Elk River Falls is an open recreation area. As such it is not developed and the path is not…read moremaintained. Nevertheless the road into the parking lot is safe and easily passable by typical cars SUVs cans or trucks with either two or four wheel drive. There are no rest rooms or food so you must bring your own food and water. The path is firm and slopes upward gently becoming rocky with prominent tree roots. The 65 foot high big falls is spectacular. It is not a straight fall down. Many deaths have occurred as visitors attempt to dive from the top of the falls. Elk falls ranks in the top 3 waterfall related deaths. The rocks surrounding the first pool are beautiful but have a slippery surface. This park recently reopened after extensive restoration following Hurricane Helene. On the first day it opened there was a fatality of a falls jumper. Despite these challenges this park is a great example of the outdoors in nearly natural and breathtaking state.

The falls are closed as of late April 2026. Road is blocked about 2 miles out from town.read more

This place is fantastic. Great waterfall hike with a fantastic playground and lake with canoes and…read morekayaks. Could spend a half day or more here with young kids. Will definitely be back.

Terrific recreation center. Numerous activities. Highly recommended! Very family friendly.read more

DO NOT LISTEN TO BAD REVIEWS. This was the best horseback riding experience my family and I have…read moreever done. Mike and his parents are the kindest individuals we have met on our trip and practice social distancing and wear masks when necessary. The horses were well trained and followed the horse in front while still having control to maneuver around certain areas. Best time ever!!! Best views ever too!!

Worst ride I have ever had. I rode late June 2021.. no wonder the best reviews are much older. I've…read morebeen riding English for a year and western a year before that, and have a history of riding trails such as in the Colorado mountains, at home, and the difficult trail at Dutch creek. This was a supposed easy ride, trail wasn't very long, you ride the same stretch there and back. There were a few red flags right away. The horses, although very friendly, did not look to be in very good shape. One horse had Cushing's disease, a condition where they do not shed their winter coat as they should. This poor horse had to ride in full western thick gear with a full winter coat in the middle of summer, they didn't even shave his coat. All of the other horses had long hooves, they desperately needed a farrier out there to trim their hooves. A fair few of the horses also had spots where their coat was completely rubbed off and it was just their skin. The stables and the staff are next. No greeting from the staff, I couldn't tell who was staff and who was a rider, our trail guide seemed to have no interest in talking. The woman who signed us in was polite enough- just enough, not nice enough to comment on or rude enough to be mean about. The trail guide took the first horse in line aside from his own on a lead, which is the first time I have ever seen that on a trail, and frankly was very strange. Although they did multiple check on the girth, my saddle and my mothers saddle were leaning to the side and could not be fixed easily. Half of the staff was a seven and six year old, who did a better job than the other staff. Props to them, they held back tree limbs as we passed, and walked ahead and behind us as we rode the trail. The barn and main house were in poor condition. There were flies in the main house, and you could see through the barn where ceiling insulation was coming loose and the walls were disheveled. The barn where the horses stayed seemed unorganized, as when our trail lead got off, he let his horse run right into the barn, not lead to a stall or anything, still fully tacked up. Now, onto my personal ride. I had a panic attack. Keep in mind my riding experience here, I have NEVER cried on the back of a horse. Ever. From being thrown off to multiple almost heat strokes, I have never cried. But this horse, Sugar.. she broke me. She had the strangest step pattern I have ever ridden on. She'd step to the cliffs, right at the side of the trails, and run me STRAIGHT INTO THORN BUSHES. I had to pick thorns out of my thick riding pants and legs. The saddle was crooked the entire time, and it was very concerning. The trail was fairly easy, but very rocky. The staff said there were working on it, so I don't mind as much. There was one spot that had a very steep decline that you rode down and then back up, the horses seemed confident going up but very unsure going down. My horse constantly stepped off the path, but was so stubborn I could hardly move her, she didn't listen to leg or reign. She INSISTED on going through more difficult paths with no regard that I was on her back. She would be terrifying for a smaller child to ride, and this place advertises themselves as very kid friendly. The trail was just ride up then take the same way back, fairly simple, but because of the horse it was the worst ride I have ever been on. In conclusion, I would not recommend this place. The horses haven't been kept care of in the best way, the staff is just okay, my horse didn't listen and drove us into thorns and rocks, and the trail was just basic. The best staff there were around 7 years old.

This has been on our bucket list since we moved to Nc 2 years ago! I wasn't sure what to expect but…read moreit was AMAZING. I definitely feel it's a must see at least once in your life. No detail was missed! We took the chairlift up to Oz and obviously back down. There was amazing views and scenery. Once we got to Oz there was plenty of spots for us to take pictures at and meet the characters. All characters did such a great job in their role! There is some hills and walking that you may need to wear good shoes or take a rest. I saw older people resting quite a bit as some parts can be difficult, I mean you are on a mountain! I'm very overweight and I did fine with resting 2 times after a killer hill. We also did the scenic view trail (extra fee) beautiful! Such a neat place and glad we finally made it out!

Honestly, I went in with fairly low expectations, and I left surprised at how much fun we had! We…read morearrived at the Beech Mountain Resort parking lot at 9:15am for our 10am time slot. There was plenty to do at the resort, including buying snack foods and shopping at Oz-themed booths. Around 9:30am we boarded the shuttle and then shortly after we left for the Land of Oz; we got there right at 10am. Without giving anything away, I was surprised at how coordinated the event was, and how we followed a pre-planned path, but we never felt like we were being hurried to the next event. I was concerned our tween boys would think the whole thing was hokey, but they had a blast too. All of the actors gave it their all, and I never saw anyone break character, which was impressive considering the amount of improv and crowd work they did. We zoomed through most everything, and we were done by a little after noon. If we had taken our time and gotten food at the Emerald City, we easily could have spent 1-2 more hours. It was an exciting event, and I'm so glad we went. There were lots of people in our time slot (1 shuttle and two school buses full), but everything was so well paced that it didn't feel overcrowded. Bit of advice: bring water and snacks in a backpack unless you are ready to pay a premium to buy them at the Land of Oz.

I have been going to this place since the mid 1980's as a young boy and we've brought the kids here…read moreseveral times over the past few years. They have both a Gem mine and the trout fishing and in the old days had a mini golf course but that is long gone now. The main guy who operates it, Heath, is super nice and helpful. He got us setup and helped my kids learn to cast the poles and get the hook out once the fish were caught. They charge by the pound and the trout are pretty big so plan a big meal ahead. There's a little extra for cleaning the fish but that's worth it. If you are looking for a fun kid activity this is also a kid friendly place as long as they can hold the pole and reel with your help. The poles, bait, and buckets are supplied so you don't have to bring anything with you. They'll pack it in ice for you also when you leave so you'll be able to keep your fresh catch cold. ----TL;DR----- PROS: plenty of parking, friendly folks, usually it's pretty easy to catch a fish, family run, family oriented and kids will likely enjoy it CONS: none, it's lots of fun BOTTOM LINE: if you like fishing and want to spend a fun few hours, check them out. We've been many times and still love to go back!

They supply everything. Three ponds. The man who works there was very friendly and informative…read more Very nice guy. You don't pay if you don't catch. They even have collapsible chairs. Clean spot. Great time!

This was our first time experiencing zip lining and our guides were amazing! They were so…read moresupportive and tried their best to teach us how to be safe with each course... (I challenged their abilities!) The course was so beautiful and the day was one we will never forget! If you go to Hawksnest zip line ask for Luke and Tristen!

We had a fantastic experience whitewater rafting for our party of 8. Most were first timers with 2…read moreunder 13. Our guides were knowledgeable and patient. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip! The next day we zip-lined with Eli and Parker. They were awesome and our group had a blast! Highly recommend both!

This was an easy hike. As with many waterfall hikes, Otter Falls trail was basically all downhill…read moreuntil you get to the falls, but then it's all uphill on the return walk. But the falls themselves were beautiful and there were a lot of large rocks to walk around on and explore along the water. This would be another great spot to spend time on a hot day with kids, enjoy a picnic, hike down and then back up, or just relax by the water for a while.

It's not a huge hiking trail (maybe a mile total) but the terrain is very hills and technical. We…read morewent when the ground was a little snowy/icy, so I would recommend hiking boots for the excursion. The views and scenery are fabulous. There are waterfalls and streams and tons of rocks to climb for fun photos. My only wish was to have a picnic area near the parking area so that we could enjoy a picnic and then a family walk together.

I've been meaning to come back here to update my review, as the only photos that were taken of our…read moreexpedition by the owners wouldn't be released to us until we showed the owners we'd posted 5-star Yelp reviews of their company. As a condition for releasing the snapshots to us, they compelled everyone in our group to open up our phones and write a favorable post on Yelp while they looked over our shoulders and confirmed we submitted our posts. Not cool! Even when some of us said our phones were inside the car way out in the parking lot, they said, "go get them if you all want your pictures!" We were extremely tired, hungry, and muddy and just wanted to leave, but had to trek to our cars to retrieve our phones to write damn Yelp reviews on the spot. When we started the trip, the owner said, "Don't worry about getting your cameras dirty. We will get pictures for you and give them to you afterwards. Then we finish the trip and they put a ransom on our pictures, knowing that we relied on their word. Extremely unethical and unprofessional. Speaking of muddy, MAKE SURE to bring your own rain ponchos (or even a trash bag with a hole cut out for your head) because ponchos will NOT be furnished by the owners unless you pay an overpriced premium for them: $10 each for the same paper thin poncho that you'd get at the drugstore for 99 cents! How disgraceful. We declined and spent 2 days cleaning all of the mud off our shoes and clothes.

We were lucky enough to get the business founder, 24 year old Carson Gordon, as our driver. The…read morethrilling ride around the mountain ridges in his Polaris UTV was like being in Space Mountain. Two other families drove their UTVs. It was entertaining enough that our 16 year old athletic son had fun, and so did the elementary kids with their parents driving. Highly recommend Carson and Mountain Warriors UTV.., Carson's dog Lincoln knows the word "goldfish", as in cookie

Have been to Laurel Creek Falls (Trash Can Falls) many times and we love it. It's beautiful every…read moretime off year. I've came when it's crowed and when it's empty. The parking is off on a gravel area on the side of the road and it's limited. To get to the falls cross the street and follow the path through the woods. It's a super short and really easy path but once you get to the falls you do have to do some climbing and maneuvering so I don't recommend for anyone disabled, small children, or older folks who have issues getting around. We recently went post hurricane Helen and it looks a little different. The wood planks for crossing are gone but the straps remain to help you get out of the swimming hole. There is a fallen tree we had to climb over. Still many people there having a great time just as before!

This place is awesome to jump into a fresh spring & clean water as well, the rocks are a bit high…read morebut once the fear of heights is gone you'll have a blast!!!!! :)

In our experience, White Wolf Lodge was extremely dishonest and had terrible customer service…read more Important items were misplaced by staff, which led to an interaction that never should have happened. Instead of taking responsibility, they denied the situation entirely and claimed it never occurred, even after later evidence showed otherwise. Rather than attempting to resolve the issue professionally or offer an apology, they escalated it unnecessarily and refused to make things right. The lack of accountability and poor communication only made the situation worse. Overall, this was a very upsetting experience, and we would not recommend this place based on how they handle mistakes and treat customers.

We dropped into this store on a whim to see what their rental prices were for equipment! Needless…read moreto say, we saved between $10-20 per day, per person on rental equipment over the resort without the high deposit. The staff were super kind, knowledgeable, and helpful! The sweet cashier that signs you up for the equipment is amazing! Her whole family works here! The gift shop is cute and we ended up with some souvenirs that were also way cheaper than the resort! The equipment was all in good shape, no smells, helmets looked just about new! Overall, we would recommend many times over versus renting from the resort! They are open long hours for returning gear! They had fudge and BBQ there, but we never ended up trying it. Smelled good though.