The Grandest Fall of All

At 411 feet, Whitewater Falls is the tallest waterfall in the Eastern United States.

Upper Whitewater Falls is easily accessible. There is a parking area off NC 281 just before the SC state line, and the walk to the overlooks is short.

If you hike to the bottom of the gorge from the overlook, you'll encounter a steel and concrete bridge across the river, which will lead you to a stream that feeds the Whitewater only a few yards downstream. The stream is Corbin Creek, and if you fight your way through the underbrush you'll find Laurel Falls.

Laurel Falls drops nearly the same distance as Whitewater, but Corbin Creek doesn't carry as much water as the Whitewater River, and there isn't a spectacular overlook, so it doesn't get the same kind of attention.

Just before the Whitewater River spills into Lake Jocassee, it goes over another precipitous drop, Lower Whitewater Falls. This waterfall is very nearly as impressive as the upper falls, and surely there is no stream in the east, that boasts two such magnificent falls. Lower Whitewater Falls is in South Carolina. It can be accessed either by hiking the Foothills Trail from Upper Whitewater Falls to a spur trail, or by hiking along a trail from Duke Power's Bad Creek hydroelectric project. The hike form the Bad Creek parking lot takes about an hour.

Duke Power has built an outstanding wooden deck overlooking the lower falls.