Kates Falls

Kates Falls is a waterfall on a tributary of Glade Creek, where water breaks over steep sandstone ledges onto rocks below. It is a hike-in destination, not a roadside stop. Save it for a day when the walk itself sounds good, rather than when you want a quick waterfall detour.

From Glade Creek Campground, follow Glade Creek Trail 4.6 miles upstream to the falls spur, then take the steep 0.2-mile spur down to the water. Retracing that route makes the outing about 9.6 miles round trip. The main trail has short steeper stretches and can be muddy.

An upper trailhead shortens the approach to 1.09 miles before the spur, but its road is steep, narrow, winding and unpaved. It is unsuitable for most vehicles; the longer campground approach is the better default unless you have a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle and are comfortable with that road.

The lower route spends most of its approach alongside Glade Creek, so the outing is as much a long creekside hike as a short look at the falls. An older hiking account describes ferns, a footbridge and smaller cascades along the way, but treat those as extra discoveries rather than guaranteed stops.

At the falls, the water fans over stepped sandstone instead of dropping as one clean sheet. The rough ledges and boulders make the close view; include some of that rock around the water in a photo to show how the cascade breaks into tiers.

Those ledges are part of the wider gorge's sandstone landscape. Across New River Gorge, layers of sand, mud and organic material were compressed into sandstone, shale and coal; Kates Falls is a clear place to see water crossing that layered rock.