South Harper Creek Falls is a 120-foot waterfall on Harper Creek in Avery County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 12.8 miles south of Foscoe and roughly 38 miles southeast of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 120 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of North Carolina’s 288 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 57th; the typical North Carolina waterfall is about 50 feet. By form it is a tiered waterfall, falling in several distinct steps one after another. It falls in 2 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. Harper Creek carries 4 recorded waterfalls, and South Harper Creek Falls is the tallest of them.
Avery County holds 19 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Upper South Harper Creek Falls, a slide waterfall, is under a mile away. Bard Falls, a 30-foot horsetail waterfall, is about 1.4 miles away. Harper Creek Falls, a 40-foot tiered waterfall, is about 1.8 miles away.
South Harper Creek Falls is located at 35.9804° N, 81.8106° 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.