Glassmine Falls

Height: 800 feet*
Trail Type: Pavement
Hike Distance: None
Difficulty: 0
Beauty: 1

Overview:

Glassmine Falls is located at an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 361. The sign at the overlook says the falls are over 800 feet high, but A) you can only see about 200 of those feet at best and B) Glassmine Branch is so puny that it can dry to barely a trickle during periods of drought. There’s also no other way to see the falls except from the overlook (which is about 1,000 feet away) because the falls lie within the Asheville watershed, which is apparently so sensitive that a single footstep would poison Asheville’s drinking water for decades. I don’t know how accurate that previous statement is, but all of the signs demanding people stay in their cars along the parkway through the watershed seem to indicate that’s the case.

Directions:

Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 361