You can't unsee the ugly stairs when you view Catawba Falls, but you can photograph the waterfall without including them in the shot. (017A-260688)

On my first visits to Catawba Falls in the 1980s, I parked beside the road, crossed private property, and kept an eye out for a man rumored to hide behind a tree with a shotgun. Then I had to wade across Catawba River, which could be risky when the water was high.

This was the easy part. The real challenge came if I wanted to continue upstream from Catawba Falls to see Upper Catawba Falls. Getting there meant climbing a “trail” that seemed designed by the Grim Reaper during a slow week.

A lot has changed since then. Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina bought the private tract and later sold it to Pisgah National Forest, which already owned the waterfall. The Forest Service added a large parking area and built a footbridge over Catawba River. Everyone welcomed these improvements. Then they poked the bear.

Once the entire trail became public, visitation to Catawba Falls rose sharply. The dangerous path to Upper Catawba Falls still tempted visitors who had no business tackling it. People were getting hurt, and the climb was causing severe erosion along the bank beside Catawba Falls. Something had to change.

So, the Forest Service closed the trail to Catawba Falls for two years while it worked on a solution. Most people were glad something was being done, though few understood why it took so long. When the trail reopened, social media exploded with commentary about the work—most of it negative, and some of it cruel.

The Forest Service installed metal stairs so visitors could safely climb beside Catawba Falls to reach Upper Catawba Falls. It also added a footbridge over a nearby tributary, eliminating a potentially difficult crossing, plus a boardwalk leading up to the base of Catawba Falls. And a really nice addition was a new trail to Upper Catawba coming from the other direction, creating a loop that lets you see both waterfalls without backtracking. Nice!

Except…the stairs. They’re huge! They’re ugly. And they stand right beside Catawba Falls.

The stairs created an uproar in the waterfalling community. “Catawba Falls is ruined.” “I’m never going back.” “How could they destroy this waterfall like that?” “This was my sacred site. Now it’s destroyed.”

Those were some of the nicer comments.

My take? I accept them. Yes, they are big and ugly. Yes, they sit right beside the waterfall. But they had to be built. I think they could have been a little less intrusive, but something had to be done.

A lot of the comments questioned why the trail wasn’t rerouted entirely around the steep section. That was possible, but it would have made the hike much longer while leaving the original death trap in place—one people would still use because it was shorter.

Obviously, I made this image before the stairs were built, but I also made it long before Tropical Storm Helene hit. Sadly, Catawba Falls no longer is green and lush, but the stairs had nothing to do with that. (017A-099400.jpg)

Here’s the funny thing: among all the negative comments I’ve read about the stairs, I haven’t seen one from parents glad their young children can now visit these waterfalls. I haven’t seen one from an older couple who could never have climbed the devil path, or from anyone else who would not have attempted that steep off-trail scramble. The complaints came from people like me—people who could handle the old route and would rather not hike shoulder-to-shoulder to a waterfall. Many said Catawba Falls had become so crowded that didn’t care to return.

I get it. Really, I do. But I can hike to almost any waterfall in North Carolina—at least as long as my dwindling body holds out. The people these stairs were built for can’t. I have more than a thousand North Carolina waterfalls to choose from. Many potential visitors have far fewer. I’m happy that two of them are among the state’s most scenic waterfalls.

I can start the hike early and have the waterfall all to myself. I can photograph Catawba Falls without including the stairs. And when I pass someone on the way back who might not otherwise be able to experience waterfalls like this, I can be glad they get to see this beautiful place too.