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.