Upper Gragg Prong Falls is a 16-foot waterfall on Gragg Prong in Avery County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 9.9 miles south of Foscoe and roughly 37.2 miles southeast of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 16 feet it is on the modest side for North Carolina, where the typical waterfall with a recorded height stands around 50 feet; it ranks 260th of 288. By form it is a slide, where the water glides down a smooth, inclined rock surface.
The Blue Ridge is the highest part of the southern Appalachians, a range of forested peaks and coves with oak, hickory, tulip poplar and hemlock and spruce-fir on the summits, in one of the wettest climates in the East. Steep mountain streams drop over granite, gneiss and quartzite ledges, giving the region hundreds of waterfalls. Gragg Prong carries 2 recorded waterfalls, and Upper Gragg Prong Falls is the tallest of them.
Avery County holds 19 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Lower Gragg Prong Falls, is under a mile away. Hunt-Fish Falls, a 12-foot tiered waterfall, is under a mile away. Bard Falls, a 30-foot horsetail waterfall, is about 1.5 miles away.
Upper Gragg Prong Falls is located at 36.0204° N, 81.7930° W. The listing is based on the World Waterfall Database, one of the sources compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in its inventory of waterfalls and rapids of the conterminous United States. The creek name is confirmed against the federal Geographic Names Information System. The position was verified on aerial imagery. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.