The 4 Best Waterfalls in Louisiana
Louisiana has exactly six named waterfalls, and that's the whole list — no state in the Lower 48 has fewer. The two real ones share a single wildlife management area in the Sicily Island Hills, a freak pocket of 200-foot terrain rising out of the Mississippi floodplain in Catahoula Parish.
These four are the ones you can actually go see: the state's 17-foot tallest and its walk-behind companion in the Sicily Island Hills, plus a beloved set of sliding rapids in Kisatchie National Forest and a small roadside cascade near Gorum — ranked with honest framing, because two of the four aren't technically waterfalls at all.
The other two entries in the state get pages but no ranking: Odum Falls sits on the Fort Johnson military reservation and may no longer exist, and Woodriff Falls is behind a locked private gate — and is quite possibly a USGS mapping error on dead-flat floodplain.
Louisiana's tallest waterfall at 17 feet, with an actual gorge hike to reach it — a red-blazed descent below a footbridge in the J.C. “Sonny” Gilbert WMA. Free with a self-clearing permit. Go within a week of rain.
Directions, season & rules for Rock Falls →The gentler half of the Sicily Island Hills pair: 10 feet into a pool on Sandy Bayou, with a bonus 5-foot tributary drop beside it, on an easy 0.8-mile loop. You can walk behind the falls.
Directions, season & rules for Saint Marys Falls →Formally disqualified as a waterfall — it's a sliding Class II rapid — but Kisatchie Bayou's sandy swimming hole is the best water stop in the national forest, and Hollywood shot a movie in it. $2 day-use fee, open around the clock.
Directions, season & rules for Kisatchie Falls →Five feet of rocky ledges on Little Bayou Pierre, viewed from a concrete bridge on Mora Road. A drive-past, not a destination — but in a six-waterfall state, it makes the cut.
Directions, season & rules for Little Bayou Pierre Cascade →Rankings reflect our research, not a verdict on your trip — every spot page takes community ratings and conditions reports, and that's where the real answer to "is it worth it?" lives.