Mountain Waters Scenic Byway

Mountain Waters Scenic Byway
Mountain Waters Scenic Byway
Route information
	Maintained by NCDOT
Length	64.5 mi (103.8 km)
Component; highways	US 64 (Highlands–Franklin); US 19 / US 74 (Beechertown); NC 28 (Almond);
Major junctions
South end	US 64 / NC 28 in Highlands
North end	NC 28 in Almond
Location
Counties	Macon, Swain
Highway system
	Scenic Byways; National; National Forest; BLM; NPS; North Carolina Highway System; Interstate; US; State; Scenic;

The Mountain Waters Scenic Byway is a 64.5-mile (103.8 km) National Forest Scenic Byway that traverses through the Nantahala National Forest, in Western North Carolina. It features two river gorges, hardwood forests and countryside vistas.

Route description[]

The first part of this 64.5-mile (103.8 km) byway follows the combined route of U.S. 64 and NC 28 from Highlands, North Carolina to Franklin, North Carolina and features views of the Cullasaja Gorge, the Cullasaja River and numerous waterfalls, including:

Bridal Veil Falls, actually from a tributary creek
Dry Falls, which visitors can walk behind without getting wet
Quarry Falls, also known as Bust-Yer-Butt Falls
Cullasaja Falls, the major cascade of falls

From Franklin, the Mountain Waters Scenic Byway follows SR 1442 to the west, climbing through (elevation: 4,180 ft) on the way to Nantahala Lake and then to the community of Aquone. From Aquone, SR 1442 follows the Nantahala River to , where it joins U.S. 19/74, which the byway follows to its ending point in the community of Lauada. The route from Aquone to Lauada features the Nantahala Gorge.^[2]

History[]

Junction list[]

County	Location	mi^[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Macon	Highlands	0.0	0.0	US 64 east / NC 28 south – Cashiers, Walhalla	Scenic byway southern terminus
	Highlands	0.3	0.48	NC 106 south (Dillard Road) – Dillard
	Franklin	17.1	27.5	US 23 north / US 441 north / NC 28 north – Sylva	North end of US 23/US 441/NC 28 overlap
	Franklin	19.3	31.1	US 23 south / US 441 south / US 441 Bus. north – Clayton, Atlanta	South end of US 23/US 441 overlap
		23.1	37.2	US 64 west – Hayesville, Murphy	West end of US 64 overlap
		51.2	82.4	US 19 south / US 74 west – Andrews, Murphy	South end of US 19 and west end of US 74 overlap
Swain	Almond	63.3	101.9	US 19 north / US 74 east / NC 28 south – Bryson City	North end of US 19, east end of US 74 and south end of NC 28 overlap
Swain	Almond	64.5	103.8	NC 28 north – Robbinsville, Fontana	Scenic byway northern terminus; continuation as NC 28
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus