Crabtree Falls is a waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

 in Yancey County

Yancey County, North Carolina

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,774 people, 7,472 households, and 5,372 families residing in the county. The population density was 57 people per square mile . There were 9,729 housing units at an average density of 31 per square mile...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

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Geology and Natural History

Crabtree Falls is a 70 ft. cascade on Big Crabtree Creek. The creek spreads over a rock face with many small ledges, giving it a delicate appearance, before trickling into a clear pool at the base. Though there are hardly any crabtrees here now, in the spring, an impressive array of wildflowers abound on the trail, including four species of trillium

Trillium

Trillium is a genus of about 40–50 species of spring ephemeral perennials, native to temperate regions of North America and Asia....

. By July, ferns fill the forest and soak in the spray of the falls, with rosebay rhododendron in bloom.

History

The Celo USGS topographic quadrangle map labels this falls "Upper Falls", and shows another waterfall some distance away and on another creek being called Crabtree Falls. However, the name Crabtree Falls for this falls is well established.

Visiting the falls

The trailhead is located in the Crabtree Meadows campground at mile marker 339.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles , mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains...

. A trail leads to a footbridge over the creek at the base of the falls. The trailhead loop starts at the parking area just before the entrance to the campground, and is a medium to strenuous hike at just under 2.5 miles in length. The path to the falls is a rugged, downhill 0.9-mile, with a gentler 1.5-mile uphill return following Crabtree creek upstream before looping back to the parking area.

Nearby Falls

• Murphy Falls
• Big Crabtree Falls
• Grassy Creek Falls
• Falls of Gouges Creek