I have made it my mission to see as many waterfalls in my lifetime as I possibly can and living in Transylvania County, NC which boasts over 250 waterfalls is a great place to start. On a recent day trip Chris and I found ourselves in Gorges State Park in North Carolina — a short drive from us to Sapphire, NC. We had loaded up the car and our hiking gear and set out in the morning and had plenty of time to explore areas of the park. We saw a couple of waterfalls here before driving to our next location in Nantahala National Forest.
The most magnificent waterfall that we viewed that day had to be Whitewater Falls. It is very accessible with very minimal hiking which makes it a very popular and attractive spot to visit.
The elevation of the falls is 2, 560 feet and there are two levels of drops or cascades which add up to a total of 411 feet. I have found the book North Carolina Waterfalls : A Hiking and Photography Guide by Kevin Adams to be an amazing resource in our waterfall quest. Mr. Adams gives detailed information on each waterfall and trail and a simple look at this book helps prepare us for whatever waterfall we want to visit. 
Walking to view the waterfall is an easy hike on a paved trail from the parking lot where you are asked to pay a $2 parking fee per vehicle. Judging from the number of cars there on this winter day when we visited that fee helps with upkeep and for the modern restrooms that are available along with picnic tables for those who wish to linger over a picnic while they enjoy the beauty. I have absolutely no trouble making donations to help preserve places like this especially when we discovered that that was an amazing stair case to a lower viewing area as well. Kudos to Nantahala National Forest for all of the work they have done to ensure that visitors have amazing access to this natural beauty.
There are 153 stairs that descend to the lower viewing area and it is worth it to walk those to get an even better view of this magnificent and beautiful natural work of art. Somehow I neglected to take a picture of those steps but they were a lot easier to go down than to go back up for some reason.
The falls are visited by young and old alike and the day we were there there was a young college aged girl on spring break who was taking her spunky grandma to see 7 waterfalls that day. I loved watching them take selfies with their selfie sticks and see how protective the granddaughter was as her grandma walked up those killer 153 steps to the upper viewing area. Memories were made that day.
What is your favorite waterfall that you have seen in your lifetime? Don’t forget to Comment for a Cause.
