THIS IS SO COOL!
Christy had her spring break
last week, and the boss gave me the week off so we could spend some time
together. After considering many
options, we chose to spend most of the week car camping on the Cumberland Plateau
of Tennessee. There were a couple of
motivations behind this destination.
First, I consider the hike to Virgin Falls one of the best hikes in the
country. Not just one of the best in
the southeast, but the entire country.
I’ve done that hike twice, and I wanted to take Christy there ever
since. In addition, there are lots of
other hiking opportunities in the area.
I planned out a number of hikes, and made camping reservations at Rock
Island State Park, which is conveniently located near most of the hikes we
wanted to do. What I hadn’t planned on
though, was taking someone else with us.
A couple of weeks before the
trip, Christy asked me if we could bring one of her students along. The student, Thao, was born in Vietnam, but
was brought to America by her father four years ago. Since then, she taught herself English, and she’s now a
straight-A student. For reasons I’d
rather not elaborate on, she is now in foster care. Her foster family was also leaving town the week of spring break,
but for one reason or another, she wasn’t able to join them. That left her somewhat stranded.
I’ll admit I was not
initially enthusiastic about bringing her along. What were we going to do all week with a 90-pound Vietnamese girl
that had never been hiking or camping before?
Somehow I was talked into
it. She had never been hiking before
(apparently it’s really not the thing to do in Vietnam) so we bought her an
inexpensive pair of boots. She borrowed
the rest of the gear she needed from us.
Before we could go, Christy and I had to be “approved” by the department
of social services. Apparently the
checks on our criminal records came back clean. I guess they didn’t find out about that, um, incident. Of course, that all happened in Cuba, so
it’s probably not on my record.
Anyway, we made it through
all the governmental red tape and left Charlotte early on Wednesday
morning. Somehow, we got three people,
the dog, and a whole lot of camping gear into Christy’s car. It’s a good thing we didn’t try to take my
Corolla on this expedition!
We had an uneventful drive,
and even made it through Knoxville before the lunchtime rush hour (yes, they
have one). From there, it wasn’t too
much farther to our first stop. On my
last two hiking trips in central Tennessee, I fully intended to visit Ozone
Falls. Time constraints kept me from
making it there, so this time I made it a priority. We arrived at the trailhead around Noon Eastern Time. Although we spent most of the trip in the
Central Time Zone, we chose not to adjust our clocks. I thought it might be easier that way at the end of the trip, so
we wouldn’t loose an hour on the way home.
We parked at the small
pulloff on highway 70 and walked the short trail along the creek upstream from
the falls. From there we looped back to
the highway and began our descent. The
trail down was muddy and slippery, but it didn’t seem to faze Thao. A few minutes later, we found ourselves down
in the gorge at the base of Ozone Falls.
Ozone is an impressive waterfall, as it spills 80’ or so into a deep
pool. Unfortunately the mid-day sun was
shining brightly on the falls, so my photos aren’t particularly
impressive. The sun did provide some
welcome warmth for us as we ate lunch.
It was surprisingly chilly there, especially down at the bottom of the
gorge.
We explored at bit after
lunch, and I found a handful of Jack-in-the-Pulpit flowers blooming. It was probably the largest quantity of
those flowers I’ve ever seen in one spot.
We also found a few Toadstool Trillium, which was kind of funny. A few weeks ago I saw thousands of them on a
hike to Station Cove Falls in South Carolina.
That was the first time I’d seen that type of Trillium. Ever since then, it seems like they are
everywhere.
We returned to the car, and
resumed the drive west. We abandoned
the interstate in Cookeville, and headed for Burgess Falls State Park. A short, easy drive brought us to the park,
which features a couple of short trails and 3 significant waterfalls. We got water, used the facilities, leashed
the dog, and hit the trail.
We followed the path
downstream along the well-named Falling Water River. After a brief walk, we stopped to view the upper cascades. Descending to the water’s edge was tricky,
as the mussel shells littering the shore made the path slippery. From there, we continued downstream, passing
the upper falls. It’s hard to get a
good clear view of the upper falls from the trail. A bit farther downstream I spotted a faint path heading down and
back towards the falls. That path might
provide a better vantage, but the bright sunshine eliminated any hope of
getting a good photo.
We continued on, climbing a
substantial hill to reach a lofty overlook of the Middle Falls. The Middle Falls are quite impressive, but a
safe route to the base was not apparent.
We settled for the view from the overlook before continuing down the
trail towards the main event.
A few minutes later we
reached a platform and the upper overlook for Big Burgess Falls. Burgess Falls is quite impressive, and
rather unique. When viewed from above,
the cliff the river spills over appears to be shaped like a triangle, with the
point of the triangle facing downstream.
The waterfall spills over the opposite sides of the triangle, and when
water levels are high, the point itself.
This creates an unusual visual effect.
In fact, I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a waterfall quite like it. The falls are also quite high, and extremely
powerful. Needless to say, I wasn’t
satisfied with the view from the upper overlook!
Fortunately there is an established
trail most of the way to the base. We
followed a good path down switchbacks to the brink of the falls. From there, a sturdy metal staircase
descends alongside the falls. This
trail reminded me a little of a trail in Yellowstone National Park that takes
hikers down to the base of Yellowstone Falls.
I’m not sure if it was the metal staircase, or the roar of the waterfall
that brought that to mind.
The trail eventually ends
just downstream from the falls. This
may be the best vantage point for Big Burgess Falls. There is a great view here, and we were just far enough away to
stay out of the spray. The sunny day
I’d been cursing earlier finally provided a benefit, in the form of a lovely
rainbow arcing across the base of the falls.
I wanted to fully explore
the possibilities here, so I followed a rough, slippery, unofficial (but
well-traveled) path to the base. This
took me through the spray zone, where rain gear would’ve been handy! I hurried through as much as I could,
despite the slippery boulders. Once at
the base, I was out of the spray, but the waterfall absolutely towered over
me. It was an incredible spot, but a
difficult one to photograph from. If
you go there, a wide-angle lens would be handy.
While I was down there,
Christy overhead Thao say (to nobody in particular), “This is so cool”. I think it’s safe to say that Thao had never
seen anything like this before. Of
course, we were just getting started…
We climbed back to the upper
overlook. From there, we followed a
gravel service road back to the parking area.
This provided a quicker and easier return route. From there, we headed to Rock Island State
Park, where we had a campsite reserved.
We checked in and set up camp.
The campground there is decent, although not spectacular. It is situated in a nice forest, and most of
the sites are fairly spacious. The
campground also features heated bathrooms with hot showers, which would come in
quite handy during the trip.
After we set up camp, I was
sent off to find firewood. I drove back
into “town”, where I’d seen a sign in front of Tennessee Treasures that said
“Firewood Five”. I thought $5 was a
little high for a bundle of firewood, but I wasn’t in the mood to shop around. Boy, was I wrong. $5 there didn’t buy a bundle of firewood, it bought a stack of
firewood! A stack there was easily 3
times larger than the typical bundle you might get at a grocery store. I bought 2 stacks, which filled up most of
the back of Christy’s Xterra. The owner
even threw in some kindling for free.
As I was getting ready to leave, the owner told me if we needed more to
help myself to the firewood if there wasn’t anyone around. He said we could always pay them later for
it. They’ve got some nice people down
there in central Tennessee.
On the way back to camp, I
decided to drive over to Twin Falls.
Twin Falls is another unique waterfall.
In a sense, you could say that it is man-made. Several decades ago, the beavers at the TVA dammed (damned?) up
the Caney Fork and Collins Rivers to form Great Falls Lake. The dam destroyed Great Falls, but created a
new waterfall. Apparently the beavers
forgot to study the geology of the area before they began construction. When the lake filled, the water pressure
forced the water of the Collins River to find a new path. It began seeping through the porous
limestone. Now a large amount of water
passes through the hillside before cascading down the cliffs and into the
mostly dry riverbed downstream from the dam.
As a result, some of the river bypasses the hydroelectric dam
altogether. Mother nature wins again.
A side effect of all this is
a surprisingly attractive waterfall. I
drove across the rickety wooden bridge on top of the dam, and followed the
mostly dirt road to the end of the road.
From there, a short, steep path led down to the riverbed across from the
falls. Twin Falls is oddly named, as
there are probably 4 or 5 major cascades, and many more small ones stretching
along about 100 yards of the gorge. A
better name might’ve been Surprise! Falls.
I’m guessing that the falls are much less significant during dry
periods. When I was there though, it
was quite a sight! The falls are so
wide, I couldn’t begin to photograph the entire thing in one shot. The most fascinating feature of the falls is
that they have no real top. The water
just runs out of the side of the cliff, and tumbles into the gorge below.
Christy and Thao were back
at camp, and I vowed to bring them back here before we left. In the end, we never made it back, which I
regret. If you’re in the area, Twin
Falls is worth a visit!
That evening we grilled
burgers, and relied on our campfire to ward of the evening chill. Thao was worn out from our eventful day, and
went to bed early. Unfortunately, that meant
that Christy and I had to eat the Smores all by ourselves. Well, there’d be more of them for another
night.
Back to Tennessee
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!