterfall. Round trip would be about 0.5 miles.

Toxaway Falls

Toxaway Falls, an impressive 150 foot waterfall,  is located next to Highway 64 in North Carolina between Brevard and Cashiers.

Want to See More than One Waterfall?

Most of these waterfalls are accessible from US 64, which makes a great day trip of easy waterfalls.

If you want to explore more waterfalls in this area, please check out our Waterfall Byway/Dupont State Forest Day Trip. This trip adds Twin Falls, also called Eastatoe Falls, Batson Creek Falls, Connestee Falls, as well as our Dupont National Forest Day Trip. Please note that two moderate trails are included in this trip.