Dick Creek Waterfalls

Wednesday, I headed to Rock Creek Recreation Area in Cherokee National Forest to find some waterfalls.  After paying the day use fee and parking by the swimming area, I got on the Rock Creek Falls Trail.  The trail soon split with the other trails and headed into Unaka Mountains Wilderness.  Following Rock Creek upstream, there were several crossings though all were easy rock hops in low water.

After a mile and a half or so, a scramble path led down to Lower Rock Creek Falls.

It's not as impressive as the main waterfall, but the rock that the water flows over is very scenic

There was another nice cascade above here.

Soon, I came to Rock Creek Falls.

With two drops in a massive rock amphitheater, it's a really nice waterfall.

I had been here before, but the lighting was poor, so glad to get some nice shots.

After some pictures, I headed back down.  After leaving the wilderness, I got on Bicycle Trail to Rattlesnake Ridge Trail and took that one up.  The trail climbed up to Dick Creek Gap where I got on Dick Creek Trail heading down towards its namesake.  In about 3/4 mile, I had to rock hop Dick Creek and then turn right on another old road.  In less than half a mile, a well-worn path turned right and led to a campsite with a scramble path leading down to Lower Dick Creek Falls.

The first waterfall on the creek, it's only about 20 feet and looked really nice despite the low water.

The little pool at the base was really scenic.

I scrambled on the rocks to get some pictures and then headed back up.  The old road continued through an open area and then made another crossing of Dick Creek, which I could rock hop again.  There was a campsite fire ring after the crossing and I got off the road and followed a path to the left.  It headed up and followed the creek upstream.  Despite bushwhacking, it was quite easy as I stayed on the most obvious path that was closest to the creek.  In a quarter-mile or so, I came to Upper Dick Creek Falls.

It was tricky getting down to this one and I would bring a rope if I came back.  Unfortunately, the water level was low and this one was not looking as good as possible.

I will definitely have to come back.  I couldn't get back up the way I went down and had to find another way back up.  The faint path continued another 1/10 of a mile or so and ended at another crossing of Dick Creek.  A path to the right went to Upper Upper Dick Creek Falls, a very impressive 60-foot drop through a narrow cleft in the rock.

This one too really needed more water to look its best.

Back at the creek crossing, a super steep path headed up along the waterfall.  After climbing up a ways, the last part was through a narrow notch at the top of the cliff.  Someone had tied a rope, though I don't think it was necessary.  Past the notch, it was just 100 feet or so through a very overgrown path to Upper Upper Upper Dick Creek Falls.

It was about a 20-foot drop and looked pretty nice despite low water.

It was just above the previous waterfall.  From here, I started making my way back, it was all downhill back to Dick Creek Trail and then a gradual climb back up to the gap.  There was some Indian pipe flowering along the creek.

It was still pretty early so I hiked a ways up on Rattlesnake Ridge Trail back into the wilderness.

There were a couple spots on the trail with decent views but it would need to be winter for good views.

After a couple miles, I turned back and headed back to the start.  I had gotten pretty sweaty with all the climbing and bushwhacking so changed into a bathing suit and took a dip in the outdoor pool, which was basically Rock Creek diverted into a concrete pool.  The water sure felt good.

After changing back, I headed into Erwin and got dinner at Red Fork.  They had a map of Unicoi County on the wall with numerous waterfalls marked.  I took it as a personal challenge.  After dinner, I returned to the hotel.

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.