A Cold Sunday Hike to a Frozen Waterfall

This weekend, my wife and I, along with some friends of ours, had the opportunity to hike to see the Cascades waterfall in Pembroke, Virginia. Normally, it wouldn't be that special since we've done the same hike probably five times. But given the recent wave of chilly weather we've had in Southwest Virginia, we got to see the waterfall completely frozen for the first time.

The Cascades is a 66-foot waterfall located in the Jefferson National Forest near Pembroke, Virginia. it is the largest waterfall in the region, and is a popular spot in the summer and fall for swimming and hiking. The trail to access the falls is a 4 mile round trip that is a fairly easy hike with only a few areas of moderate difficulty.

Here's what the falls looks like in the summer:

It's a fun hike that doesn't take too long, so we take friends on the hike if they are visiting the area. I've only ever been in early spring and in the summer, so hiking to the falls on a cold winter day was a new experience.

When we arrived, we noticed it was unusually crowded. I suppose everyone else in the area had the idea to go see the frozen waterfall also. I had never seen so many cars parked down the sides of the road at the falls, even on a warm summer day.

We set off up the trail, and along the way, you get to enjoy the scenic Little Stony Creek. Most of the creek was frozen, which made it particularly scenic on Sunday. Here's a shot of one particular area of the creek on Sunday:

And here's that same spot on a warmer day with the water flowing:

It was also extremely interesting to watch the water flow beneath the ice. Check out this clip from a video I took:

The ice on the creek was fun to look at and take pictures of. There are many scenic spots along the creek, so here are a few photos I took of various places along the way to the falls:

Arriving at the falls was a great experience. I knew the falls was frozen because I had seen other people I know post photos on social media, but seeing it in person was a completely different feeling. Of course there were many other people there, but what is normally a fairly deep portion of the creek where people swim was completely frozen over. You could walk right up to the falls and touch it.

The view upon arriving:

Here's a view looking up from the base of the falls:

Of course my wife and I had to get our picture in front of the massive wall of ice:

It was around 29 degrees F on the hike (-2 C), but the sun was shining, and since we were moving at a steady pace, it wasn't too cold on the hike there. However when we were idling around at the falls standing on ice, it did get cold in a hurry, so we snapped some more photos and headed back down the trail.

It was a really great experience to get to see the falls completely frozen. There were some more adventurous people who climbed up behind part of the waterfall at the top, where you could hear a little water beginning to flow and see more of the ice formations. I decided to play it safe and enjoy the beauty from afar.

If you ever are in Southwest Virginia, take a day to go hike to the Cascades. You won't be disappointed, no matter what time of year it is!

I'll leave you with one last shot of the falls as we were leaving:

I hope you've enjoyed the photos from our hike this weekend! As always, you may click on the photos to see the full resolution images! I'd love to know your thoughts on the hike, and if you have any similar experiences or photos, please leave them in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by!