Waterfalls on the Way Home

Saturday morning, we were heading back to NC. But of course we had to get some more waterfalls on the way. After checking out of the hotel, we headed towards Erwin and headed into Cherokee National Forest on Clarks Creek Road. In about 3 miles, we reached the trailhead for Sill Branch Falls. After getting our stuff together, we started hiking. We had to dress in layers as it was very cold this morning, unseasonably so for Tennessee in April. We didn't have any warm clothes so we wore rain jackets to help stay warm. The hike was only about half a mile to this very scenic 50-foot waterfall.

After a few pictures, we headed back and drove a short ways further on Clarks Creek Road to the trailhead for Longarm Branch Trail.

It’s over 2 miles to Longarm Branch Cascades and we weren’t going to go that far. Instead, we followed the trail for about a half-mile to a crossing.

Right after rock-hopping across, we turned left to follow a path heading upstream along Devil Fork Creek.

Shortly, we reached the 25-foot Pine Ridge Falls.

It's a very scenic waterfall and very easy to reach, especially from the trailhead for Sill Branch Falls. After some pictures, we made our way back to the car. We then headed to the Rock Creek Recreation Area. This is also a pay area, though most of the roads were gated. After paying we hiked in on the roads to the campground and then followed the Rock Creek Trail as it followed its namesake upstream, eventually entering the Unaka Mountains Wilderness. The trail was pretty easy to follow, but it was very cold. As we hit around 3000 feet in elevation or so, we started to see snow on the ground. Soon we came to Lower Rock Creek Falls, a 30-foot slide.

We climbed down to the base for some pictures, then headed back up to the trail. At one point, there was a nice view of the waterfall from the side from up on the trail.

Above that was a much smaller cascade with icicles all around.

We could really tell how cold it was getting - snow was now covering the ground Then soon we made it to the Rock Creek Falls, a two-tiered 50-foot waterfall. It was really scenic, but hard to get a picture.

The upper part was illuminated by direct sunlight, while the lower part was in the shadows. It was very cold and windy so I didn’t try for too long.

We then headed back and made our way back into NC. I counted up our waterfalls for the week and got to 49. That just won’t do. After getting through Boone, we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway and drove a couple miles to E. B. Jeffress Park.

Here, we made the short hike to Cascade Falls, a very tall cascading waterfall. The overlook is near the top and it’s difficult to judge just how far down it does.

After some pictures, we made our way back and drove home after an epic week of Tennessee waterfalls.

Southeast Tennessee Waterfalls

Friday morning, we packed up and checked out of the Holiday Inn, leaving Cleveland. We started heading east into Cherokee National Forest on US-64. At Parksville Lake, we turned on TN-30 towards the Rock Creek Scenic Area and parked at the trailhead for Clemmer Trail. After getting our stuff together, we started out hiking the Scenic Spur Trail (#78). This trail follows Rock Creek upstream for about 1.5 miles. Towards the end, there were two creek crossings over Rock Creek.

One I was able to rock-hop and the other I had to wade; there had been a little too much rain for a rock hop. Shortly past the last crossing, we came to Rainbow Falls.

This waterfall has two sections, an upper 20-foot double drop through a rock chasm and then a 12-foot cascade below.

We came out in between the two sections with good views of the upper part. It was a steep scramble down to get a shot of the lower section and a view of both of the sections.

I found out later that there's another larger waterfall above this one, but didn't know at the time. I guess we'll have to make a return trip to get that one. After a few pictures, we started making our way back. From here, we backtracked to Forest Road 77 and took this towards Chilhowee Campground. There were a couple scenic overlooks on the way so we stopped. The first had a nice view of Parksville Lake far below.

Another had a nice stone gazebo that had unfortunately been vandalized with graffiti.

Past here, we turned into Chilhowee Recreation Area. At the campground, we parked at the day use area and paid at the self-serve kiosk. Then we got on the Benton Falls Trail (#131) and hiked past McCamy Lake.

The trail was pretty flat and quite easy, a nice wide old roadbed. It was about a mile and half stroll to the waterfall. At the end of the trail, a steep path led down to the base of Benton Falls. I was really impressed. I wasn’t familiar with this waterfall before and it was really beautiful.

Probably the most photogenic of the trip. The water tumbles down about 65 feet over countless ledges. We played around on the rocks for a while getting pictures and then headed back. Our last waterfall for the day was Twin Falls on Gee Creek. From US-411, we took Gee Creek Road, which becomes Forest Road 2013 as it enters into Cherokee National Forest. The Gee Creek Trail (#191) leads into the Gee Creek Wilderness. It’s only about a mile to the waterfall, which was very pretty despite not being too big.

Gee Creek splits into two streams as it cascades down.

After some pictures, we started making our way back. Just downstream of Twin Falls was a very scenic cascade on the creek.

Sandy fell in trying to get a good view. I decided to take off my boots and wade in the river for a picture.

A little further, we spotted another nice cascade that was big enough to almost be another waterfall.

Back at the car, we started heading north, taking I-75 to I-40. There was a wreck near the intersection so we got off the highway and had dinner in Lenoir City. Then we got back on I-40 and drove to Greeneville and stayed at Quality Inn. Later that night, it started to hail, with some really big chunks, but nothing stuck by morning.

Chattanooga Area Waterfalls

It was about an hour to Falling Water Falls. This waterfall is over 100 feet, but it’s really hard to get a good view. The trail leads out to the cliff, but you really can’t see the waterfall from here.

The view sure is nice though.

The sheer cliffs are too dangerous to get out on. I heard there’s a way to the base, but I had no idea how to do it. So we crossed the creek above the waterfall and found a cliff to get out on for a decent view.

Then we headed back and continued on to North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Natural Area. We got on the Cumberland Trail and followed the creek upstream. At the split, we went left to stay on Cumberland Trail and follow closely to the creek.

After crossing Hogskin Branch, the trail headed up very steeply. At the top, we turned left and followed an old mining road for a ways. In about 1.5 miles from the start, we came to Strip Mine Falls, a scenic 20-foot waterfall in two streams.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of deadfall and the second stream was flowing much.

We got some pictures and started heading back. At Hogskin Branch, we stayed on Hogskin Branch Loop to head back to the car. It was getting late and we still had one more waterfall. Fortunately, this one is in a cave, so daylight doesn’t matter. We headed into Chattanooga to Ruby Falls. This waterfall is very commercialized, not my favorite thing, but a 140-foot underground waterfall is too impressive to be missed. After paying admission, we took an elevator 260 feet down into the heart of Lookout Mountain. As we walked through the cave, our tour guide told us about the history of the cave and how it came to be developed.

The cave itself was really beautiful. They use lights to make stuff look psychedelic, but the cave formations were just beautiful.

There were a number of interesting features in the cave, including stalactites, stalagmites, and columns.

Many of these features have names like the tobacco leaves and steak and potatoes.

Soon, we reached the amazing Ruby Falls. The cave is lit up with different colored lights to give the waterfall the appearance of changing colors.

It was very beautiful. After this we headed back. We got stuck in traffic heading back to Cleveland and got back so late, we just had Wendys for dinner.

Fiery Gizzard Waterfalls

Thursday we headed towards Chattanooga for some more waterfalls. Our first stop was at Foster Falls in South Cumberland State Park. We first made a short hike to the overlook with pretty good views of the waterfall. A few of the waterfalls we had visited this week had rather poor views from overlooks, but from here, we could see the entire waterfall, unobstructed by trees and foliage.

Then we got on Fiery Gizzard Trail and crossed the creek on a bridge upstream of the falls. There was another overlook on this side. The view of the main waterfall was poor but we could see another waterfall on a tributary from here. The trail then passed a campground and we turned off on the second Climber Access Spur and headed down below the cliffs. The cliffs here were great and it’s no surprise that this is a popular area for climbing.

Continuing upstream, we soon made it to the base of this impressive 60-foot waterfall.

A pretty rainbow appeared in the spray from the falls.

We climbed around on the rocks to get pictures of Foster Falls from different angles.

I also found a better spot to view the unnamed tributary waterfall.

Then we climbed back up and headed back in the car. We then made the short drive to the Grundy Forest State Natural Area, which is now part of South Cumberland State Park, at the other end of Fiery Gizzard Trail. We started hiking on the Grundy Forest Day Loop in the clockwise direction.

Following Little Fiery Gizzard Creek downstream, we soon came to Blue Hole Falls. Although not a big waterfall, it was very scenic and the swim hole at the base looked very inviting.

Shortly after this, we turned onto Fiery Gizzard Trail and followed the main creek downstream. We passed through Black Canyon, which was a small slot canyon with a cool small waterfall.

Then we passed Chimney Rocks, tall rock cliffs sticking up like chimneys.

Then we made it to Sycamore Falls. This waterfall is split into two streams, but it’s hard to get a good view without crossing the creek.

Sandy and I found some rocks to climb down to for a couple pictures as we didn’t want to get our feet wet. Next we backtracked and got back on the day loop.

The next waterfall was Hanes Hole Falls, another scenic 10-foot waterfall with a nice swim hole at the base.

Then we started to loop back towards the parking lot.

We made one more stop at School Branch Falls, the highest that we had seen, but also the lowest flow.

We had to climb down to get a picture. In hindsight, it would have been easier to get this one at the beginning from the lower end of the loop. We climbed back up and then returned to the car to head towards our next destination.