Bard Falls is a 30-foot waterfall on North Harper Creek in Avery County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 11.4 miles south of Foscoe and roughly 37.4 miles southeast of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 30 feet it is on the modest side for North Carolina, where the typical waterfall with a recorded height stands around 50 feet; it ranks 201st of 288. By form it is 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 Harper Creek carries 3 recorded waterfalls, and Bard Falls is the tallest of them.
Avery County holds 19 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Hunt-Fish Falls, a 12-foot tiered waterfall, is under a mile away. Lower Gragg Prong Falls, is about 1.4 miles away. South Harper Creek Falls, a 120-foot tiered waterfall, is about 1.4 miles away.
Bard Falls is located at 36.0006° N, 81.8060° 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.