FURTHER EXPLORATIONS OF DE SOTO FALLS
I left Huntsville early
Saturday morning, and took back roads east towards De Soto State Park. My destination for the morning was De Soto
Falls, which I had visited a year earlier.
This time though, I wanted to find a way to the base of the falls. Unlike my previous adventure, I was
prepared, as I had a topo map, and a plan.
I parked at the Welsh Caves
trailhead after a 90 minute drive. This
time though, instead of following the ridge out to the upper overlook of the
falls, I headed down. A mild scramble
brought me to the base of the cliffs.
From there, I bushwhacked through the woods down into a ravine. Before long I stumbled across an old road,
heading downhill towards the river. I
followed this, until it disappeared in a mess of fallen trees not far above the
river. It was here that I made my only
mistake. I chose to angle upstream,
towards the falls, rather than continue down to the river. This earned my more crawling over and under
fallen trees. Eventually I ended up
down at the river, where I found a path!
I could’ve made this hike much easier on myself if I’d gone straight
down to the river to begin with.
I followed the path
upstream. It was faint in places, and
fallen trees, boulders, and occasional flood debris provided minor
obstacles. Progress was still fairly
easy though, and before long I passed below the cliffs that harbor the Welsh
Caves. From my vantage, it looked like
there are more caves in the cliffs, though they appear to be more or less
inaccessible.
A few more minutes of hiking
brought me to the vast pool at the base of the falls. De Soto Falls is a classic punchbowl waterfall. The pool at its base is probably 100 yards across,
and is surrounded on three sides by sheer cliffs. I found a great boulder to view the falls, and spent a few
minutes enjoying the spot and taking photos.
While I was there, I noticed several groups of tourists exploring the
brink of the falls, no doubt wondering how I’d gotten down where I was. I had been in their same position on my last
visit, watching people lounge about the pool far below.
After a few minutes, I
decided to explore a different vantage point.
I boulder-hopped around the side of the pool, eventually reaching an old
concrete foundation at the side of the falls.
I found this to be the best angle for photographs, at least on this
overcast day. De Soto Falls is out in
the open, and it’s probably easier to photograph it on a sunny day, which is
unusual.
From the side, I had a view
into the deep recess in the cliff behind the falls. It looks like it would be possible to swim behind the falls! I’ll have to return again in warmer weather
to try that.
I returned by the same
route, except I followed a faint, steep path directly up from the river just
upstream from the ravine. It’s hard to
follow the path in the leaves, but it actually leads right to the mouth of
Icebox Cave. It appears that the best
route to the base of the falls is to hike to Icebox Cave, and head directly
down to the river from there. At that
point, there is a decent path all the way up to the falls. When I come back, I’ll be sure to take that
route.
It was still early when I
returned to the car. Since I had some
time, I decided to check out the Little River Canyon. The Little River Canyon is a National Recreation Area, featuring
a scenic drive along the west rim. My
last visit had occurred during a drought, and the waterfalls on the tributaries
hadn’t been worth stopping to see.
Today promised different conditions, so I decided to check a couple of
them out.
My first stop was Grace’s
High Falls, which spills off a cliff into the gorge carved by Bear Creek, just
up from its confluence with the Little River.
The waterfall is seasonal, but it was definitely flowing today. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good
vantage point of the falls where I could set up my tripod. Without the tripod, there was no hope of
making a decent photo.
From there I drove back to
Wolf Creek in search of Greg’s Two Falls.
I’d seen a pretty photo of this one on the internet, and was looking
forward to checking it out. This
waterfall is pretty obscure, and I didn’t find an obvious trail or parking
area. I pulled off the road just north
of the bridge, and headed downstream along the creek. There is a faint path, which leads to a small overhanging
cave. Beyond there, following the path
requires crawling through some rhododendron.
Finally a steep, muddy descent brought me to a small waterfall featuring
a deep, blue pool. The water here disappears
underground, before re-emerging just downstream. This was a pretty spot, but it wasn’t the waterfall I was looking
for.
I continued downstream, and
another steep descent brought me to a prettier waterfall. This one was nice, but it still wasn’t the
same one I was looking for. How many
waterfalls are there along this creek?
Considering how much the creek drops to get to the bottom of the canyon,
I’m guessing there could be quite a few more.
Unfortunately, the path I had followed disappears here, and descending
further requires some rugged scrambling.
A few raindrops convinced me that it was well past time for me to head
home. I took a couple photos of the
waterfalls I had found before heading back.
The next time I’m in the
area, I’ll have to explore Wolf Creek further.
A similar exploration of Bear Creek may also be worthwhile, as there are
probably some significant waterfalls along that stream, too.
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