Cascade Falls — Attraction in West Jefferson

This trail through the trees is mostly easy, although the path can be narrow in a few places and there are steps near the end. An alternate route is currently closed for repairs, but the route that is open follows the creek, crosses it, continues along the opposite side (where it gets narrower and trails are needed for safety in a few spots) before descending down a few stairs and opening up under the top of the cascade. There is a stone wall for safety and if you look over you will see that the cascade descends in a few steps but ultimately drops a good distance. Continuing further down isn't as difficult as it first appears, as you're actually only descending perhaps another 20 feet and the tail does not go ago the way to the bottom.

At the next level down, you have a different vantage point of the cascades from somewhere towards the middle of it. Again, there is a stone wall for safety.

The greatest challenge of the trail, in my opinion, was actually navigating the traffic on it. In the area with the steps where they al come together, it can create quite the traffic jam, because there is only room for on person on the steps at a time. So when you have people wanting to ascend from the first viewing area and from the lower viewing area and people trying to come down all at the same time, you can end up with quite the bottle neck.

Otherwise, it was a nice stroll with interesting tree and plant markers along the way, and the color of the leaves against the black rocks was very pretty, as well. So I highly recommend trying out this trail if you're journeying along this section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Just be aware that you probably...

My husband had found Cascade Falls on YouTube, the video of the trail. So he thought it would be a pretty short and easy trail. And if you are used to hiking it is but we had just recently began hiking when we went so it was a little further away than we expected but let me tell you it was so worth it! When we got to the falls they are situated so you are standing right beside them as they are rushing down the Mountain! I loved it but I wanted better pictures but my husband refused to let me hang off the side of the Mountain...

Lovely little stop to stretch you legs on the BRP (blue ridge parkway) or to bail into a town from the mountain to sea trail for a resupply if your thruhiking.

The parking area and picnic tables are well kept and the pathway has markers describing flora and fauna you may see along the way. Be warned that the trail is muddy in places especially so after rain and is not mobility challenge friendly.

The second viewpoint of the falls is closed...