Waterfalls in Virginia

Virginia's waterfalls, from the Blue Ridge crest to the coalfields

Virginia's waterfalls follow the state's climb from the Piedmont into three mountain belts. Streams crossing greenstone and metabasalt along the Blue Ridge crest drop off cliffs inside Shenandoah National Park, sandstone-capped hollows in the Ridge and Valley feed a second cluster around the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, and folded rock on the Appalachian Plateau cuts a third cluster in the far southwest. In all, 127 named falls are recorded across 39 counties.

Where the waterfalls are

The Blue Ridge crest inside Shenandoah National Park holds the biggest share: Page County leads with eight listings around Hawksbill and Overall Run, Madison County has six along Hogcamp Branch and the Rose River, and Rappahannock, Warren and Greene counties add more toward the park's north and south ends. West of the ridge, Rockingham and Augusta counties carry falls on national forest land, and Albemarle County, just south of the park, has the Doyles River and Jones Run falls.

The Blue Ridge Parkway continues that ridge south through Nelson and Amherst counties, home to Crabtree Falls, before the mountains widen into the Ridge and Valley: Rockbridge County alone has ten listings, including Natural Bridge State Park, and Bath, Alleghany, Botetourt, Giles and Craig counties add falls around Douthat State Park and the New River.

Far to the southwest, the Appalachian Plateau and the Mount Rogers area hold a third cluster spread across Scott, Washington, Wise, Smyth, Wythe, Tazewell, Russell, Dickenson and Buchanan counties, with Grayson County adding falls toward the North Carolina line.

Northern Virginia's Arlington and Fairfax counties hold small falls on steep Potomac Gorge tributaries, and scattered piedmont drops reach as far as Halifax and Mecklenburg counties.

Waterfalls worth the trip

• Crabtree Falls, Virginia's tallest waterfall at 1,080 feet in a series of cascades — though the national forest gives the whole series as 1,200 feet — has a paved first overlook a short walk from the lot; climbing beside the rest of the falls to the top is a 3.1-mile round trip with about 1,076 feet of climbing.
• Dark Hollow Falls, 75 feet down Hogcamp Branch, is a 1.4-mile round trip with 440 feet of climbing from Skyline Drive.
• Rose River Falls drops 60 feet in two steps on a four-mile loop from the Fishers Gap parking area that climbs about 910 feet past additional cascades.
• Fallingwater Cascades steps 110 feet down four tiers among rock outcrops and rhododendron, a 1.6-mile loop off the Blue Ridge Parkway that descends about 260 feet to the base and back.
• Falling Spring Falls, 85 feet — though state signs give 80 — is seen from a paved roadside overlook on US 220; there's no trail to the base, and going past the overlook is not allowed.
• Lace Falls fans 40 feet over three steps on Cedar Creek in Natural Bridge State Park — though a park panel gives 50 — a 2-mile round trip partly paved with stairs.
• Abrams Falls, a 70-foot plunge outside Bristol, sits on land the county acquired after a long public effort; the approach off Abrams Falls Road is unmaintained, and the phone number posted at the roadside sign gives permission to hike in.

When to go

Blue Ridge and Ridge-and-Valley falls are rain- and snowmelt-fed and run strongest in spring; smaller falls in the Alleghany Highlands can nearly disappear by late summer without recent rain. Crabtree Falls keeps flowing year-round but runs heaviest after snowmelt, with color in the gorge come fall and ice on the upper steps in winter. Skyline Drive, the only route to the Dark Hollow and Rose River trailheads, can close without notice during severe weather.

Fees, permits and closures

Shenandoah National Park charges $30 per vehicle for seven days, $25 for a motorcycle and $15 on foot or bicycle in 2026, plus a $55 annual pass; entrance stations take no cash. The Blue Ridge Parkway, which reaches Fallingwater Cascades, charges no entrance fee. Virginia State Parks charge $7 a vehicle for day-use parking as of May 21, 2026; Natural Bridge State Park, home to Lace Falls, instead charges its own admission of $9 for visitors 13 and older and $6 for children 3 to 12. Crabtree Falls, on national forest land, charges $3 per vehicle per day, payable by card or cash, with America the Beautiful and the forest's seasonal day-use pass accepted.

Hurricane Helene's flooding in September 2024 tore up the Virginia Creeper Trail along Whitetop Laurel Creek in Washington County; the Forest Service closed the approach to Big Rock Falls there and has scheduled the trail's reconstruction to finish by March 31, 2027.

Safety

Algae coats the rocks above Crabtree Falls, and stepping off the trail there has proven fatal more than once; stay behind the railings and out of the water. A 20-year-old hiker died at Fallingwater Cascades in May 2016. Shenandoah National Park allows swimming in its streams, warns that the water stays cold through summer, and treats climbing on any waterfall as dangerous. The waiver for Abrams Falls' unmaintained approach, posted by the county, describes hazardous terrain, weather and potentially fatal falls.