Skinny Dip Falls via Mountains to Sea Trail
1.5 mi
Distance
44 min
Time
terrain
734 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a easy round trip hike to Skinny Dip Falls in North Carolina. It is extremely popular in the warmer months as it is used heavily by swimmers visiting the falls. Note that despite its name nude swimming is illegal.
Getting Started
Follow the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Looking Glass Rock Overlook. From the overlook cross the Parkway and follow the Mountains to Sea Trail west. The trail is marked with white dots and passes over some wooden walkways near the falls.
Taking Children
This a popular and fun hike for children, especially if swimming is feasible in the summer months. Watch younger children around the falls as there are steep drops. Be very careful if allowing children to jump from ledges into the water.
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
Public Tracks
Mountains to Sea Section 2
trail_hike_comments: **Waterrock Knob to Pisgah Inn**
From Waterrock Knob to Flat Gap, the trail follows the Blue Ridge Parkway closely at most times. It gains some distance from the motor road on the southwest slope of the ridge line from there to Haywood Gap.
From Haywood Gap to Beech Gap (NC 215), the trail enters the higher elevations of the Middle Prong Wilderness and encounters sections of beautiful spruce-fir forest. It passes the Green Mountain trail which and then a high waterfall on Mount Hardy, before entering some wildlife meadows. This segment of the Mountains to Sea Trail, combined with the Green Mountain trail to Green Knob, is [one of the best hikes in the region](http://www.hikewnc.info/besthikes/middle-prong-wilderness/green-knob). Portions of the trail in designated wilderness are unblazed, but generally easy to follow.
From Beech Gap (NC 215), BRP mp 423.2, to Pisgah Inn at BRP mp 408.6: this portion of the trail travels through some of the higher mountains along the Pisgah Ridge. The trail ascends to Silvermine Bald through a moist mixed northern hardwood/spruce-fir forest, then levels out and passes through a forest of predominantly spruce until reaching Black Balsam Road. It skirts Black Balsam Knob and then the Graveyard Fields area via Graveyard Ridge, before descending significantly to cross the Yellowstone Prong at Skinny Dip Falls. It ascends again toward the Blue Ridge Parkway., trail_bike_comments: None
Mountains to Sea Section 02: Waterrock Knob to Pisgah Inn
Properties:, name: Mountains to Sea Section 02: Waterrock Knob to Pisgah Inn, segment: Mountains to Sea Trail - GFields Connector to Skinny Dip Falls, mapid: 20, type: trail
Mountains to Sea Section 02: Waterrock Knob to Pisgah Inn
Properties:, name: Mountains to Sea Section 02: Waterrock Knob to Pisgah Inn, segment: Mountains to Sea Trail - GFields Connector to Skinny Dip Falls, mapid: 20, type: trail
