Rough Butt Creek Falls
Jackson County, North Carolina
Your visit at a glance
- Waterfall height
- Not recorded
- Location
- Jackson County, North Carolina
- Access status
- Partial: wet fords, faint path, and land status of the access drive not confirmed
- The walk
- About 3 miles return
- Ground & access
- Two creek crossings, one a wade that can be knee deep. The final path is overgrown, steep in places and slippery.
Walk back down Caney Fork Road to where it curves right and turn left on Rough Butt Road, a small gravel drive that ends at a ford of Caney Fork. The old bridge washed out. Wade across and follow old road FSR 4669 for under a mile to where it fords Rough Butt Creek. Right after that crossing, climb the steep bank on the left and follow a faint path up Rough Butt Creek to the base of the 30-foot falls.
Plan your visit
End of pavement on Caney Fork Road, Rough Butt Road (a small gravel drive) to a ford of Caney Fork, FSR 4669, a ford of Rough Butt Creek, then a faint creekside path
Take a Hike gives about 3 miles round trip. The forest road section is under a mile each way.
Two creek crossings, one a wade that can be knee deep. The final path is overgrown, steep in places and slippery.
Where to start
Roadside on Caney Fork Road immediately after the pavement ends, about 9.6 miles from NC 107. Take a Hike gives coordinates 35.32784, -83.04047. Rich Stevenson in 2004 described private driveways and no parking signs near the start; do not park in or block drives.
Timing & water
No closure is stated by the sources. The route description dates from 2016. Avoid the fords in high water.
Before you go
Nantahala Ranger District, Nantahala National Forest. No fee is stated by the sources. Ownership of the drive to the Caney Fork ford is not stated.
Visitor informationVisit sources
More waterfalls nearby
Within 40 straight-line miles. Road and trail distances will differ.
- Upper Sugar Creek FallsPartial guide: informal flagged path; road status beyond the bridge not statedJackson County, NC1.0 miSW
- Sugar Creek FallsNational forest old road; creek crossingJackson County, NC1.0 miSW
- Dryland Laurel Branch FallsJackson County, NC1.1 miSW
- Confluence FallsJackson County, NC1.2 miE
- Lower Bearwallow FallsJackson County, NC1.3 miNE
- Piney Mountain FallsJackson County, NC1.3 miE
- Bearwallow FallsJackson County, NC1.4 miNE
- Chastine Creek FallsPartial guide: 2006 roadside account, private land on the lower road, parking unconfirmedJackson County, NC2.2 miW
- Roy Taylor FallsPartial guide: no maintained trail; final approach is a short bushwhack described by one sourceJackson County, NC2.9 miS