Lower Falls is a 15-foot waterfall on Big Sandy Creek in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 6.3 miles west of Thurmond and roughly 48.4 miles northwest of Winston-Salem as the crow flies.
At 15 feet it is on the modest side for North Carolina, where the typical waterfall with a recorded height stands around 50 feet; it ranks 265th of 288. By form it is a slide, where the water glides down a smooth, inclined rock surface.
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. Big Sandy Creek carries 3 recorded waterfalls; the biggest of them reaches 160 feet.
Wilkes County holds 16 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Middle Falls, a 20-foot tiered waterfall, is under a mile away. Beauty Falls, a 160-foot tiered waterfall, is under a mile away. Widows Creek Falls, a tiered waterfall, is about 1.9 miles away.
Lower Falls is located at 36.3806° N, 81.0407° 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.