North CarolinaNC Waterfalls

Bridal Veil Falls has captivated me ever since I saw Jim Bob Tinsley’s photo in The Land of Waterfalls.¹¹ Then, a few years later when I watched The Last of the Mohicans, I was really enthralled. So, it’s no surprise that I wasted little time coming here after the falls became part of DuPont State Recreational Forest.

The waterfall starts as a short, overhanging drop that you can get behind, then goes on a long, gentle, sliding run before fanning out and falling over a steep, sloping rockface. Although other North Carolina waterfalls share some of Bridal Veil’s characteristics, few can compare with it. If there were a way to see all the waterfall from one vantage point (Tinsley shot from a tree), and if a high-power transmission line weren’t clearly visible at the top, I’d give it a beauty rating of 9, maybe even 10.

A sign at the base warns visitors to stay on the marked trail, but the trail ends at the base of the falls. Although a makeshift path climbs the river-right side to the upper drop, you can’t see much from it. Forest officials frown on climbing on the waterfall, and in fact doing so is against regulations, but you’ll see hordes of people all over the falls on weekends and most any day during summer and fall.

Exercise extreme caution here. The gentle slope in the middle of the falls can engender carelessness, and if you slip at the wrong place, you’re in serious trouble. As one official said, some algae-rich areas here make Teflon seem like flypaper. Even the flat areas can be difficult. On one trip, I watched several bicyclists bust their butts as they walked their bikes across the flat area at the base of the upper drop. I even saw some attempting to ride their bikes across, attempt being an apt description.