Buck’s Pocket State Park is somewhere I explored seeking a waterfall. This tale begins back in 2021 when I purchased a book about waterfalls in Alabama. The book insists there is a waterfall called “Point Rock Falls” at Buck’s Pocket State Park. It turns out there is a waterfall there, but it is officially called Little Sauty Waterfalls. This is not the first time I’ve had some inaccurate information from a book or other resource, but I figure by clarifying that here maybe someone else will benefit when they in turn hunt it down.
Anyway on this particular outing I was in the neighborhood staying not far away at Lake Guntersville State Park. Buck’s Pocket State Park also has camping but I’d determined at the time that I couldn’t reach anyone at the park and it wasn’t going to be where I’d camp. When I arrived at Buck’s Pocket State Park I’d find just a few campers there in RVs, a locked up park store, two park maintenance people that just kind of awkwardly stared at my like I was intruding. I didn’t get a good vibe, so was glad I did not camp there. It has a pretty vibe of a riverside campground, but that’s about all my takeaway from that element was.
Finding Little Sauty Waterfall was easy. Very near the entrance to the park is the trailhead for the Point Rock Trail. It claims to be 1.14 miles long (one way) to presumably something called Point Rock. The waterfall is most of the way along that, so it becomes a semi steep mile long hike uphill. But this trail even in winter is gorgeous, because after leaves fall away you can see moss covered boulders. Little Sauty Waterfall aside, there was a large stream with several mini falls on it not far into the hike that I found fascinating. Eventually I found the spur to the waterfall with an official naming sign on it for the falls, which is when that got sorted out, as noted at the start of this ramble.
As if that’s not enough to make you want to visit for day use purposes, there’s also a giant rock outcropping you can drive up to for the park that lets you look down across it from many angles and enjoy it. It might have been Point Rock and maybe I almost hiked my butt back up there from the bottom in search of the waterfall, but it is worth getting to the lookout area. I started some sort of medium sized furry creature when I arrived to take in the views, but I don’t know what it was. Something fuzzy, no more than 30lbs.
