Looking Glass Falls
North Carolina · 60-foot drop · Last verified 2026-05-15
Looking Glass Falls is running at 75 cfs — well above seasonal normal. July averages 5.8" of precipitation here — expect high flow.
Right now
Streamflow
74.6 cfs
DAVIDSON RIVER NEAR BREVARD, · 50m ago
Overnight
64°F
Areas Of Fog
Saturday
81°F
Chance Showers And Thunderstorms
Today's daylight
Sunrise 6:34 AM · Sunset 8:40 PM · 14h 6m
Snapshot built 8m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS GSP.
Looking Glass Falls is a 60-foot roadside waterfall on Looking Glass Creek in the Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina — visible from US-276 north of Brevard. One of the most-photographed roadside waterfalls in the eastern US. The base pool is a popular summer swimming hole, but the rocks at the lip are slippery and have caused injuries.
Looking Glass Falls is in North Carolina. The base sits at roughly 2,499 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 6 minutes from Brevard. OpenStreetMap shows a trail within 40 meters of the marked location, though the name isn't recorded. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap.
Looking Glass Falls is a waterfall in Western North Carolina, located near Brevard.
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 03441000 · 3.9 mi away
DAVIDSON RIVER NEAR BREVARD, NC
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Above 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 79.6 cfs · 71% of last year — significantly drier
When to go (from the climate data, not our opinion)
Monthly averages from Open-Meteo's reanalysis dataset (2020–2024). Highlighted months are when we think the waterfall is at its best — but the numbers are the numbers regardless.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip (in) | Snow days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 49 | 32 | 7 | 4.8 |
| Feb | 54 | 36 | 6.1 | 2.4 |
| Mar | 61 | 41 | 6.3 | 0.8 |
| Apr | 65 | 45 | 4.5 | 0.8 |
| May | 72 | 54 | 5.1 | 0 |
| Jun | 79 | 61 | 3.9 | 0 |
| Jul | 83 | 65 | 5.8 | 0 |
| Aug | 81 | 64 | 6.1 | 0 |
| Sep | 75 | 58 | 7.2 | 0 |
| Oct | 68 | 50 | 4.1 | 0 |
| Nov | 59 | 41 | 3.1 | 0.4 |
| Dec | 52 | 35 | 4.4 | 2 |
Source: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API · ERA5 reanalysis 2020–2024.
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Looking Glass Falls (this page) | — | 60 ft | — | — | — |
| Looking Glass Falls | 0 mi | 60 ft | — | — | — |
| Looking Glass Falls | 0 mi | 60 ft | — | — | — |
| Tranquility Falls | 1 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Moore Cove Falls | 1 mi | 49 ft | — | — | — |
| Upper Moore Cove Falls | 1 mi | — | — | — | — |
Side-by-side comparisons
Looking Glass Falls compared head-to-head with other documented falls — height, access, fees, dogs, swimmability in one row each.
Related waterfalls
Similar height (~60 ft)
- Bridal Veil Falls60 ft
- Buttermilk Falls60 ft
- Looking Glass Falls60 ft
- Looking Glass Falls60 ft
- Myrtle Falls60 ft
Questions visitors ask about Looking Glass Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How tall is Looking Glass Falls?
Looking Glass Falls is 60 feet (18.3 m) tall. Source heights disagree by source — see the discrepancy box on the page.
How far is Looking Glass Falls from a major city?
Looking Glass Falls is 4 miles from Brevard (about 6 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in North Carolina
Where it is
35.2962, -82.7688
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_Glass_Falls
Wikidata (Q6675324)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6675324
GeoNames (4477249)
https://www.geonames.org/4477249/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
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