Lower Falls

Lower Falls is a 15-foot waterfall on Slickrock Creek on the Tennessee and North Carolina line, in the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness of Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests. Park along the small Ike Branch road just off US 129 by the bridge over Calderwood Lake. The road becomes the Slickrock Creek Trail (Trail 42) and enters the wilderness along the lake; Ike Branch Trail splits left at 0.6 mile. At about 1.6 miles the trail turns up Slickrock Creek past cascades. At about 2.8 miles it crosses Slickrock Creek, which can be difficult in high water, then passes a small falls on a tributary at 3 miles; Lower Falls is just beyond. A steep scramble path leads from the trail down to the base. Return the same way.