About this spot
Gravley Falls is a roughly 15-20 foot cascade in Headwaters State Forest, reached via a short but rugged half-mile spur trail from an unnamed gate off Glady Fork Road (the Gravley Mill Shoals access point), about 20 minutes from Brevard, NC. The falls slide over an angled rock face into a secluded, sandy-bottomed cove that multiple write-ups and a Blue Ridge Outdoors feature describe as a popular clandestine swimming hole. The real hazard isn't height, it's footing: the slanted rock apron is extremely slippery when wet, and hikers have reported slipping straight into the creek. Headwaters State Forest is public NC land, day-use only, no fees, but the trail is unmarked past its dead-end, so expect bushwhacking through rhododendron thickets to reach the pool.