Mingo Falls Trail - Cherokee, NC
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 35° 32.048 W 083° 16.568
17S E 293640 N 3934661
If old like me, take your time...most of it uphill...but worth the trip.
Waymark Code: WM1048V
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 02/23/2019
Views: 1
County of falls: Swain County
Location of falls: Sherrill Cove Rd. (CR-456), and Mingo Creek, just E. of Raven Fork, SE of Cherokee
Landowner: Eastern Band of the Cherokee - Qualla Boundary
Distance of Trail: 0.4 miles
"Just outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Cherokee Indian Reservation, Mingo Falls is one of the tallest and most spectacular waterfalls in the Southern Appalachians. It’s certainly among the scenic highlights of the Great Smokies and well worth a visit!
It’s a mere four-tenths of one mile round-trip hike to bask in this 120-foot-tall cascading beauty, but it’s on the strenuous side of things. Those in good physical condition can make this a 30-minute excursion while the less fit may want to allow an hour.
Trail Description:
"Reached via Big Cove Road on the Qualla Boundary of the Cherokee Reservation, the trailhead for Mingo Falls lies but a stone’s throw from Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Oconaluftee Visitor Center, the park’s main south entrance.
"You’ll be taking the Pigeon Creek Trail to reach the waterfall, and the first leg is an invigorating climb up some 160 stairs. Once you’ve ascended those, though, the grade slackens and it’s a quick walk to the wooden bridge at the base of Mingo Falls.
'“Mingo” means “big bear” in the Cherokee language, and in fact you’ll also sometimes hear this cataract referred to as Big Bear Falls. No matter what you call it, Mingo Creek’s horsetail plunge down the long rocky slide is glorious to behold. The bridge across Mingo Creek gives you front-row seats.
"Mingo Creek drains northwest off the ridge that culminates in Barnett Knob. Mingo Falls lies just a little ways above the creek’s mouth in the Raven Fork of the Oconaluftee River." ~ Smoky Mountain National Park