![]() Stay away from the top of any waterfall.These activities all put hikers at risk, though, and that’s why our post will hit on some key tips to keep safe around waterfalls in the backcountry below: Instead, we tend to let our guard down around waterfalls, climb on their slick rocks to get better views or camera angles, and succumb to peer pressure to jump off of waterfalls into seemingly safe pools below. Hikers tend to view things like wildlife run-ins as a possible threat and take precautions to minimize encounters, but the same doesn’t happen with waterfalls, despite the much higher risk they pose. Why would this be the case? The answers to this question are many, but one of the biggest involves the fact that few people perceive waterfalls as a safety risk to begin with. Compare these types of tragedies to black bear attacks or snakebites from venomous Appalachian species – both of which claim, on the average, less than one fatality per year nationally – and it becomes easy to see just how dangerous waterfalls can be. Waterfall-related accidents are so common that at least 12 deaths or injuries have occurred at waterfalls in the mountains of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee this year alone. These types of incidents are horribly tragic, but they aren’t rare in our region. ![]() North Carolina’s infamous Rainbow Falls – known for multiple past deaths – claimed its latest victim last month, while a local hiker fell from eastern Kentucky’s Bad Branch Falls and was seriously injured earlier this year. Waterfall injuries and deaths are so common, in fact, that multiple incidents occur annually across the Appalachian region. While it might seem strange that the most dangerous part of a hike would be the very destination that a trail was designed for, that’s absolutely the case when it comes to waterfalls in the Cumberlands and the Appalachians, as a whole. Double fallsĮven in the most famous locations, you’ll rarely see two different 100-foot waterfalls standing right next door to each other.What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of safety risks on the trail? Bears? Snakes? Bees? Poison Ivy? How about getting too close to the edge of a towering cliff at a scenic viewpoint? While all of these things can pose varying levels of risk in particular situations, one of the most (if not the single most) serious safety risks along any trail in our region is perhaps one that you wouldn’t expect: waterfalls. ![]() Many people have been forced to turn around after getting lost on these roads.Įventually, you’ll reach a paved road that glides downhill to a wonderful little trailhead with picnic benches and an outhouse that registers a “moderately awful” rating on the stink-o-meter. While logging trucks barreling down the road are the greatest danger, and there’s a bit of white-knuckle exposure near the highest point, the biggest annoyance are massive potholes and a confusion of unmarked roads. The exciting part of the drive starts off Highway 126 west of Eugene, following the Siuslaw River and Whittaker Creek, and climbs almost 2,700 feet past active logging, clear-cuts and a peak apparently called “Roman Nose,” where the views spread across the rolling lumps of the Coast Range. Kentucky Falls Trail demands even more time in the car and a similar adventure on unmarked logging roads where a wrong turn could lead to a serious amount of confusion. Kentucky Falls Trail connects with the North Fork Smith River Trail to form what a few years ago was among the state’s most impressive routes. ![]() The trail is moderately strenuous at 4.4 miles round-trip, dropping (and then climbing back up) a total of 825 feet. If the name feels out of place, then so do the cascades, two of which thunder side-by-side in one of the state’s most spectacular hideaways. The Kentucky Falls Trail, southeast of Florence, combines coastal lushness with the raw power of water dropping more than 100 feet. The few that drop through the Coast Range rarely eclipse 40 feet and are certainly no match for the thundering majesty of cascades in the Columbia River Gorge or Silver Falls State Park.Įxcept, hidden in a remote canyon of mist-soaked mountains, at the end of gravel roads filled with potholes the size of swimming pools, is a trio of waterfalls that can challenge anything in Oregon. Within the green and blue mosaic of rolling mountains, you’ll find patches of old-growth trees, silver streams and a lush rainforest of wildlife and plants. The Coast Range is not famous for waterfalls.
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