A RETURN TO THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU
We
considered a number of options for this year’s Spring Break trip, including
kayaking the Buffalo River in Arkansas or kayaking in Florida. Ultimately we decided that the Buffalo River’s
rapids were beyond our current skill level, and we preferred to save Florida
for a winter trip. Instead, we would
return to the Cumberland Plateau. We had
taken a short trip there in December, but rainy weather had kept us from doing
some of things we had planned. There
were some areas that I wanted to explore, and Christy wanted to do some
mountain biking. So, we would focus on
those activities for our week in Tennessee and northeast Alabama.
The
trip was nearly derailed before it even started. I had a mysterious knee / quad injury in my
right leg a month or two earlier. The
week before our trip mysterious knee pain popped up in my left leg. I called my personal magician. He had planned to be off on that Friday, but
had received several calls from patients requesting Friday appointments. He decided to come in, and saw me Friday
morning. He diagnosed my problem as
Patellar Tendinitis. That sounded bad,
but 30 minutes of his techniques knocked the problem out.
Packing
the Honda Element was a major event on Friday afternoon, but we managed to get
all of our gear and both dogs in the car.
We headed out late that afternoon, dodged rush hour traffic, and headed for
Little Canada. There was an official
Team Waterfall camping trip that weekend, with 2 nights of camping at the end
of Rock Bridge Road. On Saturday some
folks would be rappelling Flat Creek Falls.
We wouldn’t be able to stick around for that, but we wanted to start our
trip out camping with friends.
At
some point during the drive Christy realized that she didn’t have her
wallet. No cash, no credit cards, no ID,
and no proof of insurance. Oops. There wasn’t anything we could do about it
though. The week after we returned she
discovered that she had left it at Target.
Luckily she was able to get it back, but not having it during the trip
proved to be inconvenient.
We
arrived early that evening and found Scott, Thomas, Kitty, Christie and a few
others already set up. There was a
family camping in the prime spot at the end of the road, so they had set up
farther up the hill. There was also a
group of teenagers with jeeps camped on the far side of the creek. Scott, Thomas, and Kitty had just returned
from an exploration of Upper Flat Creek Falls, where they found three distinct
waterfalls. I had originally planned to
hike to the upper overlook of Flat Creek Falls, or to Nellie’s Falls on Flat
Creek that evening. We arrived later
than expected though, and I was tired and not feeling very good. My allergies were getting the best of me, and
escaping Charlotte hadn’t relieved my symptoms.
We ended up just hanging out around the campfire that evening.
The
next morning, while Casey, Michael, Christie, Justin, Amanda and the others
were getting organized for their rappelling adventure, we packed up. My
allergies were even worse, so we skipped the morning hike I had planned. We drove to Tsali,
where Christy planned to go mountain biking.
First though, she dropped me and the dogs off for a short hike. My plan was to explore Stecoah
Creek to look for waterfalls. We drove
past numerous farms, but the place where I’d planned to start was in the middle
of private property. I wasn’t
comfortable with that, so we went with plan B.
She dropped us off at Stecoah Gap, where the
Appalachian Trail crosses the road.
There was a big group of hikers here, and the A.T. looked really
busy. I wasn’t feeling well, and didn’t
want to battle crowds, so I followed a gated forest road that parallels the
A.T. This provided an easy walk with a couple
of nice views, and it brought me to the headwaters of Stecoah
Creek in no time.
One
stretch of Stecoah Creek looked like it had waterfall
potential on the topo map, so I bushwhacked steeply downstream. Eventually I picked up an old road that
paralleled the creek. This was easier
than bushwhacking, except for one stretch that was covered in deadfall. I reached the stretch of creek that I had
targeted, but I didn’t find anything except minor cascades. Oh well – that’s part of the deal when you’re
searching for undocumented waterfalls.
Sometimes you spend all day crawling around in the bushes with nothing
to show for it. Even then though, the
adventure is fun. And it is days like
these that make major discoveries that much sweeter.
I
returned by the same route and met Christy at the trailhead. She had a decent ride at Tsali,
but said that it was tough. She has only
just started getting back into mountain biking, and probably wasn’t quite ready
for Tsali.
We
drove through Robbinsville and up the Cherohala
Skyway. Once in Tennessee we followed
dirt forest roads over to Whigg Meadow. My friend Spencer had suggested it as a
potential campsite, and his recommendation was superb. It was absolutely the perfect place for
us. It is a vast, high-elevation meadow
with nice views, and there wasn’t anybody else around. That was a pleasant surprise on a pleasant
Saturday evening. We set up camp while
the dogs ran around. Later we walked up
to the top of the hill so we could take in the view and enjoy sunset. That night we enjoyed a pleasant
campfire.
The
wind kicked up late that night, and the moon was brilliant. Christy didn’t sleep well, but it didn’t
bother me. We woke at first light to a chilly,
foggy morning. There was no Easter
sunrise for us. We packed up quickly and
headed down the mountain. Since it was
foggy, we took North River Road down, rather than returning to the Skyway. That took us past spectacular Bald River
Falls, where we stopped briefly.
We
drove through Tellico Plains and past Chattanooga and met Daniel Jack Hutchison
at a gas station / Waffle House near the community of Falling Water. Daniel and I were planning to hike to the
base of Falling Water Falls. Although
there is a trail to the top of the falls, very few people have been to the
bottom. This is due to the difficult
access, as the base is nearly surrounded by private property. Daniel had been to the base previously, but
our goal for this hike was to get to it entirely on public property. It turns out that there is a small piece of
state-owned land that borders Levi Road.
(https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/environment/attachments/na_falling-water.pdf)
There
is no parking along there, though. Our
plan was to have Christy drop us off.
She was going to go mountain biking, and then would pick us up
later.
This
was my first time meeting and hiking with Daniel. He was a fun companion for this
adventure! Scrambling over boulders and
bashing your way through briar patches isn’t for everyone, but he was ready for
anything. He squeezed into our car for
the short drive over to Levi Road.
Christy pulled off the road in a vacant lot between two houses and we
jumped out. From there, we walked back
down the road a short distance until we found a reasonable route into the woods.
The
forecast called for rain and big storms that afternoon, but it was just
overcast when we started. We fought our
way through the jungle and headed uphill away from the road. We circled around the entrance to Levi Cave
(which is on private property and is not accessible to the public) and climbed
over the ridge heading northwest. This
kept us above the private property in Pickett Gulf. We eventually worked our way down a steep
slope to reach Falling Water Creek. We
were actually following the marked property boundary along here, and there was
a house a short distance downstream. We
also saw a house or two on the ridge above us on the far side of the creek, but
we had no need to go over there.
We
worked our way upstream, through an intimidating boulder garden. There are several small, unnamed waterfalls
along here, along with house-sized boulders.
This stretch reminded me a bit of Bonas Defeat in North Carolina, though
it was easier to navigate.
We
stopped at a couple of waterfalls and one incredible swimming hole. A bit later we reached the confluence of
Falling Water Creek and Little Falling Water Creek. There are beautiful waterfalls on both
streams here. We spent a good bit of
time photographing them before starting the ascent of the boulder field just
east of Little Falling Water Creek.
Falling Water Falls is actually on Little Falling Water Creek, but it is
a 500’ climb from the confluence to the base of the falls.
It’s
a tough climb. We veered away from the
creek in search of easier terrain, but that route still required a lot of steep
scrambling through the boulders. After
gaining some elevation we worked our way back to the creek. A short climb upstream brought us to another
waterfall. This one is a 25’
freefall. Above it is a beautiful
cascade. From its base, I caught my
first glimpse of Falling Water Falls high above us. It was an incredible view, but we still had
to reach the base.
We
were past the worst of the climb, but more scrambling was necessary to reach
the base. It started raining during this
final stretch, but the rain was light.
We passed under an impressive overhanging cliff and found ourselves
craning our necks to take in the full magnificence of Falling Water Falls. The creek drops 110’ in a pure freefall from
the cliff above.
We
spent an hour or more here. It required
a lot of scrambling around on wet rocks to get all of the photo compositions I
wanted. Eventually I realized that I
needed to be on the far side of the creek to get the ideal shot. Rock hopping wasn’t possible, so I sacrificed
my boots and waded the creek on slippery rocks at the top of a big
cascade.
It
was getting late, and my weather app showed a massive storm approaching. We took a different route back, staying
higher on the mountain side. This was a
little easier and a lot faster, but it meant bypassing all of the smaller
waterfalls we’d visited earlier. In most
places, those waterfalls would be a worthy destination in themselves!
I
texted Christy with our ETA on our way back.
Although we got some rain on the return, the bulk of the storm missed
us. Christy pulled up a minute after we
hit the pavement, and we piled in for the short drive back to the Waffle House. It was a great adventure, and a pleasure to
finally hike with Daniel!
Originally
we had planned to camp that night at DeSoto Falls
State Park in Alabama. However, heavy
rain was expected Sunday evening and Sunday night. One advantage to traveling for a living is
that I can get a free hotel pretty much any time I want one. I found a Holiday Inn Express in Chattanooga
that allows pets with a $20 fee. So, we
could camp in the rain for $20, or stay in a warm, dry hotel for the same
price? Yeah, that was a no-brainer. I celebrated my hike that evening with a
tremendous amount of Mexican food and a margarita. We crashed that night, with plans to hike at
the Walls of Jericho in northeast Alabama the next day.
Back to Tennessee
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!