Catawba Falls is a popular waterfall hike located 30 minutes east of Asheville in Old Fort, NC.
 

An easy 1.5 mile hike (3 miles roundtrip), the trail follows a beautiful creek to the impressive 100ft Catawba Falls. The perfect hike for young kids to complete on their own, it is a relatively level hike until the final short stretch. The trail is shady and has multiple creek crossings, two with new bridges and one shallow crossing without. There are plenty of side trails down to the creek along the way, some with nice beaches for toddlers to play and others with deeper water perfect for wading. 

The parking lot for Catawba is huge and almost always has available spots. There are also bathrooms at the trailhead.