The trail to this almost delicate 70-foot waterfall, Crabtree Falls, is accessed at the Crabtree Meadows area on the Blue Ridge Parkway about 40 miles south of Linville. I enjoy making a loop of the hike, utilizing a steep, short descent trail to Crabtree Falls and a slightly longer, more gradual ascent along Big Crabtree Creek back up to the trailhead. This autumn day, I found the warm colors of the sunlit foreground tree and fall foliage providing a pleasant contrast to the shadowed, feathery cascade of the waterfall in the background.