Lower Cascade Falls is a 25-foot horsetail waterfall on Cascade Creek in Hanging Rock State Park, Stokes County, North Carolina, where the creek pours off a rock wall into a large pool beneath an overhanging bluff. It sits in a separate section of the park, reached by a short but steep trail from Hall Road.
The falls
Cascade Creek rises at the park's lake and drops here in a single fall. The World Waterfall Database puts the drop at about 25 feet based on lidar data; older estimates gave 35 feet, a figure the park and Wikipedia still use. A large plunge pool with an overhanging bluff sits at the base.
Getting there
The Lower Cascades trail can only be reached from its own parking lot at 2143 Hall Road in Westfield, separate from the park's main entrance. The trail is rated moderate and runs 0.4 mile one way on gravel, dirt and rock, ending in steep wooden and stone stairs down to the base; the same stairs are the only way back out, and the trail is not accessible. There is no day-use fee at Hanging Rock. The Lower Cascades gate opens at 7:30 a.m. and closes at 5:30 p.m. in December and January, 6:30 p.m. in February and November, 7:30 p.m. in March, April and October, and 8:30 p.m. from May through September; it is closed on Christmas.
On site
The stairs lead down to the pool at the foot of the falls; they replaced a dangerous scramble down the cliff. In February 2021 a hiker who had left the trail fell at Lower Cascades and was carried out with a broken leg and other injuries; stay on the trail and stairs. Dogs are allowed on a leash no longer than 6 feet.
History and name
The German naturalist Lewis David von Schweinitz gave the first European description of the falls, which were once called Schweinitz Falls or Schweinitz Cascades after him.
Nearby
Window Falls is about 1.1 miles away, Hidden Falls about 1.2 miles, both on Indian Creek, and Upper Cascade Falls, upstream on Cascade Creek, about 1.3 miles. Torys Falls is about 1.9 miles away.
Distances are straight-line.