Clear Branch Falls is a 75-foot waterfall on Clear Branch in Unicoi County, Tennessee, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 7.3 miles southwest of Banner Hill and roughly 20 miles southwest of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 75 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of Tennessee’s 332 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 46th; the typical Tennessee waterfall is about 30 feet. The tallest single drop is 40 feet. By form it is a tiered waterfall, falling in several distinct steps one after another. It falls in 3 drops.
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. Clear Branch carries 2 recorded waterfalls, and Clear Branch Falls is the tallest of them.
Unicoi County holds 20 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Big Branch Falls, a 25-foot tiered waterfall, is under a mile away. Lower Higgins Creek Falls, a 100-foot tiered waterfall, is about 2.4 miles away. Devil Fork Falls, a 10-foot plunge waterfall, is about 2.5 miles away.
Clear Branch Falls is located at 36.0565° N, 82.5174° 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.