McGalliard Falls
North Carolina · height not recorded · Last verified 2026-05-15
Flow at McGalliard Falls is 102 cfs today, around its seasonal average.
Right now
Streamflow
102 cfs
JOHNS RIVER AT ARNEYS · 19m ago
Overnight
71°F
Mostly Clear
Friday
92°F
Mostly Sunny then Showers And Thunderstorms Likely
Today's daylight
Sunrise 6:18 AM · Sunset 8:44 PM · 14h 26m
Snapshot built 8m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS GSP.

McGalliard Falls is a waterfall in North Carolina. Height has not been officially recorded. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
McGalliard Falls is in North Carolina. The base sits at roughly 1,089 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 1 minutes from Valdese. OpenStreetMap shows a trail within 30 meters of the marked location, though the name isn't recorded. No public parking is recorded within 2 km, so a longer approach is likely. It draws modest visitor attention — busier weekends, quiet weekdays. Source records come from OpenStreetMap.
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 02140991 · 9.3 mi away
JOHNS RIVER AT ARNEYS STORE, NC
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Near 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 322 cfs · 37% of last year — significantly drier
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McGalliard Falls (this page) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Granite Falls | 9 mi | 15 ft | easy · 0.1 mi | Y | Free |
| Little River Falls | 11 mi | — | — | Y | Free |
| Big Bear Falls | 12 mi | — | — | Y | Free |
| Adako Falls | 12 mi | — | — | — | — |
| High Shoals Falls | 12 mi | — | — | Y | Free |
Questions visitors ask about McGalliard Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How far is McGalliard Falls from a major city?
McGalliard Falls is 1 miles from Valdese (about 1 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in North Carolina
Where it is
35.7651, -81.5688
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
Been there?
Marina and Theo verify pages one road trip at a time. If you've been to McGalliard Falls recently, your local knowledge improves the page for everyone. Pick the kind of contribution that fits — every email lands in our inbox and gets read (and credited when we publish).
Add a tip
Something we should know — best time, parking trick, that hidden viewpoint.
Share a photo
Have a CC-licensed image on Wikimedia or Flickr? Send the link.
Report a fix
Wrong height, closed trail, broken link — tell us what we got wrong.
We don't collect your email. Replies go directly to hello@fallspots.com.