3 VERY easy waterfall hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Channel: Southeastern Frontiers
Date: 2021-07-11

In this video, my wife and I hike to three VERY easy to get to waterfalls on the southern side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (#GSMNP) near the towns of Bryson City and Cherokee, NC.

The first two waterfalls I visited here are not only less than 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the Deep Creek Trail Head and campground area (near Bryson City, NC) in the GSMNP (#Smokymountains), but are wheelchair and baby stroller accessible!  The trail consists of a very well maintained, broad, gravel path and even though we got rained on, we didn't even get our shoes muddy.  We parked at the Deep Creek Trail Head and hiked about a tenth of a mile (160 m) to the lovely Tom Branch Falls.  Tom Branch falls is a small stream falling over multiple cascades before dumping directly into Deep Creek.  After watching people playing in the water and floating down Deep Creek in floats for a while, we continued on up the trail another 0.4 mile (640 m) to Indian Creek Falls.  Indian Creek Falls is much larger than Tom Branch and sides down a slope into a wide pool.  We then started heading back towards the campground and planned to take in Juney Whank Falls when a sudden cloud burst dropped some rain on us.  As a result, we skipped Juney Whank, but by the time we got back to our car, it had stopped raining.

We then drove a short distance to Mingo Falls which is on the Cherokee Reservation just northeast of the town of Cherokee, NC.  Mingo Falls (called Bear Falls in Cherokee) is outside of the GSMNP, but only just barely (about 5 miles from the entrance) and there are no permits or fees required to visit it.  The Mingo Falls trail is very short (less than 0.2 mile), but includes about 160 steps before reaching the viewing platform.  The falls itself cascades down 200 ft (60 m) of granite boulders and is very picturesque.

Due to them being so accessible, you shouldn't expect solitude on any of these short hikes.  But, if you go early in the morning, you can avoid the big crowds that appear in the afternoons.  Despite the crowds though, these waterfalls are well worth visiting if you are in the area.

Deep Creek Waterfall Loop Trail info (you don't have to do the full loop): https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/north-carolina/deep-creek-waterfall-loop
Mingo Falls Trail: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/north-carolina/mingo-falls-trail

Title card music by Lobo-Loco: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lobo_Loco/Welcome/Glueworm_Blues_ID_994

#hike
#waterfall 

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:18 Map
01:01 Tom Branch Falls
02:42 Indian Creek Falls
04:16 Mingo Falls
07:45 Elk Along the Road