Catawba Falls: Old Fort, NC

Catawba Falls

This is the first "new" waterfall that I have visited in many years.  I don't know why I haven't done more exploring of different waterfalls, but I seem to be content with my favorites for the most part.  However, I've recently seen some pictures of a waterfall that I remember thinking about visiting a long time ago, but never did.  The pictures made me really want to give it a try.  This is Catawba Falls, which is in the town of Old Fort, NC, and in conveniently located off of I-40 at the Old Fort exit.

Directions are fairly simple, and you can actually Google them.  For simplicity, you would come in on I-40, and take the Old Fort exit from either direction.  If you are coming from Westbound 40, you would take a left and cross I-40 before taking the right that is the ramp from Eastbound.  Just after entering the ramp, you would take a quick left onto Catawba River Rd.  If you are coming Eastbound, you would just turn off of the exit onto Catawba River Rd before coming to the main intersection.  At this point, you just follow the road until it ends.  You will pass the camp grounds on your left which is an indication that you are almost there.  It isn't far at all.  The parking area is at the end of the road and is a gravel loop.

Catawba Cascades

Once you get parked, the trail head is easily seen by the "information boards".  The trail is relatively simple and you should be able to make good time on it.  It is a constant incline so you will get tired quickly, but there aren't any real technical sections to work through until the end of the hike.  When I went, I made the mistake of not researching the distance of the hike, other than knowing it was not excessive.  After I had been moving with a purpose for about 30 minutes, I had to stop and catch my breath and used that time to figure out how long the hike actually was.  This is the nice part about a trail being so close to the highway, you actually have Internet connection.  I found that it was around 1.5 miles which meant that I should be getting close based on my pace.

Remember when I said that the only technical part came at the end of the trail.  Well, I crossed a bridge and the trail turned to the right and it was nothing but rocks.  It was not difficult, but there was a little bit of climbing involved to get up the trail, and it almost appears that you are off trail at that point.  Just after the rocks, you are there at the base of Catawba Falls.  Had I waited about 150 feet to look at the phone, I would have been there.

As you can see from the leading image here, Catawba Falls is a rather large waterfall, standing at 100 feet for the main falls.  However, unless there has been a tremendous amount of rain, it does not present as a waterfall of this size should.  On my visit here, there had been average rainfall recently, and I suppose that this is the "normal" state of the falls with swings in either direction due to water levels.

Saturated Moss

When it comes to photography, you will actually have a great time at this waterfall.  There are a lot of different ways to shoot it, and when I was here, I used everything from 16mm to 400mm to capture the images.  There are lots of trees which provide cover from the sun, but for the best experience I would suggest going on a cloudy day, with maybe a bit of rain.  During the Summer, the moss takes on a very vibrant color which really makes this waterfall stand out when you look at the individual elements.

Water Cairn

This is one of those waterfalls that you can get up close and personal with.  The cairn left by a hiker is evidence of that.  For the experience hiker, there is another section about 50 ft up which provides a view of the very top of the waterfall.  It is a difficult scramble to get to from what I have read.  I have also read that it is not really that worth it, so I haven't made the attempt as of yet.  Speaking of other options, there are plenty of features along the trail getting to the waterfall which might interest a photographer.  Some are very difficult to get to, and don't appear very safe.  I did not risk it for those scenes as the photographic outcome would have been marginal at best.  That isn't to say that under different conditions that you might not have better luck.

Foot of the Falls

As you can see from the pictures here, there is a lot to work with when visiting this waterfall.  To make the most of it though, you need to keep two things in mind. You will be standing in water that might be up to your shins to get the compositions that you want.  Also, you need to get there early in order to miss the crowds.  Apparently, this waterfall sees a constant swarm of visitors all year round.  This could be due to the fact that it just recently became open to the public, and it might taper off eventually.  It pays to get there before the crowds because there isn't much area to work when people start to show up.

I would say that this waterfall is very worth visiting if for nothing else, it is very pretty, and the hike is really simple to make.  Be prepared to shoot a range of focal lengths as the magic of this waterfall is in the details.