Crabtree Falls — Local services in Stuarts Draft

One of my favorite places to go on earth is Crabtree Falls, Nelson County, Virginia. Two to three times a year our very large family of 3 generations have been to the Falls every season except winter. Although our first visit Nov 5th there had been an ice storm and the upper parking lot was a solid sheet of ice. The only visit with ice in 25 years. Autumn is the best season to see the glorious fall foliage...generally after Oct 15th thru Nov 15th. It is just off the Blue Ridge Parkway or when driving up hwy 56, you will see the Tye River on your left. That is the river that goes over the Falls. You will be seeing the calmer water. Wear good hiking shoes and walking if hiking up to the top of the falls. There is a short paved trail from the parking lot to midway up the falls. DO NOT GO INTO THE FALLS. 25+ people have died from doing so. The rocks in the falls are slick. Weather can change in a heartbeat and make a stream of water into a raging river over the falls. Temps can change quickly, bring a coat. Also have a buddy with you. You are climbing in elevation....it is cooler. Also fog can roll in and make driving in the Blue Ridge very dangerous. Nelson County is beautiful with lots of farms and orchards Peaches in the summer and fantastic juicy apples in autumn. Many you can by directly from the orchards. This area is reknown for its wine tasting at the vineyards. Most restaurants and 1 Food Lion grocery store is hwy 29 in Lovingston. It is a small town. If you head 45 minutes north east on hwy 29 (left) you will come upon Charlottesville. Here you will find lots of eateries, enterainment and shopping opportunities. There is also University of Virginia. When you turn right onto hwy 29 from hwy 56 you will find and such. Keep following 29 and he town of Amherst. It also offers food you will find Lynchburg a med size town with a fast growing college...

This is a must see waterfall and trail. We are 27 weeks pregnant and it was very safe. There are rails on the trail the trails are wide enough for people to walk by and pass they’re not too steep very beautiful scenery. The rails are sturdy the trails are safe we kept going and going because it was so easy to walk. There are steps in certain places plenty of areas to view the waterfall. If you can only walk 400 feet, you get to see the whole waterfall if you can walk .7 miles you’re at a very high Peak. If you want to go further and do 2 miles you can get to the Appalachian trail and continue beautiful views. I would recommend this to any and everybody it is very easy to walk on. There were children that were two years old hiking the trail very wonderful scenery. So glad that this is in Virginia the water was crystal clear the falls were beautiful you will not regret it. Must see destination we drove two hours and 45 minutes from Williamsburg so that we could just do a three hour hike. It’s only three dollars to hike the trail. The facility was very clean no trash I’m telling you this was an amazing experience close to home. Virginia is so beautiful. But make sure you use the bathroom elsewhere the bathrooms were closed for Covid. Picnic tables to eat lunch beside the creek just an amazing situation. The roads are freshly paved to get to...

Short version: 5 star trail if you visit at a time with little to no people. Dogs may be allowed but there is not enough space for them so it would be polite to leave them at home. No potable water source and pit toilets without sink.

The trail itself is 5 stars. I've been here multiple times and it's beautiful in every season. There are many spots for viewing the falls and multiple places to stop and rest. Unfortunately this last time I went the other people hiking really decreased the quality of the hike. The trail is pretty narrow like 75% of the time. This alone combined with a lot of people can be a little annoying. But what made it worse was that nobody (from normal people to those who seemed to have more hiking experience) had any manners or trail etiquette. Multiple times on the way down I stopped to let people coming up pass, only to have the people behind me rudely barge through. Dogs off leash or being allowed too close to people (side note, just leave the dogs at home...it is too narrow to give others the proper space between them and your dog, or other dogs). A few people playing music on speakers. People with kids not watching them. Etc, etc..

I have visited on the weekend before and it wasn't this bad. The quality of hiking everywhere has...