Bottom Creek Gorge: An Undeniably Stunning Waterfall in Virginia

Bottom Creek Gorge is a nature preserve that most people visit to hike along one of the three trails. As a hike it is hard to categorize. Usually you can say a hike is a “waterfall hike” or a “mountain view hike” or even a “hike to a historic site”. Bottom Creek Gorge is a mix of all of those in some ways.

When you visit Bottom Creek Gorge you’ll see an incredibly tall waterfall, a few beautiful mountain views, and even the ruins of an abandoned community. Collectively, it is an awesome experience but leaves you wondering what to call it. We’ll cover the three trails, the gorgeous waterfall, and a bit of the interesting history below.

A tree with the Nature Conservancy sign is visible with an obscured background as someone walks along a trail. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

Even if you have visited before you are likely to learn something you didn’t know. I had visited about a half dozen times before I researched the area and realized there is a lot below the surface.

Hiking Bottom Creek Gorge

Length: 4.7 miles, if make a loop out of the three trails.

Elevation Gain: 850 feet

Difficulty: Moderate

Location: Shawsville, Virginia

When to Visit: April – October

How Long Does it Take: 2.5 hours

How We Rate it: 4/5, If this were only a hike to a waterfall it would have a lower rating, but there is a lot to see on the hike.

There are three distinct trails in Bottom Creek Gorge Preserve. Each features slightly different points of interest. Each trail has it’s own name and an associated color. The trails are:

The Johnston Trail

The Susan B. Duval Trail

The Knight Trail

I’ll cover each trail so you know what to expect and I’ll clue you in on what we’ve found to be the best way to hike through the preserve.

The Johnston Trail (Red Blazes)

A wooden sign with "The Johnston Trail" and informs that it was dedicated to Scott L. Johnson by his family in 1992. There is a red blaze on the sign. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

The Johnston Trail is the only trail that connects to the parking area at Bottom Creek Gorge. The trail marches through the dense forest and terminates at the edge of a an enormous gorge overlooking Bent Mountain Falls.

Bent Mountain Falls is the second tallest waterfall in Virginia, behind Crabtree Falls.

The other two trails connect to the Johnston Trail near the beginning of the hike and again closer to Bent Mountain Falls. There is a map later in the post that shows the trails and where they connect clearly.

Bent Mountain Falls is the main draw for most people visiting Bottom Creek Gorge. The tall waterfall has an almost 200-foot free fall that crashes into the creek far below. The viewing area is on the other side of the gorge, so you won’t be anywhere near the waterfall, but that allows you to see the full scale of the waterfall.

If you have a small set of binoculars you may want to bring them. It is hard to see the upper section of the waterfall through the trees near the falls, but with binoculars you can make it out clearly.

Bent Mountain Falls sliding and dropping into the Bottom Creek Gorge, far below. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

The Knight Trail (Yellow Blazes)

A wooden sign reads "The Knight Trail Dedicated in loving memory of A. Paul Knight by his family, 1992" There is a yellow blaze on the sign. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

The Knight Trail is the first side trail you reach on the Johnston Trail. Of the three trails, the Knight Trail is the most difficult because it descends to the creek and climbs back up a steep cove.

Reflective waters under a bright blue sky. A narrow trail skirts the edge of the pond, surrounded by trees and bushes. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}} *A small pond on the Knight Trail before you reach the creek.*

If you take the Knight Trail, about half the trail runs alongside Bottom Creek. The rushing waters have several small waterfalls. This is our favorite section out of all the trails to hike.

At one point there is a short spur that goes down to the creek’s edge. You can find seating along the rocks and enjoy the soothing sounds of the rushing water. The water is fast moving and somewhat deep so you may not want to wade into the creek.

A man stands on a boulder looking at Bottom Creek as it rushes over mossy rocks. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

It’s important to know fishing is not allowed at Bottom Creek Gorge. There are several rare species of fish that live in Bottom Creek.

On your climb back up to the Johnston Trail be prepared to work. The steep section isn’t long but it is fairly intense. If you take a few breaks you should be fine.

The Susan B. Duval Trail (Blue Blazes)

A wooden sign reads "The Susan B. Duval Trail Dedicated in loving memory by her husband Clive, 1998" There is a blue blaze on the sign. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

The final trail at Bottom Creek Gorge is the Susan B. Duval Trail. This trail meanders through the forest and passes by several old homesteads. There isn’t much left of the structures so you’ll need to keep an eye out for the mostly wooden ruins as you hike.

The corner of a ruined wooden building in the forest. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

This is the easiest of the three trails, although, apart from the climb up from Bottom Creek none of the hiking is very tough. Most of the ruins you’ll see are corners of wooden buildings and rock walls. You can still find a stone chimney and a fence-lined graveyard along the trail that appears to still get visitors.

A small graveyard surrounded by a post and chicken wire fence. There are flowers on many of the graves. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

Besides the informational sign near the beginning of the hike, there are no interpretive signs along the Duval Trail and there is no active effort to stave off the process of reforestation near the ruins.

When is the best time to visit Bottom Creek Gorge?

Like most places in the Blue Ridge, fall and spring are the best times to visit, but in Bottom Creek Gorge’s case, spring might be the best for beauty.

Bent Mountain Falls is a narrow waterfall; in summer, the already slim falls can become even less substantial. It’s not quiet a seasonal waterfall, but you’ll find it to be the most picturesque in spring.

Frequent rains in spring cause the waterfall to swell and, as the new leaves begin to grow, the forest comes alive.

There are a couple of sections of the hike where you’ll see thickets of rhododendron. Mid to late May is usually the best time to see blooming rhododendron around Bottom Creek Gorge.

A bright pink flower is just beginning to bloom on a rhododendron. A trail is just visible in the background. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

If you want to see fall colors you’ll want to visit around mid October. There are a lot of tulip poplars at Bottom Creek Gorge and they tend to reach peak color earlier. Usually poplars have a mustard yellow leaf. It is beautiful at Bottom Creek Gorge in fall but not quite as beautiful as it is in spring.

Bottom Creek Gorge is about equal distance from both Floyd and Roanoke. If you are visiting the area we have some tips for things to do in Roanoke, as well as some awesome things you don’t want to miss in Floyd.

What is the best way to hike Bottom Creek Gorge?

A man sits on a log looking out over Bent Mountain Falls. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}}

We’ve visited many times and have found that the most enjoyable way to hike is to begin on the Johnston Trial (obviously, that’s the trailhead) then take The Knight Trail when it intersects so we can walk along Bottom Creek on the way out.

Once we reconnect with Johnston Trail we follow that to Bent Mountain Falls and catch The Duval Trail on the way back.

Doing it this way gets the hardest part of the hike done early and takes us on all the best sections of hiking.

You don’t have to take The Knight Trail or The Duval Trail to reach Bent Mountain Falls, but you are missing out on some of the best hiking by only sticking to The Johnston Trail.

The Bottom Creek Gorge Community

While the area has been managed by the Nature Conservancy for around 30 years, it was previously a community. Archeological evidence suggests that humans have lived in and around Bottom Creek Gorge for thousands of years. If you are from Virginia or have spent any time researching Virginia history, that’s not surprising.

What’s unique about this mountain community is that it remained like a time capsule for such a long time.

William Craighead arrived sometime in the 1840s¹. The Craighead family was eventually joined by civil war deserters and, at it’s most robust, the community grew to around 70 people in the early 1900s.

They maintained an agrarian lifestyle and although isolated, they were able to grow enough food to sustain themselves.

A school was present until around 1930, but once the school closed the community rapidly lost residents. For children to get an education they had to walk miles to reach a bus stop to take them to a school in nearby Roanoke County.

The school closure marked the end of the community being able to sustain itself and by the 1950s the community was dying.

When you walk The Susan B. Duval Trail, there is little left in the way of evidence that a community lasted more than 100 years in this high mountain isolated area. As modern infrastructure, such as electricity and indoor plumbing, spread across southwest Virginia, generations of men and women spent their lives in Bottom Creek Gorge, toiling and living mostly hand to mouth.

The map below used to be at the kiosk, but has been replaced by another less detailed one. We’ve added the legend so as you hike you can look for the locations as you hike.

A detailed map of Bottom Creek Gorge with a legend and a reminder to follow the 7 principles of leave not trace. — *Most of the homes on the map have been reforested so you may only find trace evidence they were ever there.* *The Trail begins near the Kiosk, not at the church.*

If you are unfamiliar with the principles of Leave No Trace you can read more about them here.

A stone chimney in the woods with a collapsed and decomposing building around it. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}} *We took this picture of the R. Woods Homeplace in 2011, some of the original home was still standing*.

A stone chimney with a bright sun above. Sticks and debris surround the chimney. — _{^{Photo by Blue Ridge Awaits}} *This is the same spot in 2024, all that remains is the chimney.*

Bottom Creek Gorge is an incredibly interesting place to visit. The high plunging waterfall is beautiful, the walk along Bottom Creek is soothing and sprinkled with several small falls, and the history is hiding just below the surface.

There is something for almost every kind of hiker at Bottom Creek Gorge. You should add it to your list of hikes to do if you’ve never been and, even if you have, you may discover something you missed.

If you are going to visit and have the chance to take the Blue Ridge Parkway we strongly suggest you stop at these overlooks:

Cahas Mountain Overlook (milepost 139)

Devil’s Backbone Overlook (milepost 143.9)

Smartview Recreation Area (milepost 154.5)

While driving this section of the Blue Ridge Parkway be on the lookout for the Gregorian Monastery at milepost 145.

Chasing waterfalls is probably what got you interested in Bottom Creek Gorge. If that’s you, you’ll definitely want to check out The Cascades in Pembroke. In our opinion it’s the best waterfall in Virginia.

Crawford, J. (1999) The Smithfield Review. 3rd edn. Blacksburg, Virginia: Pocahontas Press Inc. ↩︎