A Day Spent at Fall Creek Falls State Park!

I had set the alarm to go off at 6:30, or so I thought.  It buzzed at 6 and we could have more time to sleep, so I thought I set it for 6:45 - Wrong!!!!  Ken woke at what we thought was 7:15 and we were planning to leave at 8, but wrong again.  I had changed the time instead of resetting the alarm, so it was 6:40. Whew!!!!!!  What a mix-up of errors!!!!!

We packed our lunches and I prepped for breakfast.  Then while I got ready, Ken cooked breakfast.  We walked out of Waldo just as Chuck and Melissa were exiting their motorhome.  Talk about timing!!!!!  The 4 of us left in their CRV and headed to  Fall Creek Falls State Park, about a 45 minute drive!  Chuck and Melissa have a long history of staying in the CG at this State Park, starting when they were teenagers and went camping in Melissa's parents tent camper.  Since then, they have stayed here in a tent, their 5th wheel, and now numerous times in their motorhome when Chuck's uncle and his family go there for 2 weeks over July 4th.  

We arrived at Fall Creek Falls State Park around 9 and enjoyed the drive to the Nature Center.  Unfortunately, it has not been very well maintained, but we were able to see a movie about the Park that was probably made several decades ago.  It is the largest State Park in Tennessee and has many trails, waterfalls, bike trail, lake, huge campground, store, lodge, cabins, etc.  It really is an amazing park!

The colors are amazing!

Fall Creek Falls can be strong  and powerful!

After leaving the Nature Center, we hiked down to Cane Falls - so beautiful. Then we started hiking the Cascade Trail that took us over a long suspension bridge that swayed a lot and gave us a view of the Cascades.

Looking down on Cane Falls before hiking down into the gorge!

More gorgeous colors at the bottom of the falls!

So pretty, but not too much water coming over the falls
right now!

It is hard to tell in this picture, but this was a
very long and swaying suspension bridge!

Hiking along the beautiful trail.....

.....and arriving at the Cascades!

We have certainly seen many amazing waterfalls on
this Great American Leaf Tour!

We continued hiking to the largest falls east of the Rocky Mountains, Fall Creek Falls, that descend for 256 feet.  From the lookout we could see the falls from a distance.   

The 3 of them hike a bit farther at this
overlook and took a picture of me to prove
that I had less steps then them today!

Some of the trail was very steep!

Not a lot of water going of Fall Creek Falls, but it is still
magnificent!

Then we continued on to the bottom of the falls, following a very rocky downhill descent.  It was a gorgeous view.  We had to backtrack to get up to the main trail again and then continue on to the parking lot at the nature center.  We had hiked about 3 miles with varying terrain and some rather steep areas, but it was a beautiful hike.

This .8 mile trail to the bottom of the falls had lots
of interesting terrain and scenery! 

Now a photo from the bottom of the falls!

Time to stop and leave my mark -
another cairn!

The artist at work.  No bad for an amateur!

When we got back to the car we enjoyed our packed lunches on a picnic table and it started to "drizzle".  We finished our hike at the right time!  Then we drove around the Park checking out the large CG, lake, lodge, some overlooks, etc. and Ken taking photos all along the drive!  The color of the trees today was spectacular and we have been fortunate to follow them all the way from Vermont on our way South. 

The boys decided to hike down these rocks, but Melissa
and I decided to just watch them!

Ken gets so excited when he sees wildlife, even turkeys!  He
is still waiting to see a black bear and a moose.  He may have
to wait a while for the moose!

The lake in the State Park!

We drove through a development called The Gardens with semi-detached homes for owners of motorhomes or 5th wheels.  Each home has a regular garage for a car and then a 14' garage for housing the owners RV.  There are full hookups in that garage including sewer hook-up - Wow!  No need to ever winterize!  What a concept!

After stopping at Kroger's for a few groceries we returned to the CG by 5.  Ken and I watched the end of the Tennessee vs. Alabama game (Chuck and Melissa are avid Tennessee fans!) and what a disappointment for Tennessee!  Then we showered and starting prepping for our departure to Nashville tomorrow morning.  We won't be in a hurry to leave since we only have about 120 miles to drive.  \

After having dinner and clean-up we headed over to Chuck and Melissa's at 7:30 to play games.  We won Spades, but the men beat us in Pinochle and Skip-Bo. We went back to Waldo at 10:30 and went right to bed.  Plan on heading to Nashville around 10 tomorrow morning!