The Most Beautiful Waterfalls You Can Walk Behind In The US, According To Travelers

Anytime we encounter substantial beauty, we want to see it from every angle. We want to go over, under, and around the magic, experiencing every inch of its full, three-dimensional glory. More often than not, we are able to do this, taking in the exquisite entirety of everything from a tiny flower to the Eiffel Tower (what you need to know before visiting). 

But waterfalls often remain frustratingly out of reach. We can admire from afar, but not much more. But every so often, they let us behind the scenes. When we venture behind a waterfall, we see it through a new lens, freshly cleaned by the water droplets flying in our direction. We get to experience the world from the waterfall's rarefied perspective, and we feel briefly as though we have an insider's view of its forest throne. Sheltered under the rocky cave ceilings, we can often feel like we're sitting at home, looking out the window at our divine neighbor.

We looked around America in search of the best falls with trails behind them. Starting in tranquil Appalachia, we move clockwise around the country before ending up in Oregon's misty, mossy forests, where it seems like you can't throw a stone without hitting an epic new waterfall. Without further ado, let's take the path less traveled.

Just eight minutes south of Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpiece flows more inspiring falling water. Deep in the forests of Ohiopyle State Park, Cucumber Falls tumble 36 feet over a moss-covered sandstone ledge, creating a striking cave behind the rapids for visitors to enjoy. Visitors can reach the cascade from the Meadow Run Trail to the base of the falls, where they can hike up a rocky, circular path under the massive ledge to gaze out at the back of the powerful waterfalls and the peaceful flowing creek they overlook. 

The falls flow into a shallow, rocky pool, which many visitors enjoy stepping into on hot summer days. Others start at the parking lot, where they can look out from a ledge over the top of the rapids, then descend the stairs to the bottom of the cascade and the famous space behind them. Visitors recommend coming in the fall or spring when water levels are the highest, but there's much to be said for visiting the incomparable ice caves of the winter.

Where there's one waterfall, there's usually more. The 25,000-acre Ohiopyle State Park boasts a stunning 10 waterfalls along tributaries flowing into the Youghiogheny River. Cucumber Falls are the most famous, but Ohiopyle Falls, Upper and Lower Jonathan Run Falls, Fechter Run Falls, Sugar Run Falls, and the Upper and Lower Cascades are all stunning in their own right.

We now begin the Buttermilk Falls portion of the tour. There are 12 different Buttermilk Falls in the United States and 3 in Pennsylvania alone. Two of those offer beautiful areas to walk behind, but only one helped inspire the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. The 48-acre Buttermilk Falls Natural Area was once owned by Fred McFeely, the maternal grandfather of Fred McFeely Rogers, known to many generations of children as the kindly Mr. Rogers. As a boy, Rogers spent the summers at his grandfather's forest estate, which featured a stone cottage, horse stables, and a swimming area above the falls.

Along the Fred McFeely Trail, wooden signs display famous Mr. Rogers quotes, including the popular: "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." And that's certainly true in this pristine neighborhood of forest and flowing water. After visitors cross the triangular Eclipse Bridge — erected the day of the 2017 solar eclipse — they descend a flight of stairs as they marvel at the 45-foot falls, one of the highest in Pennsylvania. The stairs lead behind the falls, where visitors can walk along a steel platform underneath a massive rocky overhang and gaze out at the woodland paradise that inspired one of America's most beloved grandfather figures. Buttermilk Falls is just one of the sites along the Fred Rogers Trail, a series of 10 sites in western Pennsylvania tied to the life and legacy of the kindly man in the tie and cardigan.

About 1½ west of Mr. Rogers' Buttermilk Falls lies the second Buttermilk Falls, which we imagine he would have found equally inspiring. These falls, which were once known as Homewood Falls, gracefully tumble 35 feet off the ledge of an old quarry into a pristine swimming hole. The falls are located just off the Pennsylvania Turnpike, about 35 minutes northwest of Pittsburgh. 

But the small Buttermilk Falls Natural Area somehow feels a world away from all that hustle and bustle, and visitors are delighted to hear only the roar of the falls, not highway traffic, and rarely any other visitors. You can park in a small parking lot above the falls or in the lot of a nearby church. From there, it's an easy five-minute walk on a well-marked trail through the old quarry down to the falls, which flow off a rocky overhang into an enticing blue-green pool deep enough to swim in the warmer months.

If you'd like to venture behind the falls, bring sturdy, wet shoes to climb over all the slippery rocks. Unlike the other Buttermilk Falls, there's no walkway or ropes behind the falls, but there's more than enough space. Visitors can even sit on some of the larger boulders and spend hours gazing at the peaceful cascade and tranquil forest. The nearby area is full of parks, woods, rivers, breweries, an aircraft museum, and the many delights of Pittsburgh.

To get behind many of these waterfalls, visitors often need to scramble up slippery rocks to a cramped, spray-filled cave. But at Ash Cave, a circular open cave about 700 feet from end to end, the waterfall tumbles about 100 feet down from the top of a massive overhang, giving visitors almost as much space behind the waterfall as they have in front of it, complete with stairs and a railing.

Ash Cave is a spectacular recess cave that consistently ranks as one of Ohio's most popular attractions. To get there, visitors walk down a short, paved, wheelchair-accessible path through the lush forests, caves, and falls of Hocking Hills State Park. At the end of the trail, they're rewarded with high, dramatic cliffs crowned by the majestic waterfall that pours into a small pool. Around the falls, a fecund cluster of beautiful hemlocks, beech trees, and wildflowers is surrounded by a sandy floor.

Ash Cave is rich in both natural beauty and history. It once served as an important living and gathering spot for both Native American tribes and later settlers, who used it as a camp and a church. Still, it is just one of the many sacred attractions of Hocking Hills State Park, which boasts 2,356 acres of caves, waterfalls, gorges, streams, rivers, and geological wonders. We recommend booking one of the many inns or cabins nearby and spending a few days exploring all its treasures.

Out of the more than 100 waterfalls in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there is only one with a walking trail behind it, and it does not disappoint. In the heart of the lush forests of America's most visited national park, Grotto Falls tumbles 25 feet from a mossy overhang into a cool, rocky pool. Behind the falls, a clearly marked trail leaves a comfortable amount of room to marvel at the back of the beautiful cascade and breathe in its mist.

Because Grotto Falls is located in the heart of the Smokies, nearby attractions abound. To get there, visitors hike the 2.6-mile roundtrip Trillium Gap Trail, a moderate hike through beautiful old-growth hemlock trees. For an explosion of color and fewer crowds, visit either during autumn or late May, when the trail is bursting with all varieties of wildflowers. Bear sightings are somewhat common, but stay on the trail, and you'll have nothing to worry about.

Just 2 miles from the falls, intrepid hikers can enjoy panoramic views by hiking to the summit of the 4,916-foot Brushy Mountain. Alternatively, 5.6 miles from the waterfall, Mount Le Conte towers 6,593 feet, offering even better views. For some gentler enjoyment, take a leisurely, winding drive through the streams, forests, and historic cabins along the 5.5-mile Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Just outside the park are the many thrills of Pigeon Forge, which include Dollywood, the Titanic Attraction Museum, and numerous other resorts and amusement parks.

The name "Dry Falls" may sound like an oxymoron, but it actually refers to the fact that visitors can supposedly step behind the falls without getting wet. Although this isn't always true, it's often the case, which is remarkable given the sheer volume of these roaring, soaring 75-foot falls. Dry Falls is one of the most impressive and accessible waterfalls on this list. 

It's located just off Highway 64, a winding, waterfall-rich country road also known as both the Mountain Waters Scenic Byway and the North Carolina Waterfalls Byway. Visitors travel comfortably along a paved set of stairs with railings, marveling at the wooded splendor of the Nantahala National Forest. After just a ¼ mile, the massive, powerful cascade tumbles fantastically down an enormous cliff. The water free falls for a while before flowing down another tall rocky slope that leads into the Cullasaja River. The wide trail and railing continue behind the free-fall section, allowing visitors to stay mostly dry as they gaze out onto a symphony of flowing water.

Perhaps the best part of Dry Falls is its close proximity to several other world-class waterfalls. Just a mile away, Bridal Veil Falls tumbles 120 feet over a paved road, meaning that it is the only waterfall in North Carolina that you can drive behind. Glen Falls is a multi-tiered masterpiece, while Secret Falls and the amusingly named Bust Your Butt Falls offer refreshing swimming holes.

Most of the falls on this list are surrounded by verdant forests on all sides. Noccalula Falls flows into a beautiful forest creek trail, and it's also the centerpiece of 500 acres of family-friendly attractions. Noccalula Falls Park boasts everything from a petting zoo to a botanical garden with 25,000 azaleas. Visitors can go mini golfing, get married in a wedding chapel, take a train ride around the grounds, or visit a Pioneer Village full of rustic log cabins from the 18th and 19th centuries. For the whole month of December, the entire park, including the falls, twinkles with magical holiday lights.

But the majestic 90-foot falls are beautiful at any time of year. At the top of the large stone ravine, visitors can stare down as gallons of water roar into a flowing creek. Legend has it that the falls are named for Noccalula, a Cherokee princess who supposedly leaped off the falls when she could not marry the man she loved. Today, a 9-foot statue of Noccalula is perched uncomfortably on a rock above the falls, eternally ready to jump.

For a much safer route down the falls, visitors can take the paved Gorge Trail to the bottom. The trail wraps comfortably behind the soaring falls, and visitors can enjoy their hypnotic beauty from under the cavernous cliffs. Visitors can also swim in a designated beach area or hike the rest of the Gorge Trail along a flowing forest creek.

In the 1960s, engineers planned to build Interstate 5 over Hedge Creek Falls and bury them forever. Local residents fought so hard to save the falls that the location of the highway was moved at a cost of around a million dollars. Today, this wondrous wisp of white flowing through hardened lava rock is also known as the "Million Dollar Falls."

As soon as you see these Million Dollar Falls, you'll understand why everyone was so devoted to saving them. Hedge Creek Falls is located along a well-marked Creekside Trail through the dense woods of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, tumbling 35 feet through a large slit in a columnar basalt hanging wall and into a glistening pool below. Visitors can travel behind the falls and into the unique cave, where they may sense the ghost of "Black Bart," an infamous Wild West stagecoach robber who hid out in that very same cave.

The trail continues through the woods along the swiftly flowing Hedge Creek, which forms many small waterfalls on its way to the Sacramento River. At the intersection with the river, visitors can stand atop an observation deck and gaze out at the towering snow-capped peak of Mount Shasta, a 14,000-foot volcano whose lava flow created the rocks through which Hedge Creek Falls flows. As long as you're chasing waterfalls, it's essential to drive about 25 minutes to the McCloud River's Three Waterfalls, which are three breathtaking cascades along the McCloud River.

As the name indicates, we're talking about more than one waterfall here. We could easily write an entire article on the world-famous Trail of Ten Falls, a 7.8-mile loop through Silver Falls State Park, sometimes called the "crown jewel" of Oregon state parks. Hikers can walk behind 4 of the 10 waterfalls along the trail. The most common route begins at the trailhead to the famed South Falls, where a jaw-dropping bridal veil falls 177 feet down off a massive, mossy cliff into a deep forest pool below. Entranced visitors can walk along a narrow, fenced trail behind the picture-perfect falls, though they must sometimes duck to avoid the low rock ceiling.

About 2.6 miles clockwise lies Lower South Falls, a 93-foot tall waterfall that is much wider than the hose-like South Falls. The narrow trail behind the falls curves around a stone ledge that hikers can lean over to touch the falls. Continue clockwise along the trail past 3 more waterfalls, and you will end up at Middle North Falls, a similarly wide 106-foot-tall waterfall cutting through another mossy gorge. A narrow, fenceless path cuts right behind the falls, awarding hikers an intimate, up-close view of the roaring cascade. Past the beautiful Twin Falls lies North Falls, which looks as though a powerful hose is spraying out of a massive aerial boulder. The trail behind curves dramatically under an imposing, curved rock ceiling arching over the powerful 136-foot plume.

If you enjoyed the Trail of Ten Falls, travel about 1½ northeast to the Columbia River Gorge, a stretch along the river just outside Portland that boasts the highest concentration of waterfalls in North America, with 77 waterfalls on the Oregon side alone. Drivers along I-84 will undoubtedly notice Horsetail Falls, which tumbles 176 feet down a moss-strewn basalt cliff into a large, circular pool, looking just like the longest, prettiest horsetail in the world.

To avoid accidentally careening down the gorge, hikers mesmerized by these lovely falls can park nearby to enjoy their peaceful, powerful beauty. A 10-minute hike up the Horsetail Falls Loop Trail will transport visitors to the smaller Ponytail Falls, also known as Upper Horsetail Falls. The falls indeed look like a thin tail spouting out the back of another large lava cliff, which curves sharply inward and leaves a trail behind the tail. Hikers can walk gingerly along the trail at the edge of a ravine, then duck their heads under a low rock ceiling and watch Ponytail Falls shoot powerfully into a beautiful pool overlooking the river and mountains.

As long as you're in one of the best waterfall neighborhoods in the world, it's definitely worth checking out the many nearby. The connecting Oneonta Gorge Trail leads to Lower Oneonta Falls, Upper Oneonta Falls, and the three-for-the-price-of-one Triple Falls. Just an 8-minute drive from the Horsetail Falls trailhead lies the staggering 620-foot Multnomah Falls.

Further into the dense, rainy forests of the Columbia Gorge, the Eagle Creek Trail takes hikers over 25.8 miles along a narrow ledge atop mossy cliffs, sometimes hundreds of feet high. Like most of the forests of this rainy region, the trail is awash with waterfalls, passing through eight major falls and many smaller ones.

One of the most dramatic is Tunnel Falls, a natural and engineering marvel. The falls cascade spectacularly in front of a man-made tunnel bored through the basalt at the turn of the 20th century. Hikers pass right behind the 160-foot falls and then immediately walk through a cavernous, mossy tunnel. The light at the end of the tunnel is silver, green, and misty. To get to this point, hikers must begin at the Eagle Creek Campground and trailhead, just a 12-minute drive east down 84 and 45 minutes from Portland. 

The incredible trail continues along a high canyon ledge blasted out of the cliffs and across bridges through dramatic chasms and canyons. 3.8 miles in, hikers will arrive at Punch Bowl Falls, which are renowned for the large swimming hole beneath them. A few miles later, the beautiful High Bridge straddles a 120-foot gorge. The trail continues along another bridge and 3 more campsites before reaching Tunnel Falls, about 7 miles in. Be sure to bring trekking poles and waterproof gear, and watch out for rockslides and debris, which are more common after the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire.

Only a handful of waterfalls have comfortable paths behind them, so the search wasn't too difficult. Still, we consulted a number of different blogs and trail reviews to find waterfalls that were both beautiful and allowed for comfortable passage behind them. Since trail conditions can often change on a dime, we consulted official sources to make sure the path behind is still passable. We also watched video footage of the paths behind the falls to describe, as best as words can, the sublime experience they offer.