Big Bear Falls is a waterfall on Mingo Creek in Swain County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region, with a total height of about 150 feet. It lies about 4.6 miles northeast of Cherokee and roughly 40.8 miles west of Asheville as the crow flies.
At 150 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of North Carolina’s 288 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 43rd; the typical North Carolina waterfall is about 50 feet. The water comes down as 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. Mingo Creek carries 2 recorded waterfalls, and Big Bear Falls is the tallest of them.
There are 22 recorded waterfalls in Swain County. Upper Mingo Falls, a 20-foot fan waterfall, is under a mile away. Bradley Branch Falls, is about 2.6 miles away. Crowe Hill Falls, is about 2.9 miles away.
Big Bear Falls is located at 35.5319° N, 83.2745° 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.