Bridal Veil Falls is a 108-foot sliding waterfall on the Little River in DuPont State Recreational Forest, Transylvania County, North Carolina. The Friends of DuPont Forest call it the first falls of the Little River, and its overhanging ledge appeared in The Last of the Mohicans.
The falls
The river first pours off an undercut ledge a few feet high, then spreads across a broad, gradually steepening slab of granite before running into a pool. The total drop is 108 feet over a run of about 775 feet, more than 100 feet wide at the base; earlier inventories gave 120 feet in two drops. A separate cascade of about 25 feet runs down the river's left side at the bottom.
Getting there
The usual start is the High Falls Access Area at 89 Buck Forest Road, Cedar Mountain, which has restrooms. The route follows Buck Forest Road across the covered bridge above High Falls, turns right on Conservation Road past Lake Julia, then right on Bridal Veil Falls Road to an observation platform and a short graveled path to the base. The round trip is 4.4 to 4.6 miles; most of it is on wide gravel roads shared with bikes and horses. The Fawn Lake and Corn Mill Shoals access areas also connect to the falls and have portable toilets.
The forest is open daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. and charges no fee. DuPont closed after Hurricane Helene in September 2024 and partly reopened that November; the closure list updated June 2026 does not include Bridal Veil Falls or the roads to it.
When to go
July, August and October are the busiest months, and arriving before 9 a.m. or after 4 p.m. makes finding parking easier. The longer walk keeps Bridal Veil quieter than Triple and Hooker Falls.
On site
Visitors can walk behind the overhanging ledge, but the slab below is coated in algae that NCWaterfalls calls "slippery as Teflon." Forest rules prohibit climbing, jumping or sliding on waterfalls and swimming or wading above them. Dogs must be leashed. Cell service is limited and emergency response can be slow. There are no trash cans in the forest, so pack everything out.
History and name
The land was once Buck Forest, home to a DuPont X-ray film plant, and passed to the state between 1997 and 2000. Besides The Last of the Mohicans (1992), scenes of The Hunger Games (2012) were filmed at the falls.
Nearby
Minnehaha Falls is about 1.2 miles away, Triple Falls and Grassy Falls about 1.5 miles, and Hooker Falls, downstream on the Little River, about 1.7 miles. The town of Brevard is about 7.4 miles to the northwest.
Distances are straight-line.