Purvis Falls

The Miller River valley is rather well endowed in large waterfalls along its tributary streams, none of which are terribly obvious or present themselves easily, and Purvis Falls may be the most egregious of these waterfalls. Situated about half of a mile upstream from the Miller River Road, the outlet stream from Purvis Lake slides down a long horsetailing chute, then veils out to as much as 80-feet wide and plunges for its final drop into a long straight and narrow gorge that runs almost all the way down to the road. The visible portion of this massive waterfall drops 402 feet in a single tier, however imagery available on Google Earth seems to suggest the falls may actually be even taller, possibly adding as much as another 200 feet to its height. Though the drainage basin feeding this waterfall isn't terribly large, it does move a fair amount of water during the spring freshet. Purvis Lake itself will ensure at least a small volume of water flows in the creek at all times, but as the head of the drainage is situated below Malachite Peak, which usually harbors a moderate amount of permanent snow and ice, there should be ample flow in the stream throughout the year in all but the driest summers.