Where is compression falls boone nc

Early November, dry, leaves, acorns and rocks. The hike down was brutal but the falls were magnificent. Watch for bears, as we smelled very fresh scat. A magnificent waterfall. I've only visited the lower drop and it's one the most powerful and beautiful falls that I've seen in our region. Beautiful fall and swimming hole. Parking and trail were not well marked. Hike was hard not because of elevation but due to a poorly graded and maintained trail.

I consider myself a strong hiker and in decent shape but I fell on my backside a few times on the decent due to loose rocks on a steep decent. Definitely a hike I'd think twice about bringing small children or older adults along. Also be careful around the falls and don't come alone if you plan to jump from the falls My video of the trail. What a hike! I've done over hikes in NC and this one kicked my butt!

It was such a great hike but you have to watch each and every step placement and the rocks at the river are slicker than snot! We had the falls all to ourselves today for the most part. I'm exhausted from a hike that's not even a mile!

Well worth the trip! The way down is pretty steep, and would recommend to anyone that is good with ropes, try to re-knot the sections that provide rope, they look a little worn and one was only attached to a root that was starting to come up.

We eventually made it down, and the view was spectacular. For our trip, we decided to jump off a the falls a few times, lay out on the rocks, and enjoy a quick lunch!

Use Navigator in the AllTrails app and join the other outdoor explorers who have completed this trail. Compression Falls hard Length 1. Hard to find trail with very challenging descent to river and series of waterfalls, main falls is Compression Falls, further up river are two more falls, Twisting Falls and another falls, but are harder to get to.

On the northeast side of Beech Mountain, NC and just across the Tennessee border on Dark Ridge Road, this hike starts from a dirt parking lot down a gradual and wide 0. From there, take a left upriver about another third of a mile to the biggest falls, 35' Compression Falls.

Another quarter mile upriver is 20' Twisting Falls. Locals say that there is another 20' falls upriver from there.

This trail is extremely dangerous and the locals don't recommend anything but hiking boots to get you there and back. The climb up is a great workout however. The falls are beautiful and pretty impressive. The park service has added a nice dirt parking lot, marked with a "P" sign. Hard to find: we had to ask some locals Sharp right onto State Rd 0. Take the 1st right to stay on State Rd 0. Turn left onto Sam Eller Rd 0. Turn right to stay on Sam Eller Rd 30 ft 6.

Turn left to stay on Sam Eller Rd 0. Turn right onto State Rd 0. Continue onto Beech Mountain Rd 0. Turn right to stay on Beech Mountain Rd 0. Continue onto State Rd 0. Continue onto Dark Ridge Rd 1. Dark Ridge Rd turns left and becomes State Rd 0. Turn left to stay on State Rd Entering Tennessee 1. State Rd turns slightly left and becomes Clawson Rd 0. Turn left toward Dark Ridge Rd 0. Drive 9. Drive 7. After 0. Then turn right onto Clawson Road and drive 0.

You then turn right onto Dark Ridge Road and drive another 0. You'll see an old barn up on the hill to your left, park on the road next to it don't park next to the barn, that's private property. The trail head is across the road from the barn and marked with yellow and red paint on a tree.

Reviews Sort by:. Danielle V. October 23, Hiking Off trail. Ashley Tipton. October 16, Stephanie Bowman. October 12, Brooke Aurora. September 16, It would be a sweet hike though. While these two are fairly close on the river, they are more like 45 minutes apart by car.

This can be attributed to the extremely remote location of these falls, and the ruggedness of the gorge the Elk River runs through. The road will change to gravel. Parking used to be up by an old barn, but now there there is a small parking area off to the right. On my last visit, the access to this, needed some serious maintenance though. This was only a 1. With that in mind, before you consider viewing this falls, a section of about 0.

Once the trail comes out into a clearing under some power lines, a trail to the left goes down to the river. This might be the steepest section of trail that I have ever hiked, no switchbacks either. Turn right onto Highway , and then turn left onto Highway At the intersection of 19E, turn right. Follow signs leading to the falls, making a left onto Elk River Rd. Continue for 5 miles, passing the off-road area, and make a left on SR Pass the commercial campground.

The road will turn to gravel and there will be several parking places. Hebron Rock Colony offers a beautiful, long slope of giant boulders, great for crawling, jumping and climbing. The river cascades down the rocks, creating numerous small waterfalls in between dozens of little swimming holes.

You will get towed. To reach the popular summer hotspot, hike from the parking area about 1. A swimming hole, complete with a rope swing, is located above the falls, and natural rock slides are found at several points below the falls. The waterfall itself is over 30 feet high, and continues for another 50 feet.

The trail leading to the upper falls is less than 1 mile, but strenuous. Crowds are usually small, but sometimes loud. Directions: Take Highway South from Boone. Turn left onto Highway South. The "ropes" that help you are only at the very top of the hill. Not too helpful for the rest Can someone please tell me the actual address of the parking lot that is down the road a ways?

Beatiful falls. Had a wonderful time, and didn't attempt anything crazy. My whole family wife, and 3 teenage kids slid down the falls. The slide keeps you upright, and drops you into the whitewater, which doesn't hurt. Recommend that over jumping, for sure. This not compression falls either.

Locals have always called it Big Falls. I don't like it when outsiders rename things to their liking. Thanks for visiting, Phil.

I hate to disagree, but the area waterfall I most often heard referred to as "Big Falls" is Elk River Falls in fact the topo maps label it as such. Great blog entry Mark! I have seen articles saying that this one is Compression Falls and that Twisting Falls is just upstream, but I am still not certain. It sure would be nice to have a trail connecting these two, with access at both. It is ok to dream I guess. Visited Compression Falls last week and had the place to ourselves with the cold weather.

Interestingly, before we found the proper trail down to the main falls we wandered up the ATV trail past the barn for at least a half mile and spotted another equally treacherous trail down to the river bank thinking this would lead us to the main waterfall.

Apparently we were at the top of Twisting Falls, but also saw a nice falls across the Elk River from a feeder creek. Was wondering if this had a name. Love the your blog and map!!! Here's a video I made of the falls earlier this week. Nice colors in the trees too. Filmed via drone! What a hike my buddy and I had carrying lots of camera equipment down and up! We used these directions to get to the falls, and had quite a trip. If you come down Dark Ridge road due to a GPS instead of following these to a tee, you will likely get lost and proceed to spend an hour driving forwards and back trying to figure it out.

When you reach the road that you think might be the right turn, do not be dissuaded by the fact that it is very narrow. It is the right choice and not just a driveway. If you still get confused, the very nice gentlemen at Elk Mills Store have copies of a hand-drawn map that is infinitely useful.

It would seem that the old barn is now gone, but the parking lot is impossible to miss, because the road dead ends at it. There is now a red gate up preventing you from going any further. The red gate is marked with red and yellow posts. Do not pass it, climb up the big hill, come across 4 other groups who are all equally confused, all slide down a treacherous path that is WAY worse than the real one, and when you come to the bottom all decide the only choice is to start climbing along the side of the river.

That is a mistake. This is a good way to make friends, but a bad way to get to the falls. The right choice is to use the well-beaten path at the back of the parking lot that is very well marked and, after a seriously steep climb that is not as harrowing as the other due to upkeep and frequent travel you will come to the falls where you will have a good time and all stare at the large group that comes tumbling out of the woods covered in mud and blood.

After some time, I kept hearing "Compression Falls" and never realized it was the same place! To this day, I still call it Twisted Falls ; Thank you for the directions! I haven't been out in about 5 years, so my memory was a little fuzzy on which turns to take!

Great post and information about the falls! The trail is extremely steep as others has said, but the sights and good times are well worth it if you can climb safely. A long ways back a few friends took me to this spot and it was great day until we got to the biggest Waterfall and a group of people were screaming at the Waterfall for their friend who had gotten pulled under by the hydraulic of the Waterfall.

Long story short he didn't make it and it was days before they could recover him. Please let people know not to swim behind that last big Waterfall as it was one of the most shocking days of my life. This is a very dangerous place! A dear friend of my husband's died here just a few days ago while vacationing from Missouri with his wife and friends.

He was only 25 years old Too many people have been hurt or killed here.