Trash Can Falls is an 85-foot waterfall on Laurel Creek in Watauga County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 6.3 miles north of Banner Elk and roughly 28.2 miles east of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 85 feet it is taller than the typical North Carolina waterfall of about 50 feet, ranking 82nd of 288 with a recorded height. By form it is a tiered waterfall, falling in several distinct steps one after another.
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. Laurel Creek carries 3 recorded waterfalls, and Trash Can Falls is the tallest of them.
Watauga County holds 8 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Buckeye Creek Falls, a slide waterfall, is about 4.2 miles away. Watauga Falls, a 24-foot tiered waterfall, is about 4.7 miles away across the state line in Tennessee. Craborchard Falls, a tiered waterfall, is about 4.8 miles away.
Trash Can Falls is located at 36.2528° N, 81.8531° 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.