Explore Catawba Falls: Trails, Views, and Tips
This was a great outing hiking the Catawba Falls Trail while staying a Bear Creek Campground in Asheville, NC.
Location:
The Catawba Falls Trail head was near Black Mountain.
Address: 3074 Catawba River Rd, Old Fort, NC 28762
GPS Coordinates: 35°36’49.9″N 82°13’47.3″W
Website for closures: Catawba Falls
Trails:
There are 2 trails, High and Low, Long and Shorter, both a 1,000 feet climb to the upper falls–just depends on how you get there.
The Ridge Trail is blazed in purple, and goes across the upper ridge to the upper falls. It’s mapped out at 2.1 miles, and my GPS claimed 997 feet of accent throughout the entire hike.
The River Trail blazed in Yellow is 1.1 miles to the lower falls, and another .3 mile trail blazed in blue to the upper falls. The blue trail is 580 stair steps.
Our hiking took us along the Ridge Trail. It was labeled as a Moderate hiking trail. I believe this was from the steep inclines and up hill hike up to the upper falls. We did not do the river hike, so we only saw the upper falls, and not the lower falls.
The Ridge trail had plenty of room across the trail for traffic or to walk beside your hiking partner. There are benches and a few other locations to sit and rest when you are getting tired from the consistent up hill movement. Make sure you use the restroom before heading up the Ridge Trail. There are no good spots to step off trail to do any big business.
There were a few benches along the way to stop and rest, or grab a snack. Everyone we met going both up and down the trails were nice and happy people. Just remember to keep a snack so you don’t get hangry.
Views:
From the Ridge Trail, you get a good view on both sides of other ridgelines, valleys, some roads and bridges. April of ’25 there was still obvious damage from the 2024 Hurricane Helene. The section of River Hike to the upper falls was closed because of that damage.
Falls:
This was a beautiful falls to see and enjoy. There was plenty of room to get your feet wet, or to get in the pool at the bottom of the falls. I did stick my feet in, and let me tell you, IT WAS COLD! The temperature did not deter everyone from getting in though. There were a few people that were enjoying lounging in the water. It was a holiday weekend when we arrived at the falls, so parking was pretty full, plenty of other hikers on trail, and at the falls, I had to move around to get a good photo.
Trail Head:
The trail head had a large dusty parking area. Map layout is good, make sure you study it before heading up the trails. All Trails has a map for the River Trail, but I did not see one for the Ridge Trail. There are a few Geocaches on the River Trail that we did not get close enough to get.
We enjoyed the Ridge hike. It was a bit of a workout for the 3 teenagers we took along. Knees were hurting by the end, but the falls were worth the trip. If I had more time, I would have done both trails out and back, but the Ridge hike took enough out of us.
Check out the blog A Week Of Life In The Asheville Area to see the other things we found near Asheville.
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