Pisgah is a Hebrew word meaning “peak, height, cliff.” It is the name of the summit on Mount Nebo where Moses first caught sight of the Promised Land. In the US there are 12 states with towns named Pisgah, as well as, Pisgah Crater, Pisgah Branch Creek, Pisgah State Park, Pisgah National Forest and Pisgah Mountain.
The tiny town of Pisgah, in northeast Alabama, secured enough public acreage to protect a stretch of Little Bryant Creek where it plunges over 1,000 feet in Pisgah Gorge. The chasm boasts two major waterfalls and a natural Arch. Little-known Pisgah Civitan Park is one of those rare finds in our hunt for waterfalls near Chattanooga.
The hike begins behind a large pavilion on a multi-tiered deck overlooking Upper Falls. The impressive cascade plummets over 100 feet. Surrounded by private property, this is the only view of the falls available.
The narrow trail along the rim of the gorge is not marked and forks leading away from the precipice enter from heavily-posted, private property. We ate lunch on a rocky outcrop overlooking Lower Falls.
The 600-feet deep Pisgah Gorge is 1.5-miles long. Our lunch-stop perch above the Lower Falls included an excellent view down the ravine. The last overlook is atop the rocky point in the distance.
With the leaves off the trees, winter is the best time for viewing the waterfalls. There are few pines and many hardwoods in Pisgah Gorge, which would make fall-leaf peeping spectacular on this trail.
We rock-hopped down a small creek to the top of Lower Falls on our hike back. Our lunch-break overlook was on top of the rocky tor on the right.
Lower Falls is also over 100-feet tall. Standing next to it was much more exhilarating than the view from the canyon rim.
This was a 50-degree, sunny day and that’s ice that clung to the shadowed cliffs in the upper left corner of this photo. I almost missed the natural arch next to creek in the upper-middle portion of this picture. It was just a bright spot in my shot as I reviewed pictures on my camera.
The natural arch was briefly mentioned in my searches for Pisgah Gorge. It was a shame we could not hike across private property to reach it.
Pisgah’s Civitan Park is not heavily promoted. Many Alabama natives are unaware of its existence and the information I gathered was sketchy at best. But, “You never know until ya go,” and this location was well worth a one-hour drive from our home in Chattanooga, TN.