Lower Douglas Falls Best Hike

• Difficulty: Moderate
• Total Length: 1 mi
• Trail Tread Condition: Moderately Rough
• Climb: Climbs Gently
• Lowest Elevation: 4200 ft
• Highest Elevation: 4440 ft
• Total Elevation Gain: 240 ft
• Trails/Roads Used: Douglas Falls
• Hike Configuration: Out-and-back
• Starting point: Parking area at the end of FR 74
• How to Get There: From Asheville, take US 19-23 north (4-lane) for about 11 miles. Take Exit 15 for Jupiter/Barnardsville (NC 197). Turn right toward Barnardsville and follow NC 197 (2-lane highway) about 6 miles to the town of Barnardsville. Turn right onto Dillingham Road just past the fire station. It's about 6 miles to the National Forest - stay on Dillingham Road. You will cross a one-lane bridge and the road will turn into gravel FR 74. Follow this gravel road for 8.7 miles until it ends in the parking lot. The trail starts at far right end of the lot as you drive in.
  Directions on Google Maps

Start by taking the Douglas Falls trail at the back of the parking lot, which may be signed (if it has not been vandalized, like all signs in the National Forest potentially could be). The trail will lead gently downhill all the way to the falls. This very popular trail has varied in condition greatly over the last few years. It had been in decent shape for many years, but then improvements were made at some of the locations that were in need of repair making it an excellent trail. However, in the last couple of years, its condition has deteriorated severely again. Several large trees have fallen during fierce storms, taking the trail with them, and it's getting muddy and wet more than it should. For this, I'm going to have to up the difficulty of this hike to Moderate - but still, the trail is not that bad overall and could be improved with a little work. It's really an easy hike, but watch your footing as some sections are fairly rocky and one wet, sloped rock area (a former rootball) is downright treacherous.

The forest near the beginning of the trail was logged, but has recovered nicely. Large oaks, maples, beeches and hickories make up this mixed hardwood forest. This area is prone to wind; hike here in the winter on a windy day and the trees will be swaying and howling as the air rushes through. It's a good idea to beware of loose or broken timber (called "widow makers") on days such as that. Most times, however, the hike is pleasant with the faint sound of a stream rushing far in the valley below. About 2/3 of the way to the falls, the trail gets a bit wetter as various seeps cross the trail from the hillside above. Well-placed stepping stones help one get through some of them with dry feet.

Formerly, the forest changed suddenly and dramatically at this point as well, as it became dominated by tall, dark hemlocks. These are mostly dead now, thanks to the devastating infestation of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. This is letting in a lot more light than ever before, and the trail will probably eventually keep the same character from beginning to end. It used to be like suddenly entering a "deep, dark forest" (as my family used to say) when you reached the hemlocks, but now the understory is starting to fill up with the same light-loving succulent groundcover that is found closer to the beginning of the trail. At this point you are entering a virgin forest - one that has never been logged - albeit vastly different from its ancient self due to the loss of the hemlocks. Still, some of the deciduous trees here are very large.

You'll see the falls shortly after entering the area that had hemlocks. As of July 10 2006, the hemlocks at Douglas Falls had been infested with the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid for a couple of seasons, but they were looking remarkably healthy and putting on plenty of new growth around and above the falls. This could have been due to a predator beetle release in the area that was used to fight the adelgids. That was to be the last sign of new growth, though - a worsening infestation combined with the record-breaking, excruciating drought of 2007 - early 2009 did them in. As of June 2009, virtually no new growth is occurring, even on the smaller trees, and most of the largest trees are completely dead. A few young ones still look pretty green, but whatever treatments (including beetle releases) the forest service had done in this area were an epic failure. Strangely, there is at least one small hemlock near the parking area that is showing no signs of infestation at all. I'm not sure if it was chemically treated or what, but let's hope it's a genetically resistant individual that we can use to re-populate the woods with hemlocks once they're gone. (Fat chance, I know!)

The area around the falls had already lost most of its hemlocks, so once you arrive there the impact will be less obvious. Enjoy exploring around the base of the falls. You can even easily and relatively safely walk behind the falls if you don't mind getting dripped on a bit. But be careful on the slippery rocks which lie all around the base! There is no safe way to get to the top of the falls. The trail continues up towards the left side of the falls and eventually ends up at the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The trail crosses one other waterfall, Cascades Falls, on the way. However, it is a long, strenuous hike and the trail is sometimes difficult to follow.

Return to your vehicle on the same path.