Hiking Crabtree Falls
Blue Ridge Trip '24 #7
Montebello, VA - Mon, 2 Sep 2024. 4pm
This afternoon we hiked Crabtree Falls in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. It's said to be the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi, falling over 1,200' in a series of cascades. IMO the cascades are too far apart to really call them one waterfall, but hey, a series of smaller waterfalls? Sign me up!
The first viewing platform for Crabtree Falls is a short distance up the trail. The trail is paved to this point so it's relatively easy. It is up, though. Taking pictures at the falls was a good excuse to stop and catch my breath. 😅
The trail to the top of the falls is not that long. It's a 3.6 mile round trip hike from the parking area. It's a climb of over 1,000' feet, though. The trail helpfully has little mileposts every tenth of a mile to let you know how far you've gone- and how much is left. I found these useful for pacing myself as the hike is also over 1,000' of ascent. I was huffing and puffing a lot though managed a better pace than I expected.
A lot of the falls on this stream are hard to see. They're behind heavy tree cover, they're around the corner from rocks, the viewing points are mostly above them, etc. As a result the next spot I really enjoyed stopping was almost at the top.
This is the uppermost cascade of Crabtree Falls (above). Well, it's part of it. The water cascades down a fair bit below here. The viewing platform is kind of in the middle, and I can't get all of it in one frame. And it's hard really to see the part of the falls below me, anyway. That's always the problem with hiking up above waterfalls; often enough it's a poor view from above.
Speaking of above, Hawk continued up the trail while I experimented with different vantage points for pictures here. She waved to me from the top of the slickrock. As expected, the view from above wasn't great, she told me when she got back. I mean, there's a good view out across the valley and to the other hills in the area, but not a good view of the falls.
On the way back down the trail I poked around at hiking some of the use trails to get closer to the water. The main trail, like I said, often didn't afford great views. But this spot (photo above) was maybe just 20 steps off the trail and didn't involve particularly dangerous terrain to get to. I mean, a person could slip and fall anywhere. This just isn't as dangerous as getting too close to the edge at Yosemite Falls (1,000' straight drop) or hiking in 110° heat with insufficient water.
We're done with the hike now and back in civilization... sort of. There's a general store and post office in the tiny town of Montebello, Virginia, a few miles back up the road. There's no cell signal here; that's how small and remote of a town it is. But it's a good place to buy an ice cream bar and sit on the porch to enjoy it.
Montebello, VA - Mon, 2 Sep 2024. 4pm
This afternoon we hiked Crabtree Falls in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. It's said to be the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi, falling over 1,200' in a series of cascades. IMO the cascades are too far apart to really call them one waterfall, but hey, a series of smaller waterfalls? Sign me up!
The first viewing platform for Crabtree Falls is a short distance up the trail. The trail is paved to this point so it's relatively easy. It is up, though. Taking pictures at the falls was a good excuse to stop and catch my breath. 😅
The trail to the top of the falls is not that long. It's a 3.6 mile round trip hike from the parking area. It's a climb of over 1,000' feet, though. The trail helpfully has little mileposts every tenth of a mile to let you know how far you've gone- and how much is left. I found these useful for pacing myself as the hike is also over 1,000' of ascent. I was huffing and puffing a lot though managed a better pace than I expected.
A lot of the falls on this stream are hard to see. They're behind heavy tree cover, they're around the corner from rocks, the viewing points are mostly above them, etc. As a result the next spot I really enjoyed stopping was almost at the top.
This is the uppermost cascade of Crabtree Falls (above). Well, it's part of it. The water cascades down a fair bit below here. The viewing platform is kind of in the middle, and I can't get all of it in one frame. And it's hard really to see the part of the falls below me, anyway. That's always the problem with hiking up above waterfalls; often enough it's a poor view from above.
Speaking of above, Hawk continued up the trail while I experimented with different vantage points for pictures here. She waved to me from the top of the slickrock. As expected, the view from above wasn't great, she told me when she got back. I mean, there's a good view out across the valley and to the other hills in the area, but not a good view of the falls.
On the way back down the trail I poked around at hiking some of the use trails to get closer to the water. The main trail, like I said, often didn't afford great views. But this spot (photo above) was maybe just 20 steps off the trail and didn't involve particularly dangerous terrain to get to. I mean, a person could slip and fall anywhere. This just isn't as dangerous as getting too close to the edge at Yosemite Falls (1,000' straight drop) or hiking in 110° heat with insufficient water.
We're done with the hike now and back in civilization... sort of. There's a general store and post office in the tiny town of Montebello, Virginia, a few miles back up the road. There's no cell signal here; that's how small and remote of a town it is. But it's a good place to buy an ice cream bar and sit on the porch to enjoy it.