Mingo Falls

Mingo Falls is probably hands down the most scenic waterfall in the vinicity of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (at least based on our research of the waterfalls in the park and our field observations).

This tall waterfall (said to be 120ft) had a strandy appearance during our visit in Autumn. Thus, I’d consider the condition of our visit to be either normal or below normal because I have seen photos showing the falls in a widened state without segmenting.

There was a footbridge over Mingo Creek where we were able to get the views that you see on this page (which I think would satisfy most visitors). There were some later-arriving people who scrambled on the creek to get closer than the bridge, but I don’t think that’s necessary to get good photos or a good waterfalling experience here.

We showed up early enough in the morning (around 9:15am) so the sun was still behind the cliffs over which the water leaped. Plus there was only one other guy (a photographer with some serious equipment; possibly professional) who was already there.

Had we come later in the morning, then the sun would’ve breached the cliffs and we would’ve been looking directly against the sun (not good). Moreover, we would’ve contended with a lot more people as we noticed at least three groups (mostly families it appeared) approaching the falls as we were headed back to the car park.

The short walk to Mingo Falls is said to be 0.4 miles (I think that’s round trip) as it started off by going up several stair steps before flattening out and eventually terminating at the footbridge over Mingo Creek. We only took about 20 minutes to do the walk, take photographs (being mindful and respectful of the professional photographer who happened to be there when we got there), and return to the car.