Clifty Falls

Thursday morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed over to Clifty Falls State Park.  It had rained all night, so we were hopeful that the waterfalls would really be flowing.  We first parked at the trailhead for Tunnel Falls.  It was lightly raining when we started around 8, but not too heavy.  As we approached Tunnel Falls, I could see that the waterfalls would definitely be flowing.

However, creek-walking in the gorge on Trail 2 might not be feasible.  Tunnel Falls was raging but the view from the overlook was mostly obscured.

I found a place on the trail that had a mostly open view.

The creek below looked very swollen and flowing fast, so getting in the creek didn't look likely.  Continuing on the trail, we came to the tunnel, an abandoned railroad tunnel.

It's closed part of the year, but was open in the summer.  We didn't pass all the way through as Alex didn't like the cave.  However, we could hike on the trail around to the other side.

Right past here, the trail passed over a small seasonal waterfall.  The heavy rains had really brought the waterfalls to life.

There were some yellow jewelweed flowering here.

The trail got pretty narrow and rugged in points, but very scenic on a foggy morning.

Trail 5 ended at Lilly Memorial Overlook and there was a beautiful seasonal waterfall here - I called it Lilly Memorial Falls.

It's not named or marked on the map, but I thought it was really beautiful.  Trail 4 continued from here to Hoffman Falls.

It's a big waterfall, but the view from the overlook is poor.  I searched around for a better viewpoint but didn't find one.  There was a nice drop on a tributary though.

With no better viewpoint, we started heading back.  Near the tunnel, I took a spur down to the creek to see close up how full it was.

We definitely would not be creek-walking today.  Then we headed back up to the car.  We made a quick stop at Lookout Point.

There was a distant view of Clifty Falls and even from here, we could tell it was raging.

Next, we parked at the main parking area and made the short walk to the overlook for Clifty Falls.

It was really flowing.  There was a lower overlook, but the view was more obscured.

Then we hiked over to Little Clifty Falls.  The trail went right over the top of the waterfall.

The view from the trail was not very good and I was unable to find a better view.

Unfortunately, the views of the waterfalls from the rim trails are rather poor.  It's kind of catch-22 in that the only good views of the waterfalls are from the gorge, but when the water is up and the waterfalls look their best, the gorge is inaccessible.  Before leaving, we went on for a hike on Trail 8 along the west rim of the gorge.  No views of the falls from this side, but we did see some Great Blue Lobelia blooming.

Then we hiked back to the car.

From here, we crossed the river into Kentucky and started driving south.  Near Berea, we got off I-75 and headed to John B. Stephenson State Nature Preserve.  A short, 3/4 mile trail led through the preserve.  With all the rain, Anglin Fork was really flowing.

A number of late summer wildflowers were blooming along the creek.

There were some aster and jewelweed flowering.

Soon we made it to Anglin Falls.

It's a seasonal waterfall, but with all the recent rains, it was really flowing.

There was a little rainbow at the base.

We spent some time climbing around and enjoying the waterfall.

It's big enough that it's hard to get a picture of the entire thing.

After enjoying the falls, we made the short hike back.

From here, we headed to Williamsburg and checked into the Super 8.  For dinner, we just walked next door to El Dorados for Mexican.