Fall Creek Falls State Park is located in southeast Tennessee and from what I hear it is one of the most visited state parks in Tennessee. It is home to Fall creek falls (from which it derives its name), Rock house falls, Cane creek falls and Piney creek falls. It also has a nice lake, like a real lake, not the one you would have in a landscaped community and the park is rightfully called Fall Creek Falls state resort park as it offers an abundance of activities for visitors of all tastes ranging from the hard core hikers to families wanting to just have a relaxed time in a beautiful natural setting.
We had planned the trip here last weekend but postponed it since the weather turned really bad with torrential rains lashing the south and southeast. Yes this was the same weekend when hurricane Joaquin was supposed to hit and when South Carolina got drenched, flooded or whatever term you would like, with unprecedented rain. Anyways long story short we postponed the trip last week and this week decided to head out hoping for better weather as promised by the good guys at weather.com. We left Johnson city on Friday afternoon and reached the park little around 10 pm after making a stop in Knoxville for some errands and a quick dinner. Well, it appears our friends at weather.com had quietly reneged on their promise of good weather and while we were driving updated the weather to indicate thunderstorms tonight continuing into Saturday and we were greeted by rain just as we headed into the park. It took us some time to find the campground and when we finally did it was not at all an enticing proposition to set up camp. In the interest of keeping ourselves and our gear dry we decided it was not worth setting up camp and hence decided to sleep in the car itself.
We got up at around 8.30 am and not surprisingly were greeted by rain and some chilly weather. We decided to at least go for a drive around the park to get a sense of the park and then grab a bite at the inn. As we drove around we stumbled upon the scenic loop drive, and as that appeared to be as good a option as any, embarked on the drive. Within short drive is the overlook to fall creek falls. I must say one look at the falls and we stopped complaining about the weather. Yes the weather was muggy, yes we couldn't hike, yes it was cold and yes the fall was not anywhere close to its full strength. But was the view beautiful? Absolutely yes. The fall was sliding down the bluffs silently into the small pool below. The surrounding forest had turned to a medley of colors dominated by greens but accentuated by bright reds and yellows. These are the type of fall colors that I sometimes appreciate even more than bright orange yellow blaze at the peak of the fall. I really like the contrast the nice relaxing green provides to the bright reds and yellows. The fog was just rolling across the forest intermittently hiding and exposing its beauty. The view was serene and the cold weather had kept all the tourists out. We had this fantastic ambience just for ourselves with not a single sound apart from that of the forest.
After devouring the solitude and the beautiful view we drove to Piney falls along the loop. The outlook on the right side of the parking lot, about a 2 minute hike, provides gorgeous views of the falls. This fall is in great contrast to the fall creek falls we saw earlier. It was gushing with a huge volume of water, very powerful with it's thunder echoing in the gorge. The view was spectacular with the forest ablaze in oranges all around and a nearby red tree providing the perfect frame for a photograph of the falls. We spent almost 20 minutes marveling the beauty of the falls and decided that we might want to consider coming back later in the weekend to see these falls again. Then we headed towards the inn to get some hot breakfast. The inn is a nice place located on the lake and the restaurant has nice views of the park. The menu is standard southern breakfast with a pretty good buffet. We just got a nice omelette and a coffee while mulling over what to do next.
The rain had eased of by the time we finished our breakfast and that certainly lifted our spirits. We drove to the nature center to check it out. While at the nature center, we looked at the cane creek falls and rock house falls from the overlook right across the centre. This overlook provides a nice view of the falls but I wouldn't say that this is the best place to view the falls. We also watched a small movie about the park which is played on demand in the nature center. The lady at the center was having a really rough day I must say, as it was her first day on the job and she had a hard time figuring out the credit card machine, while answering people's question and attempting to also sell some trinkets. We then walked to the bottom of the cascades to get a nice view of the falls.
I then decided to take the small but adventurous cable trail to the bottom of cane creek falls. The hike is a really short hike and probably takes 10-15 minutes to reach the bottom of the falls. It is a vertical hike for sure and has some awkward spots. The section of rocks almost immediately after the point where the cable starts is the trickiest one. If you can negotiate that then the rest of the hike is pretty easy. Having said that I will say that the hike isn't as ominous as the name suggests. There is a cable overhanging along the hike but you really do not need to hold the cable or climb down hanging by the cable. There were probably 1-2 points where the cable really helped but the rest of the trail is pretty much scrambling across rocks. The view of the falls at the end of the trail is gorgeous. You can see the cane creek falls falling in the beautiful pool below with the rock house falls as a companion on the left side. To get a really nice view I walked downstream and crossed the stream to a point from where I could see both the falls and the pool below. Without doubt this is one of the best picture spots in the parks he best view of the falls together.
I finished the quick hike back to the car and we decided that we could also complete the paw paw loop trail. The paw paw trail is a 2.6 mile loop trail which provides nice views of the cane creek gorge as well as an overlook to look at fall creek falls. We could barely see the falls from the overlook as the water flow was really low but the hike is definitely worthwhile as a nice walk in the woods. This is a very easy hike which can be done by pretty much anyone who is in a reasonable shape. We finished the hike by around 4.30 pm.
The weather had gotten really nice by this time and we decided that we could still do the Gilbert Gaul loop trail around the lake and makeup for some lost hiking time earlier in the day. The loop is a 4.4 mile hike and the trailhead is just before group campground 2. The first half of the trail is pretty much a walk in the forest with a pretty flat profile and you pass a nice clearing along it. We reached the lake just after the sun had set and we could still see the sunset colors and those of the surrounding trees glistening in the lake water. Our appreciation for the beautiful views was short lived though because soon enough the concern about the reducing visibility overshadowed the beauty of the view. We hastily started hiking on hoping that we could finish the hike before it became completely dark. I must mention that this trail is very poorly marked with absolutely no blaze and probably only 2 or 3 signposts at locations where you almost cannot see the trail at all. The second half of the trail is terrible in terms of marking with absolutely no markers. Your only guide is the faint outline of the trail which you will most likely miss if you don't pay attention. Also it did not help our cause that we miscalculated the time that the trail would take and did not factor in the fact that the park is in central time zone as opposed to eastern time zone just few miles to the east and hence the sunset would be at an earlier time. The result of all this was that by the time it got completely dark we were still on the trail and were freaking out. Fortunately we had our cellphones and this part has full network coverage so I could constantly keep an eye on the gps. We decided to just keep the lake on our right and keep walking as we knew that we would eventually reach the inn that was on the lake. The gps indicated that there was a fork by the lake almost 3 miles into the loop where we were supposed to take a left and I swear we were right at the fork and could not find it. Finally as we could still not see the inn and it had gotten completely dark with our batteries at 40% we decided it was wise to call 911 before we ran out of batteries. The gentleman on the line was pretty helpful and while I was talking to him we saw the lights for the inn in front of us. That made me feel really relieved and I was sure we were safe. The 911 dispatcher still sent over a park ranger to come get us to be safe and the park ranger dropped us off at our car. The ranger did agree that the trail is poorly marked. I think I will completely take the blame though for the mishap since we could have planned better to avoid all the drama.
Anyways with all the drama behind us and the weather improved significantly we headed to our campsite, set up our tent and made some hot dinner from the food we had packed taking advantage of the electrical hookups available at the site. Considering the muggy start we had to the day, I must say the day turned out to be fantastic and in fact, save the drama towards the end, couldn't have been better.
The next day was all about tying up loose ends and visiting spots that we had not visited. We hiked the trail to the bottom of fall creek falls which is on the right side of the parking lot. This is probably a 1.5 mile in and out trail which is mostly a steep hike. The view from below is nice and the are quite few rocks below where you can hangout. After this trail we did the suspension bridge trail and the loop after it. The suspension bridge is pretty and gives a nice view of the creek just before it falls down the cascades. As you proceed on the loop there is a nice overlook on the right which provides a front view of rock house falls and cane creek falls. I would rate this as the second best view of the falls in the park. The trail then just continues along the gorge with a couple of overlooks along the way. We completed the loop to come back to the suspension bridge. There was quite the line to get across the bridge this time around as it is recommended that only six people cross the bridge at one time and there were several people waiting to cross. We then drove over to piney falls and visited the suspension bridge there. To be frank this was not as exciting as the overlook from where you can actually see the full piney falls. There is one overlook on the way where you get a sneak peek of the fall and then the bridge itself hangs over the overflow of the falls.
With almost all attractions in the park checked off our list we decided to head back and see if we could take a stab at ozone falls on the way back. When you search for ozone falls, google maps will directly you to Cumberland Mountain state park. So we followed the lead. When we reached the park it was almost 6 pm and getting very close to sunset. The park has a nice restaurant overlooking the lake and arch bridge. We decided to settle down for dinner, particularly after we found out that ozone falls is actually 20 mins away from the park and we couldn't make it in time anyways even if we left right away. We had a nice quite dinner appreciating the beautiful view of the bridge and the colorful trees reflected in the lake. We then headed back home savoring the memories we created this weekend, getting ready to face another work week before the next hike. Fall creek falls state park is a very impressive park with great scenery and 4 gorgeous waterfalls. A must visit and certainly worth spending the complete weekend
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