WHERE DOES THE WATER GO?
Christy
was feeling a little better on Friday, but she definitely wasn’t up for
hiking. We scrapped our plans to
backpack to Virgin Falls. I thought she
might just want to go home, but we decided to give it another day. We were hopeful that she would recover enough
to spend the weekend with friends in Gatlinburg. They were visiting from Michigan, and we
hadn’t seen them in several years.
I
extended our stay another night at the Red Roof Inn before we walked across the
parking lot to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Christy planned to spend the day resting and
catching up on her work for the online class she was taking. That left me free to go hiking. My initial thought was to dayhike to Virgin
Falls. I was hesitant though. It had rained most of the previous day and
night, and some of the storms had been severe.
Getting to Virgin Falls requires fording Big Laurel Creek. Normally that isn’t a big deal, but it is
flood prone. I wasn’t sure if I’d be
able to get there.
Over
breakfast I came up with another idea.
Dry Creek and Lost Creek are in the next valley over from Virgin
Falls. Both creeks disappear down
sinks. The water travels through an
extensive cave system before emerging from the cave at the top of Virgin
Falls. If I couldn’t make it to Virgin
Falls, why not go to its source? I
decided to check those streams out.
Although I’d been to Lost Creek Falls and Dodson Cave previously, that
had been years earlier. Also, Dry Creek
has a two-tiered waterfall that is rarely seen.
During drier periods it has no water, but that wouldn’t be problem on
this day.
If
I could make it to Dry Creek Falls, I thought it might be possible to bushwhack
over Wilson Ridge to access Virgin Falls.
It would be amazing to start my hike at the source of Virgin Falls and
finish at the falls itself.
I
drove from Crossville down past Sparta and over to Lost Creek Falls and Dodson Cave / Whites Cave / Lost Creek Cave (pick
a name). Lost Creek Falls and the cave
were recently donated to Fall Creek Falls State Park. The good news is that the area is now
protected, as it used to be private property.
The bad news is that state ownership means more regulations. According to the park website, Lost Creek
Cave is closed through May 1st for bat hibernation. The sign at the trailhead said that it would
re-open in April. This was April 1st,
but it appeared that it was still closed.
I had a full day planned, so adding on a tour of the cave wasn’t
realistic anyway. Plus, Christy and I
had explored the cave as far as the underground waterfall some years ago.
Lost
Creek Falls was roaring! On our previous
visit we had witnessed a tall, delicate waterfall that disappears through the
porous rock at its base. Today, it was a
raging torrent. All of that water (and a
lot more) eventually re-emerges just above Virgin Falls. If there was this much volume here, I
couldn’t fathom what Virgin Falls would look like.
I
visited the top of the falls before I left.
Much like the Virgin River, Lost Creek emerges from a cave (actually several
during my visit) and runs a short distance before plunging over the falls. Essentially Lost Creek is a smaller version
of the Virgin River. Although
I wouldn’t really call it small.
The falls are 60-70’, and they are exceptionally powerful when the creek
is flooding.
I
tried to scramble up to the mouth of the largest cave, but there was too much
water to rock hop up the creek. The
steep, muddy slope on River Right was too loose to walk on. I attempted it, and the whole hillside
started to slide. I decided to concede
and head on to the day’s main event.
I
continued down White’s Cave Road a short distance to a bridge over (dry) Dry
Creek. There is a blazed trail (an old
road) and a sign here for the Rylander Cascades. I parked, released the dogs, and headed up
the old road. This stretch of Dry Creek
was mostly dry, except for a few scattered puddles. The highlight of this stretch was abundant
wildflowers. The trilliums, hepatica,
and spring beauties were really just getting started, but they added a lot of
beauty to the first part of the hike.
I
reached Rylander Cascades after a ½ mile.
Despite the name, the cascades are a true waterfall on a tributary of
Dry Creek. It’s a nice little waterfall,
though not a compelling destination in and of itself. Its most interesting aspect is that its
water, and the water of Dry Creek, disappears down a sink at its base. Dry Creek was a rollicking mountain stream
above this point. Its flow was much
smaller than Lost Creek though, despite draining a large area. My guess is that most of Dry Creek is
subterranean, and there is only water on the surface during periods of high
water.
From
there I headed upstream, following a series of old roads. The roads would occasionally drift above and
away from the creek, but I just made sure that I continued to hike up the
valley. After a long bend to the right,
I found myself fairly high above the creek.
There is a long run of cascades below, and the road rejoined the creek
near the top of them. At that point the
road forded the creek and climbed the hillside away from it. I knew the waterfall wasn’t far upstream, so
I abandoned it and continued on. I
crossed a wet, slippery, muddy area and reached the base of a small but pretty
cascade.
Above
the cascade I endured some sidehilling before
dropping back down to the creek. The
terrain forced me to wade the creek at the point. From there, it wasn’t long before Dry Creek
Falls came into view. It’s a
beauty! Dry Creek Falls is two-tiered, and
each section is distinctly different from the other. The lower drop is perhaps 30’ and it is
possible to walk behind the falls. It’s
highly photogenic, and I spent a lot of time here taking photos. After a quick lunch I climbed up to the upper
drop. It’s maybe 25’ and more of a
cascade.
I
climbed the upper waterfall, too, still on River Right. At the top I found a mess of fallen
trees. I veered away from the creek to
try to get around them, but that actually made it worse. I eventually fought my way back to the
creek. I crossed again, and a short
distance upstream I found an old road.
From
there I followed a series of dirt roads to the crest of Wilson Ridge. Although it isn’t posted, this may be private
property. I descended from Wilson Ridge
along a spur ridge that looked promising.
This was steep and rocky, but the forest was fairly open. At times, the biggest challenge was not
stepping on the numerous wildflowers.
I
descended into the sinkhole that hides Virgin Falls. My navigation was spot on (with assistance
from my GAIA App). However, I was a bit
humbled by where I came out. I expected
to come out at the top of the falls, but I actually came out directly across
from it. Oddly, the water runs through
Wilson Ridge, but emerges from the mountainside on the opposite side of the
sinkhole.
Virgin
Falls was absolutely raging. The water
was so high, the entire area was in constant
spray. Photography was hopeless, but I
didn’t care. Virgin Falls is my all-time
favorite waterfall, and it was incredible seeing it like this. To be honest, it was a little
terrifying.
I
didn’t even think about going to the top of the falls. Instead, I headed over to a popular campsite
in hopes of getting a good view without any spray. It was a little better there, but the spray
was unavoidable.
I
took a long break there. I considered
extending my hike over to Sheep Cave and Sheep Falls, but I had a long hike
back and it was getting late. Plus I didn’t
want to get back late since Christy was stuck in the hotel room.
I
was packing up to leave when a family arrived.
They were the only people I saw there, or
anywhere during my hike. That’s pretty
surprising, considering how popular the area is. When Darrin, Mitch, and I camped in this area
on a Friday in late March a couple of years ago we encountered dozens of
people. I still wonder if the ford of
Big Laurel Creek was impassable. It’s
possible that this family had hiked in the day before (or earlier) and camped
in the storm. I wish I’d thought to ask
them.
I
returned by the same route and headed back to Crossville. Christy was doing fairly well. The dizziness wasn’t gone, but it was
improving. She was hopeful that she
would be up to doing more the next day.
We
had dinner that night at the Stage Coach Restaurant, which is across the road
from Cumberland Mountain State Park.
We’d eaten there the previous evening and had enjoyed it so much we
decided to go back.
The
next morning we checked out and stopped for breakfast on our way out of town. Christy was feeling better, though she wasn’t
close to 100%. We decided to try an easy
hike on our way to Gatlinburg. We drove
to Grandview and on to the Piney Run Natural Area. The goal was a 2 mile round trip moderate
hike to Upper Piney Falls. I’d been
before and figured it would be a good choice to see how Christy was doing.
We
hiked to the top of the falls first, which was a questionable move with someone
that was prone to sudden bouts of dizziness.
We made a quick retreat from there and followed a good trail down
through the cliffs. Once below the cliff
line it was a fairly easy hike to the base of the falls. Upper Piney is another Cumberland Plateau
beauty! The trail actually passes behind
the falls to access the best viewing spot downstream from the swimming hole at
its base.
We
hung out there for a bit before starting back.
Before we left though, I wanted to see if I could get to the base of
Lower Piney Falls. Lower Piney Falls
isn’t far downstream from Upper Piney, and there is an official trail to the
top. Unfortunately there isn’t much of a
view from there, and there is no way to get down the cliff separating the top
of the falls from the base.
I
had a plan though. I would hike down the
canyon a ways before looking for a way down to the creek. Once at the creek, I would follow it back
upstream to the base of the falls.
I
followed my plan, leaving the trail and following the base of the cliffs down
the canyon. As I hiked, the creek
dropped farther and farther below me. I
grew impatient and started down the slope in an area that wasn’t insanely
steep. Eventually I reached a bench with
a fair drop down to creek level. It
looked sketchy, but I thought I might be able to work my way down from one
ledge to the next. I slid down to a
narrow ledge, but I didn’t like it at all.
It was very narrow, and the saturated ground felt unstable. I decided to retreat. Just climbing back up was a challenge, and it
was a relief to get away from that edge!
In
hindsight, I think I had the right idea, but I probably started down towards
the creek too soon. The next time I’m
over that way I’ll give it another try.
I’ve also heard that it is better to cross the creek above the brink of
Lower Piney Falls and approach it on the opposite side. I’ll consider that option, too.
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