Roten Creek Falls is a 240-foot waterfall on Roten Creek in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 8.5 miles southeast of Jefferson and roughly 56.3 miles east of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 240 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of North Carolina’s 288 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 22nd; the typical North Carolina waterfall is about 50 feet. By form it is a tiered waterfall, falling in several distinct steps one after another.
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.
Wilkes County holds 16 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Darnells Creek Falls, a 440-foot tiered waterfall, is about 1 miles away. Cox Road Cascades, a 30-foot tiered waterfall, is about 4.2 miles away. Wingler Creek Falls, a tiered waterfall, is about 4.3 miles away.
Roten Creek Falls is located at 36.3543° N, 81.3436° 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.