Along the Yonahlossee Trail

Does anyone know the name of this small waterfall found along US Route 221 near Grandfather Mountain? I didn't have any luck in finding photos or descriptions online. My guess is that it's called Green Mountain Creek Falls (or possibly Yonahlossee Falls). It's a beautiful stop along what was once known as the Yonahlossee Trail, named for the Cherokee word meaning "trail of the bear". This very curvy road was constructed in 1889 by Hugh MacRae as a stage coach road to connect his resort in Linville to Blowing Rock, NC. More recently, it was used as a bypass during construction of the Linn Cove Viaduct and the final section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Click here to learn more about Hugh Morton and this section of the Parkway. To the right is a photo of the Viaduct as seen below on Route 221. To get there, exit the BRP at Grandfather Mountain, and take Route 221 7.3 miles north -- the falls will be on your left.

About the waterfall photo... To be honest, I was happy to just see water flowing over the falls. Most all of the waterfalls in northeast TN have barely a trickle. And then I saw the double whirlpools -- Woo Hoo! The conditions weren't exactly ideal for this type of photo - harsh midday sun. Thankfully, much of the waterfall was in shadow. So to allow the shutter to stay open for four seconds, I closed down the aperture to f/25 and set the ISO to 200. Click here to see another leaf swirl photo of this waterfall; And click here to see my previous leaf swirl attempts.