Steels Creek Falls is a 70-foot waterfall on Steels Creek in Burke County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 12.1 miles east of Spruce Pine and roughly 39.2 miles southeast of Johnson City as the crow flies.
At 70 feet it is taller than the typical North Carolina waterfall of about 50 feet, ranking 101st of 288 with a recorded height. 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. Steels Creek carries 3 recorded waterfalls; the biggest of them reaches 120 feet.
Burke County holds 14 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Middle Steels Creek Falls, a 120-foot tiered waterfall, is under a mile away. Upper Steels Creek Falls, a 120-foot tiered waterfall, is about 1.6 miles away. Ripshin Branch Falls, is about 1.9 miles away.
Steels Creek Falls is located at 35.9191° N, 81.8476° 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.