About Crabtree Falls
Crabtree Falls (not to be confused with the one in Virginia) was probably the prettiest of the waterfalls we saw that were directly accessible from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
What this 70ft waterfall on Big Crabtree Creek had going for it was its rippling texture amidst a plethora of Autumn colors. Indeed, it was another one of those waterfalls that Julie liked because it had “character.” And apparently we weren’t the only ones partial to this waterfall, because it was certainly popular despite the upside-down 2-mile round trip out-and-back hike (I swear it felt a lot longer) that was all downhill on the way there and all uphill on the way back.
I don’t think the two miles included the extra ten minutes of walking from the visitor center car park to the Crabtree Meadows campground (where the actual trailhead began). Most people (like us) didn’t know about the closer trailhead parking by the campground, but then again, there wasn’t that many parking spaces there anyways. In any case, there’s far more parking spaces by the visitor center.
There was also the option to do a longer loop hike (making the round trip distance 2.5 miles instead of 2), but we met some folks who did it and didn’t recommend it. I guess given the amount of uphill walking on the way back to the trailhead, I don’t blame them for not desiring to prolong the physical challenge without other obvious natural attractions other than meandering in a tranquil forest. The trail got a bit rockier and uneven the further down we went, but for the most part, it was just like most dirt trails.
There was a footbridge in front of the falls offering nice views. If there’s not a whole lot of foot traffic on the footbridge and you’re not aspiring to be a professional photographer, it’s possible to use that bridge as a pseudo tripod (to save you from the trouble of lugging a tripod on this trail).
In addition to the footbridge, we (like several others) scrambled closer to the falls from both sides of the stream to experiment with different compositions of the falls. Given the tranquil, picturesque scenery with the Autumn colors and this pretty cascading waterfall with character while facing a moderate uphill climb back to the trailhead, we definitely weren’t in any hurry to leave.
It took us over 90 minutes to do the hiking and photographing starting and ending at the visitor center.
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