Soco Falls: Maggie Valley

Two Lives Unite

I first visited Soco Falls in mid February of 2019, and honestly, I can't tell you why it took so long for me to come here.  I have seen plenty of pictures of this waterfall and the unique fact that it is actually two different cascades side by side.  The drop on the left is reported to be from Soco Creek, while the one on the right is a tributary.  They both come together to form a single creek that continues on from here.  Unfortunately, this waterfall is right at three hours away from me which had a lot to do with why I haven't been here before.

The drive out to it is really simple and isn't far off of I40.  You will take exit 27 towards US-19, and after 4 miles take exit 103 which will put you on Us 19 toward Maggie Valley.  You will stay on US 19 for about 13 miles and will find yourself climbing a mountain out of Maggie Valley and taking a turn around that mountain before coming up to the parking area on the left of the roadway.  It is gravel and has a crash barrier on the edge with a small cutout leading to the trail.  

From the parking area, you will go through the cut and follow a well groomed, but steep and winding path for a short distance.  You will then see an observation deck that will allow a decent view of the falls, but with the trees growing, the visibility is getting less clear than it was years ago I'm sure.  For optimal viewing, you will need to go down a scramble path which is easily seen right before the viewing platform.

Soco Falls

For those who want to see the waterfall in all of their glory, the scramble path is the way to go.  I will warn you though, this is an unmaintained path that is very steep and not easily navigated.  Fortunately, there have been ropes left by other hikers that are very useful for navigating this hill.  The footing is questionable after any significant rain which is when this waterfall will look the best.

You will find some very dramatic compositions downstream, but I will caution you that if the water flow is like the photographs here, you will have a difficult time capturing any pictures.  The spray from these two waterfalls will blow right downstream to where the best compositions are.  I found that it was impossible to keep the lens clear enough to get any pictures from this location.

For the shots here, I found a place on the scramble path about half way back up that I could get set up at.  This avoided most of the spray, and gave some great views of both waterfalls.  You are close to them, so a wide angle lens is a good idea for this, and don't discount panoramic shots as well.

If you enjoy waterfalls, but don't really like the long hikes associated with them, this is a decent option for you.  It does take some work to get to, but there is not much time invested at all in getting to the water.  You can walk right up to the falls as well.  I've heard that there used to be a lot of trash around this one, but I am very happy to say that I saw very little trash around it, and the only real visual hurdle to get over was the ropes that are rather beneficial to getting down to the falls.

Overall, this is one of my favorite locations and I would visit it more often if it were closer.  Something else that I would like to mention about this.  If you are not able to go on a cloudy day, if you get there in the early morning, the sun rises on the other side of the mountain, so you will find yourself in the shadows for the first 2 hours or so of the day.  Clouds are your best chance to get the colors right though.