Hooker Falls

Before it was Hooker Falls, it was Mill Shoals Falls — named for Edmund Hooker's mill, which once operated below the drop in the late 1800s. The mill is gone. The water isn't.

The falls run on the Little River through DuPont State Recreational Forest, southeast of Brevard. Sources disagree on the exact height — somewhere in the range of 12 to 15 feet, depending on who's measuring — but the shape is consistent: a wide, even cascade spilling in a single drop into a deep pool below. It is one of four major waterfalls on the Little River, the others being High Falls, Triple Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls. Hooker Falls is the easiest to reach: roughly a quarter mile from the parking area, where restrooms and changing rooms are available.

The forest itself came to the state in the 1990s, when DuPont sold it to North Carolina. As cleanup of various areas was completed, those areas opened to the public — a process, not an event. Hurricane Helene hit the area in September 2024, flooding the Little River and temporarily closing the trail. The trail has since reopened.

Two views are available from the trail: one overlooking the falls from above, another from across the plunge pool. The falls have appeared in *The Last of the Mohicans* and *The Hunger Games*. Dogs are welcome on leash. There are no trash cans in the forest.

For visitors who want more, the Little River continues upstream to Triple Falls and High Falls. Most people, though, tend to stop here — at the pool, in the shade, with nowhere particular to be.