Backbone Rock

Saturday, we took Alex to the mountains of northeast Tennessee for the long weekend.  We left early and headed to Cherokee National Forest, arriving at the trailhead for Gentry Creek Falls around 830.  With all the recent rain, the creek was way up.  Even the crossing of Cut Laurel Branch at the start of the hike required wading.  In about half a mile, we came to the first creek crossing of Gentry Creek and it was very deep and fast moving.

There was no safe way to cross, especially with the dog, so we turned around and headed back.  We'll have to return when the water level is lower.

From here, we drove to Backbone Rock Recreation Area and parked just south of the tunnel.

The short Backbone Falls Trail (#198) made a quick loop.  We climbed up from the parking area and soon crossed over the top of the falls.

We then came to a nice view of Backbone Falls.

With all the recent rains, it was really flowing through a narrow crevasse in the huge rock walls.

I scrambled down to the base but it was hard to see the upper portion of the falls.

After some pictures, we continued down more stairs to return to the parking lot.

Crossing the street, we picked up Backbone Rock Trail (#53) and climbed up to the ridge.

A spur trail went right out across the ridge.

There were nice views from atop the ridge above the tunnel.

A lot of mountain laurel was flowering up here.

We found a nice spot to take a break and eat lunch above the creek.

Then we hiked a little further up the trail.  Some galax was flowering along the way.

American cancer-root is an interesting-looking parasitic plant.

We also spotted a cute little mushroom popping up above the moss.

After about a mile, we turned around and headed back to the trailhead.

From here, we continued further west to Laurel Run Park in Hawkins County.  After getting our stuff together, we set off on the Laurel Run Trail.  We crossed the creek on a bridge and passed an old log building.

There was a cool tree along the creek a little further up.

At just over half a mile, we came to the unbridged crossing of Laurel Run.  In normal flows, this is an easy rock hop, but not today.  We had to wade and Alex got pretty wet.

It was just a short ways further to the scenic Laurel Run Falls.

Although only 12 feet, it was really pretty with a narrow cave going behind the falls.

Continuing on, there were some more scenic cascades above the falls.

Right past here, the trail turned left and started heading up.  Instead, we crossed Kiner Creek and followed a very overgrown path heading up along that creek.  There were some nice cascades along this creek too.

Shortly, the path ended at Kiner Creek Falls.

It was looking really good in the high water.

This one falls down an overhang with a small rockhouse behind.

We got some pictures and then made our way back.

We drove to Johnson City and checked into the Hampton Inn.  Then we went downtown and had tacos from White Duck and beer from Yee Haw brewing.  After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed after a long day.