Upper Sill Branch Falls is a waterfall on North Fork Sill Branch in Unicoi County, Tennessee, in the Blue Ridge region, with a total height of about 50 feet. It lies about 5.3 miles west of Banner Hill and roughly 16.1 miles southwest of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 50 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of Tennessee’s 332 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 78th; the typical Tennessee waterfall is about 30 feet. The water comes down as a horsetail, where the water keeps some contact with the bedrock as it falls.
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. North Fork Sill Branch carries 2 recorded waterfalls, and Upper Sill Branch Falls is the tallest of them.
There are 20 recorded waterfalls in Unicoi County. Sill Branch Falls, a 40-foot segmented waterfall, is under a mile away. Simmons Branch Falls, a 35-foot cascade waterfall, is about 1.1 miles away. East Simmons Branch Falls, a 15-foot horsetail waterfall, is about 1.3 miles away.
Upper Sill Branch Falls is located at 36.1215° N, 82.5182° 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 exact position has not yet been verified on aerial imagery, so treat the map pin as approximate. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.