East TennesseeGreat Smoky Mountains National Park

Cataract Falls

A flat, easy half-mile-plus stroll from the Sugarlands Visitor Center to a quiet 25-foot cascade, perfect for families and a quick stretch off Newfound Gap Road.

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Cataract Falls sliding down a mossy rock face along a snowy trail near Sugarlands in the Great Smoky Mountains — Photo by Andrea Walton, Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NPS), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Length: 0.7 mi
Elevation gain: 60 ft
Difficulty: easy
Route: out-and-back

Trail conditions

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Elevation

0.5 mi · 21 ft of climbing · high 1,465 ft · low 1,440 ft

Find the trailhead

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Parking

Park at the Sugarlands Visitor Center; the trail starts off the Cove Mountain / Gatlinburg Trail behind the building.

Directions to parking

Weather at the trailhead

79°FOvercast now

Sunrise 6:17 AM · Sunset 8:50 PM

TodayOvercast89° / 73°F27% precip
SatOvercast89° / 72°F19% precip
SunDrizzle88° / 68°F84% precip

Forecast from Open-Meteo. Mountain conditions change fast; check again before you go.

Cataract Falls is the easiest waterfall hike in the park, a short and nearly flat walk from the Sugarlands Visitor Center to a delicate 25-foot cascade sliding over a mossy rock face. It is an ideal first hike with kids, a leg-stretcher while you wait out a rain shower, or a quiet escape from the busy visitor center just a few hundred yards away. The path follows Fighting Creek through rhododendron and second-growth forest. Combine it with the flat Gatlinburg Trail next door for a longer, dog-and-bike-friendly outing. A parking tag is required park-wide.

waterfallsmokiesfamily-friendlyeasy