Crabtree Falls Trail map (click to enlarge)

Length: 3.1 mile loop
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous

The Blue Ridge Parkway Outdoor Guide lists the length of the Crabtree Falls Loop Trail as 2.5 miles. However, this is based on parking within the Crabtree Falls Campground. Most people begin the hike from the Crabtree Falls Visitor Center, a building (closed) you come to as soon as you exit the Blue Ridge Parkway and turn into the Crabtree Falls Recreation Area. This adds an extra .6-mile round trip to the hike, making the total distance 3.1 miles.

Start of the Crabtree Falls Loop Trail at the parking lot for the former Crabtree Falls Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The hike starts along a paved path marked by a sign at the Visitor Center parking area. The pavement ends almost immediately, and you will find yourself on a wide, gravel road for another couple of minutes until the trail narrows once again. The trail passes the turn off for the Amphitheater, and a little farther down it splits. Stay to the right and you will come out at the campground fee collection station but will be offered no explanation as to which way to go. All you have to do is cross the road and keep walking straight ahead—left of the fee station—and you will see the trail parking area within the campground and directional signs to Crabtree Falls. The trailhead is about .3 miles from the Visitor Center, and it should take you no more than ten minutes to get there.

The Crabtree Falls Loop Trail officially starts at the parking lot inside the Crabtree Falls Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Parking area for the Crabtree Falls Loop Trail inside the Crabtree Falls Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The trail from the campground parking lot is actually a .2-mile long connector that takes you to the loop trail. This path is wide, flat, and has a very smooth terrain, largely free of rocks and roots. Once at the start of the loop, you can go either left or right, but you most definitely want to hike this trail in a counterclockwise direction to avoid the steepest climbs, so take a right. A sign at the start of the loop points the way.

Trail sign marks the start of the loop portion of the Crabtree Falls Loop Trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Once on the loop, the trail begins a mild descent. It remains wide, smooth, and easy to hike for about ten minutes, then you reach a set of stone stairs and things get pretty rotten. This is the start of the strenuous portion of the hike.

Stairs mark the start of the strenuous portion of the Crabtree Falls Loop Trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway

At this point, not only does the trail begin to descend steeply, it also becomes extremely rocky. You’ll come to two more sets of stairs, and once you get to the bottom you’ll find yourself walking on the equivalent of rubble from a bombed out building. Progress will definitely slow, especially if you have bad ankles and knees. Hiking boots and hiking poles will really help things out if you have them.

Rocky terrain on the way to Crabtree Falls via the Crabtree Falls Loop Trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Crabtree Falls is just a few more minutes down the trail, approximately 1.3 miles from the Visitor Center. The waterfall is one of the larger falls on the Blue Ridge Parkway, though it’s really more of a giant cascade than an actual waterfall. You can view it from an observation area, or as many people do, by working your way up the rocks in the river to get to the base of the falls. While not the safest thing to do, at least you won’t get swept away down river and drown if you fall, for once the water hits the pool at the bottom of the falls it branches out in all sort of directions instead of amassing into one torrential flow as it continues farther downriver.

Blue Ridge Parkway’s Crabtree Falls

Hikers climb the rocks at the base of the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Crabtree Falls

At this point you can turn around and head back the way you came or continue on the loop trail as the hike was intended. The loop adds about a half mile to the overall hike as compared to turning around, but the ascent out of the valley is much easier. When you were hiking down the steep hill to the falls, if you were already dreading the climb back up then I suggest continuing on the loop, and not just because it is easier. Who in their right mind wants to see the same things twice, especially at the price of only an extra half mile?

I chose to continue around on the loop, which departs from the falls uphill on 30 or so stairs. You have a relatively steep incline for about .2 mile along a narrow but much smoother trail than the rocky one you came down on. After the initial strenuous stretch the trail becomes much less steep; in fact it heads downhill for a ways. Continuing the hike around the loop is without a doubt an easier climb out of the valley than it is if you head back the way you came after seeing the waterfall.

Narrow but smooth section of the Crabtree Falls Loop Trail leads out of the valley, Blue Ridge Parkway

The added bonus of hiking the loop trail is seeing new things like the mini cascade pictured below. However, to get to it you must take an extremely steep side trail full of wet rocks. I ended up slipping at the very end, despite using hiking poles, but I fell on my butt exactly where I wanted to be sitting in order to get a good photo. You must look on the positive side of such things.

Mini cascade on the Crabtree Falls Loop Trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway

About five minutes after leaving the mini cascade you will make a crossing of Crabtree Creek over a foot bridge. By now the trail is nearly flat and remains that way for another twenty minutes until you come to one last intersection, which is marked with two signs. You can go left to the Trail Head Parking, which is the campground parking lot, or you can go right to Campground Loop B. Of course if you parked in the campground parking area you’ll want to take the route to the Trail Head Parking, otherwise the quickest way back to the Visitor Center is by hiking to Campground Loop B.

Trail signs on the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Crabtree Falls Loop Trail direct hikers back to the parking areas

The trail to the B Loop comes out in the very center of the campground loop. You can turn left on the campground road and end up back at the fee station, or you can simply keep walking straight, cutting through the center of the campground and hiking back to the Visitor Center on a trail located on the other side (follow the sign to the “Amphitheater”). Either way is about the same distance. From the two trail signs you encountered at the last intersection, it is .4 mile back to the Visitor Center.

Trail back to the Crabtree Falls Visitor Center passes the Amphitheater, Blue Ridge Parkway

You won’t be alone on this trail, as it is one of the more popular hikes along the Blue Ridge Parkway. After all, everyone likes a waterfall, and Crabtree Falls does not disappoint.

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