If you love waterfalls, plan a trip to the southern end of the NC mountains, just above South Carolina and Georgia. Top of the list would be Gorges State Park in Sapphire, NC. Whitewater Falls, both upper and lower combined are over 800 feet high. Rainbow Falls, hike to the bottom on a warm sunny day, stand in the copious mist and you’ll see why it’s called that. It also happens with a full moon but not actually permitted to do that and not advisable for people unfamiliar with the trails. There are three gorgeous towns nearby, Cashiers, Highlands and Glenville. Glenville is centered upon a fairly large lake, highest east of the Mississippi, the whole area is on a plateau about 3,600 ft with granite domes and other mountains rising another 2-3,000 ft surrounding you on the plateau. Love it there, really more than the Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk and Linville area although there’s nothing at all wrong with those places, quite beautiful too but in a different way. If you’re really into hiking, the old Cherokee village of Panthertown no longer exists but Panthertown Valley is a park with marked trails now.
Any suggestions for hotel/motel stays near Gorges? We like creekside or mountain view places, so as to make it nice sitting on the balcony/porch.