Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee is one of those state parks that has a lot of different things that make it really interesting as a whole. It has a lake, a lodge, waterfalls, camping, hiking, history, etc. I’m just going to break my experience there down into sections and ramble about it all in turn.
Fall Creek Falls is the namesake fall of the whole place. It is a really tall fall that you hike down a steep trail to. The trail is 0.4 miles down and then of course 0.4 back up, consists of both made made steps and natural trail. Eastern Hemlocks dominate the scenery. I do not have a photo that does justice to this fall, because it is about 250 feet tall and when you arrive at the base of it you’re having to look straight up from a little pebble rock beach for the view, so it isn’t really possible to get a full view up close for a camera’s sake. Plus in my case it was raining, which does not help photography. There are two flows of water coming down into the basic here, one is the official Fall Creek Falls and there is a lesser Coon Creek Falls too (not pictured). You’ll find some nifty rock overhands that could be used as shelter on your way.
Piney Creek Falls is in my opinion the most scenic fall inside the Fall Creek Falls State Park boundaries. You can drive to an area that has an overlook and see it plunge off a 100 foot cliff not too far away, and you can follow a trail to another overlook that gives you more of a side view of it from a little closer, as well as a neat swinging bridge to check out. This is all managed with less than a mile round trip to explore the immediate area.
Find the park’s Nature Center and you’ll be ready for some really fun stuff. Immediately behind the Nature Center is a swinging bridge (suspension style) that hangs over the Cane Creek Cascades, a 40ish foot fall in its own right. On the top of these cascades historically was the Bickford Mill, which I shall not bore you with the details of other than to say it is long gone and you can find a plaque telling you about it on location.
Cane Creek Falls is a nice fall, but the real joy is reaching it. From behind the Nature Center you can visit an overlook for it that will let you look down into the area it falls in, and that’s just great, but it isn’t the cool part. Back out into the parking lot from the Nature Center and find the trailhead for the Paw Paw Trail. If you’re not familiar with Paw Paws they are a tree species that grow in these parts with really huge leaves. Anyway you’re going to head down the Paw Paw Trail for a few minutes, wherein you will hit a bridge over Rockhouse Creek. Just after the bridge the trail splits. Follow the dark grey trail markers (turn left) and you’ll be on the Cable Trail! That’s right, walk a few dozen feet down the cable trail and you’ll find a seriously steep cliff descending toward the base of Cane Creek Falls, and a metal cable runs down it that you (probably) need to use to navigate it.
My thoughts on this since I don’t fear heights and frequently scramble down slopes were basically that this trail would have been super hard if it was raining, and the absolute worst part of it was a section pretty close to the top where I did not have the cable in hand and the slope forced me to do some weird yoga like moves to find grips and get down. It was super fun though. Want to find another cable trail in Tennessee? Visit Piney Falls State Natural Area (no relation to Piney Creek Falls here). If you’re afraid of heights or have little upper body strength, don’t do this. Otherwise, go for it! It’s a short trek down. When you hit the bottom you’ll be able to walk out of the tree line and see both Cane Creek Falls and Rockhouse Falls. After doing this I have vowed to always bring some gloves with me when going anywhere I know has a similar trail, because metal wires are not kind to your skin. Cane Creek Falls seems to be slightly taller than Rockhouse Falls, but they’ve both got to be in the 80 to 100 foot tall range.
I camped here and had a pretty good experience as well. Their park store was open later than most parks so ice and whatever I needed was easy to come by. The campsites were the typical geared toward RV style things, wherein I had to throw a tent down onto gravel which isn’t ideal, but I’m used to this at state parks. Bathrooms were clean, the park had WiFi although I could not get normal cell reception, vending machines were handy, showers were fantastic, and I always judge a place on the park’s trash cans. They had standard garbage cans without any safety features, meaning there is probably no major issue with wild animals coming around at night. If you ever see a park that has hard core trash cans that feel like a steel jigsaw puzzle to open, they have a bear issue. But not this place, it was nice and tame all night.
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