One of the challenges we’ve found, especially when we were first hiking to waterfalls, was determining how easy or hard a waterfall is to hike to. Some are as easy as being roadside, and you don’t even have to get out of the car, while others require overnight camping. (It should be noted, that we don’t do these types of hikes.)
Unfortunately, there isn’t a standard definition as to what makes a trail, easy, moderate, or strenuous. What might be hard for a beginner might be easy for someone who has been doing it for years. Likewise, we’ve noticed what used to be easy for us, now years later, is a bit harder.
My wife and I were talking recently about it, and she mentioned how she won’t use a certain website because they mostly have experienced hikers and they label things as easy, which are not easy for the average person.
So here are our guidelines that we use for how we define the trail difficulty on this site.
First, if it is listed by the rangers, at that trail, we’ll use their classification. This is helpful for things like Linville Falls, where they have different trails, ranging from easy to strenuous. However, when something like that isn’t available, we use our own classification which we’ve listed below.
I would love to say that the harder the trail, the bigger the payoff for the view of the waterfall, however that is not the case. Sometimes an easy hike leads you to a large and amazing waterfall, like Cumberland Falls, and sometimes a hard hike leads you to a sad little waterfall.
Typically you will find Easy, Moderate, and Hard or Strenuous. We’ve added two additional levels, Roadside and Wheelchair Accessible. Many would put these as Easy, but we wanted to provide additional information so the whole family can enjoy.
So read our waterfall descriptions to see what you are getting into both as far as the hike, as well as the waterfall itself.
Wheelchair Accessible Trails
Wheelchair Accessible Trails are generally paved or made of compressed material so that those who need mobility assistance are able to use it. Some of these paths may be a bit steeper than a wheelchair ramp allows, and would thus require assistance from fellow travelers in your group, but they will be free from most debris and obstructions as they are usually well maintained.
These trails are also usually acceptable for a child’s stroller to traverse.
While these are not as common due to the rugged locations of many waterfalls, there are some Wheelchair Accessible Trails we have found and visited here on this site.
Roadside
Roadside Trails are not trails. These waterfalls are visible from the road. Most of the time there is a pull off, although sometimes there is an actual parking area, to allow you to view the waterfall.
However, these pull off areas may not be paved, and thus unsuitable for wheelchairs in some cases. In other cases, while you might have a paved area to maneuver around, there might be a safety rail which will obscure some, or all, of your view. So if you may need to stand to view the waterfall.
Because of these reasons, we may not list a roadside waterfall as being wheelchair accessible.
We have quite a few Roadside Waterfalls listed on this website for your enjoyment. Please note that if using a pull off area or just parking alongside of the road to pull off as far as safely possible and make sure to look both ways before crossing and roads.
Easy Hiking Trails
Easy hikes are known for being mostly flat with only a few up/down sections. They are generally maintained trails and don’t have a lot obstacles, such as rocks or tree roots that you have to step over. Most, if any, obstacles can be walked around as the paths are normally wider than more difficult hiking trails. They are mostly short (under a mile), but may not necessarily be so.
Easy trails have the ability to walked by most, including small children, although, as with anything, they may want to be carried some or all of the way.
Easy trails are great to get started on, if you’re not used to hiking.
Easy does not mean they are wheelchair accessible, nor even paved.
We have a collection of Easy Trails on this site.
Moderate Hiking Trails
Moderate hiking trails can be taken by individuals with some hiking experience. These trails are generally steeper than an easy trail, may be narrower, and/or uneven. You may need to step over small obstacles, and in some trails, they will be steep enough that the managing organization may have put stairs in to assist your hike, but this is not frequent or guaranteed.
Moderate trails are still usually maintained, although usually not as often as an easy trail, and it will definitely not be accessible by wheelchair or stroller. Just because it is maintained doesn’t necessarily mean it will be clear of obstructions.
Children on these trails should either be carried in a carrier, or be able to be mobile on their own. We’ve hiked with 5-7 year old children on these trails as they had experience in hiking easier trails. They were needing only periodic breaks to recover and continue. Occasionally our youngest would need assistance getting over large obstructions or creek crossings.
A moderate trail does not have an expected distance associated with it as it is more about the trail conditions than the distance. We’ve seen moderate trails that are under a half mile, and those that require an overnight camping stop in order to complete the hike.
We have several Moderate Hiking Trails on this site that lead to waterfalls.
Hard/Strenuous Hiking Trails
Hard trails are known for having large elevation changes, usually these elevation changes are very steep and you may go through a several portions of the trail where you go up and down, instead of a steady incline or decline.
Hard trails are sometimes narrow, only allowing one or two people across the width of the trail at a time. It is not uncommon for these trails to have obstacles in their path that require you to climb over or around them such as a fallen tree or large boulders.
People attempting strenuous trails should have experience hiking moderate trails and be comfortable with them. We’ve hiked strenuous trails with young children (under 10 years old) without issue, as they had experience in hiking and we took breaks periodically for them as necessary.
These trails are usually longer than easy and moderate trails, although length is not used in a consideration for these trails.
When hiking strenuous trails it is best to hike with someone else for safety reasons. I also recommend two adults in the group if you have young children hiking a strenuous trail.
We have several Strenuous Hiking Trails leading to waterfalls on this website.
Leave a Reply